This is the rebroadcast of a panel that Acquiring Minds recently moderated at the annual ETA Summit at MIT. 

MIT's panel description:

"First do no harm, then pull on the growth levers." Should you wait to make changes? Or take every opportunity you see? How and when should you make changes to your team or to your organizations that will help you get the most out of your organization?

Speakers:

• Trish Higgins - Partner, Chenmark Holdings; CEO, Cap’n Fish Holdings. Trish Higgins is a founding partner at Chenmark Holdings, a Portland, Maine based firm focused on the acquisition and long-term ownership of small businesses throughout North America. Outside of work, Trish can be found spending quality time with her husband and business partner, James, and their two kids.
• Markus Scott - CEO, EyeQ Monitoring. Markus Scott is currently the CEO of EyeQ Monitoring, an AI-enabled surveillance and business intelligence technology company located in Atlanta, GA. He acquired the business in 2015 after raising a search fund at Kellogg in 2013. Prior to Kellogg, he worked in middle market private equity and played football at the University of Florida. He is married with two small kids, Ava (8) and AJ (7), and enjoys coaching, spearfishing and bourbon in his downtime.
• Kush Das - CEO, Ennoble Care. Former healthcare consultant, healthcare lawyer, and EMS provider with value-based and community-based care experience. Kush acquired Ennoble Care in 2021.

Having witnessed the power of clean books, Patrick Dichter was driven to buy a $1.2m bookkeeping & accounting business. 

Themes from Patrick’s interview:

• The appeal of bookkeeping for acquisition entrepreneurs
• Seeing the power of clean books to transform a small business
• Messaging used to reach out to owners of accounting & bookkeeping firms
• Definition of bookkeeping vs. accounting
• What it’s like to acquire a bookkeeping business when you’re not a CPA
• Industry- and geography-specific search
• Building a proprietary search funnel

Reach Patrick Dichter at:

• On Twitter: @patrickdichter
• Appletree Business Services

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Links & mentions:

• Cassi Niekamp on Acquiring Minds: Buying a $1.2m Fencing Business & Earning Trust Quickly
• Casey Clark on Acquiring Minds: What to Acquire: 3 Hot Sectors for Business Buyers
• RevLocal
• Cultivate Advisors
• Professional Association of Small Business Accountants (PASBA)
• Chris Williams on Acquiring Minds: Stay Open to the Many Flavors of Search

George Vallone unpacks how he used cold outreach to find an off-market cleaning biz doing $1m and buy it for 2x EBITDA. 

Themes from George’s interview:

• Prioritizing recurring revenue in the search criteria
• The importance of messaging when approaching business owners
• Using a funnel approach in the search
• The differences between residential cleaning and commercial cleaning
• The economics of apartment turnover
• Using customer service as a marketing tool
• Getting a good deal by betting big
• How to avoid cash flow crunch during transition

Reach George at:

• george at george vallone dot com
• Nuveldy’s Apartment Turnover Services

Before embarking on his search, Alex Glasner interviewed 50 searchers & uncovered 2 key attitudes necessary for success. 

Themes from Alex’s interview:

• Wanting to run a business, but not knowing where to start
• Learning from people whose searches failed
• The importance of moving quickly with sellers
• Buying a mission and not just a job
• The value of being decisive in a search
• Merging proprietary and brokered search styles
• Pausing to understand the business before making another acquisition

Reach Alex at:

• alex at workpays dot co dot uk

Looking to buy a part-time online biz as he neared retirement, Dave Bramlett found it in a resume service doing $1.5m. 

Themes from Dave's interview:

• Making a career of buying small businesses
• Buying a functioning business allows for immediate cash flow
• Finding businesses on BizBuySell
• Bring in the experts for due diligence
• Maintaining a positive relationship with the seller
• Know your strengths as a buyer
• Always be open to new businesses for sale

Reach Dave at:

• dave at resume writing group dot com

Brandon Adams bought a $850k EBITDA ice delivery company only to discover he'd be doing deliveries himself for 6 months. 

Themes from Brandon's interview:

• Doing a local proprietary search
• Identifying brokers you can trust
• Managing purchase price after an anomalous year
• The silver lining of a due diligence oversight
• Being a great leader as a new owner
• The appeal of owning businesses in various industries

Reach Brandon at:

• brandon at k4inv dot com

Damon Chlarson had 3 key criteria, and he found them in an insulation supplier doing $380k EBITDA and selling for $1.1m. 

Themes from Damon’s interview:

• Defining your acquisition criteria 
• Finding your niche in the market
• Imagining yourself doing the job before buying the business
• Tapping into people’s talents
• Mental health and business success
• Finding opportunities in times of crisis
• Looking back and growing ambition

Reach Damon at:

• @LumberyardDamon

Frustrated after losing 3 jobs, Bruce Vann used savings to acquire a 25-employee, 7-figure curtain manufacturer for 2x. 

Themes from Bruce’s interview:

• Paying 2x for a growing 70-year-old business
• Buying a business to pull out of a career rut
• Why finding a business is like a full court shot
• The need for persistence
• Abandoning a proprietary search because of seller overvaluations
• Chasing down leads and not becoming complacent
• The importance of documenting business processes in case of sudden staff departures
• Dealing with uneasy staff during the transition period
• The experience of acquiring a business as a Black man in the U.S.

Reach Bruce at:

• bvann at luxout dot com

After seeing 9-figure businesses built through acquisition, Adrian Pinto bought a landscaping biz to build one himself. 

Themes from Adrian’s interview:

• Buying a $3-5M landscaping business with 15-20% margins
• Paying 3x, but rapid growth making it more like 2x
• What a buy-side advisor is and when it might make sense to work with one
• How COVID helped his search process
• Why doing his own search was less stressful than a traditional search would have been
• The excitement versus the reality of acquiring bolt-ons to your platform business
• Beginning with the idea of building a strong base for future growth (chassis concept)
• Waiting & observing for months before introducing changes to company processes

Reach Adrian at:

• adrian at georgia scapes dot com
• @Adrian_Pinto2
• LinkedIn

The 3 founders of Chenmark left promising corporate careers to pursue a multi-decade path of acquiring small businesses. 

Themes from the interview with James & Palmer Higgins:

• Why the Chenmark founders decided to do this
• Lessons learned from 30+ acquisitions
• How the founding thesis is performing 7 years in
• The value of an "extreme delayed gratification muscle"
• Intellectual stimulation in corporate life vs. small business
• Buying big vs. buying small
• How has competition in search evolved over the last 5 years
• Chenmark’s diversification strategy

Other recommend podcasts where Chenmark has appeared:

• Invest Like the Best: Trish and James Higgins of Chenmark Capital - Permanent Equity
• Think Like An Owner: Trish Higgins, Chenmark Capital
• Think Like An Owner: Trish Higgins – Chenmark Five Years Later
• Think Like An Owner: Palmer Higgins – Moving to the Operating Side – Ep. 43
• Think Like An Owner: Palmer Higgins – Removing Sales Roles at Mainely Grass – Ep. 61
• The Commercial Landscaper: James Higgins - Reinforcing Areas to Create a More Scalable Platform
• The ThriveTime Show: What’s Your Business Worth? Buying Small and Mid-sized Businesses with Chenmark Capital

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