Acquiring Minds

Pat Lazure explains why Flavor-Crisp, a food product business that uses co-packers, was such a great business to buy. 

Topics in Pat’s interview:

• Doing a “spouse-funded” search
• Starting a shear-sharpening business while searching
• Growth, churn, & margins in his shear-sharpening business
• Why he wanted to buy  a breading and batter mix company so badly
• Similarities between food businesses & dropshipping businesses
• The role of co-packers in the food industry
• Challenges & risks in his food business
• Psychology of having an SBA loan
• Reflections on owning 2 small businesses
• The value of BizBuySell’s Insight Report

References and how to contact Pat:

• LinkedIn
• Rock Paper Shears
• Flavor-Crisp

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Sam Turner is 3 acquisitions into a 5-year plan to buy HVAC businesses across the UK that together cash flow £6m/yr. (Rebroadcast from August 2022.) 

Topics in Sam's interview:

• How the businesses he buys are run and by whom
• Buying without the benefit of an SBA loan
• Why HVAC?
• Why buying small business is more appealing than real estate
• Harbour Club with Jeremy Harbour
• The value in acquiring businesses in a highly-fragmented industry
• Deal structure for his first acquisition
• Sam's goal for revenue/EBITDA/multiple and his own wealth
• Buying small vs. buying big
• Buying an HVAC with mostly new construction vs. maintenance revenue
• White collar people buying blue collar businesses

Reach Sam at:

• sam DOT turner AT advantos DOT com
• LinkedIn

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

How Doug Johns overcame his reservations about being a franchisee to acquire a dream business with $1.8m EBITDA. (Rebroadcast from September 2022.) 

Topics in Doug's interview:

• Buying a franchise vs. independent business
• Opening your mind to a franchise
• The many (overlooked) benefits to being a franchisee
• Calling yourself "independent investor" instead of "searcher"
• Running a search like a B2B sales process
• The appeal of a deal with few addbacks
• Why home service businesses are so appealing as acquisitions
• Loving, rather than running from, managing people
• Why the top home service businesses have more sophisticated funnels than the Fortune 500
• ServiceTitan
• Where the opportunity is when the business you buy is already well-run and mature
• Owning a plumbing company without knowing anything about plumbing
• The numbers of Doug's deal
• The exact multiple is way less important than you think
• Using ROBS to buy the business
• Why high growth can make a business harder to finance
• Understanding debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) thresholds
• Doug's tip for choosing an SBA lender
• The $500k value of Doug's appeal to the seller
• Going to meet a seller face to face

Reach Doug at:

• doug DOT johns AT couffley DOT com
• LinkedIn

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Jack McCarthy has acquired 27 pistachio & almond farms from retiring owners, with a plan to build & hold for decades. 

Topics in Jack’s interview:

• Jack’s fascination with overlooked businesses
• Gold Leaf’s unique business model
• Appeal of farmland as a safe and attractive asset
• How farms are valued
• How specialty crops compare to row crops
• What makes a farm high quality
• Using technology to farm efficiently
• Incentivizing farm managers
• Converting conventional farms to organic
• Long-term nature of agriculture

References and how to contact Jack:

• Linkedin
• [email protected]
• Gold Leaf

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Ben Jasper made a change at age 40, acquiring a plastic bag manufacturer with 10 people & a daily start time of 4:30am. 

Topics in Ben’s interview:

• Managing a portfolio of $500 million on Wall Street
• Leaving finance to prioritize family
• Buying a plastic bag manufacturer
• Starting his work day at 3:30 AM
• His intense 2-month initiation
• Creating a manual and financial model to manage the business
• Challenges of maintaining old machinery
• Understanding his employees' personal values
• Long-term vision to hire an operator
• Negative revenue growth in the manufacturing industry

References and how to contact Ben:

• LinkedIn
• Benjamin Ross Group

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Eddy Zakes has 2x'd revenue and 4x'd headcount at the snow removal brokerage he bought with a traditional search fund. 

Notes from the conversation with Eddy:

• His highly-personal outreach approach
• Earth Development’s unusual business model
• Negotiating with an anxious seller
• Acquiring during Covid
• How being close to a target business changes rapport building
• Buying a highly seasonal business
• Operating across multiple states
• Convincing a key employee to stay
• Risk of customers taking relationships off the platform
• Quadrupling staff to add management and redundancy

References and how to contact Eddy:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Earth Development Inc.

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Brian Lee Shields bought a barely-profitable property management business intending to improve, grow, & hold it forever. 

Topics in Brian’s interview:

• Importance of energy vs talent 
• Brian's partner and their complementary roles
• Buying property management companies
• Improving their net promoter score (NPS)
• Building a culture of completion rate measurement
• Relocating positions and outsourcing
• Importance of trust in property management
• Successfully transitioning to a remote-first business
• Deciding to sell the business
• His burnout and recovery

References and how to contact Brian:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Traction by Gino Wickman
• High Output Management by Andy Grove
• On the Nature of Long-term Holds: Why Entrepreneurs Should Embrace this Strategy

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with A-players who can run your business remotely:

• More Staffing

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Darryl Lindie did a geo-constrained search in Rhode Island to acquire a sign business with $650k of SDE & 25 employees. 

Topics in Darryl’s interview:

• His background in the Navy
• How getting an MBA might slow you down
• Searching in a small geographic radius
• Buying a signage company
• Valuing a business with a lot of cash transactions
• Getting comfortable with project-based revenue
• Mistakes in due diligence
• Improving the culture in 100 days
• Hiring a supplier to be his GM
• Raising a fund for New Majority Capital

References and how to contact Darryl:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• New Majority Capital
• Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire
• The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

 Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Matt Barnes bought a $400k SDE linen laundry business, channeling his conviction at big decision points along the way. 

Topics in Matt’s interview:

• Doing a narrow geographic search
• Pros and cons of door-to-door proprietary outreach to sellers
• Importance of having his wife on board
• Getting emotionally invested in deals
• His values-based reason for acquiring a business
• The business sustaining fire damage before purchase
• Buying a commercial laundry business
• Niches within the laundry industry
• Realities of being an owner-operator
• How hard work builds character

References and how to contact Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Professional Touch Laundry Service
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• How to Shorten Your Search to Buy a Business | Sam Rosati Interview

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Recording of a live panel hosted by EO Silicon Valley with Acquiring Minds host Will Smith moderating. 

Topics discussed:

• 3 stories of buying businesses
• What the search, due diligence, transition was like for each of the 3 entrepreneurs
• Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurship vs. entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA)
• The napkin math of a business acquisition with an SBA loan
• Moving from white collar to blue collar environments
• Is there a "type" who buys a business?
• Graduating from buying your 1st business to your 2nd, 3rd, and beyond
• How buying a first business can quickly lead to more acquisition opportunities
• Inorganic growth vs. organic growth
• What being an investor in search deals looks like
• Scariest moment from each entrepreneur's journey
• Question: How do you think about due diligence?
• Question: Does the softness in the macro M&A market affect activity in search?
• Question: Thoughts on roll-ups.

References and how to contact George, Corey, or Nick:

• LinkedIn for the panelists: George Goates, Corey Veverka, Nick Haschka
• George Goates’ previous interview on Acquiring Minds: The Joys & Pain of Owning a $10m City Bus Business
• Corey Veverka’s previous interview on Acquiring Minds: How to Buy the Business Where You Work
• Nick Haschka’s previous 2 interviews on Acquiring Minds:
  • How One Small Acquisition Led to 9 More in 5 Years
  • 6 Ways Buying a Business Has Changed Since 2016
• EO Silicon Valley
• Club Sportiva in San Jose, site of the panel

Get a complementary pre-acquisition HR & PEO review for your target business:

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter