Matt Huggins bought a small water & cable utility doing $200k/year. 15 years later, his holdco is on track for $20m/yr. 

Topics in this interview:

• Matt's decision to step off the academic track
• Matt's career as a professional online poker player
• Transitioning from poker to small business
• Acquiring a utilities company for a group of condos
• The surprising complexity of running a utilities company
• Starting a manhole lining business 
• The stability and diversity of the water industry
• Acquiring businesses from retiring owners without needing capital
• The value of a fractional CFO
• The reward of helping employees

References and how to contact Matt:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Peak Group Companies
• Advanced Lining
• Peak Water Services
• Advanced Pump & Equipment
• Gordo Sales

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

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

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

Holdco entrepreneur Chase Murdock buys very small businesses with potential for rapid growth & decades of staying power. 

Topics in Chase’s interview:

• Starting a custom suit company with $750
• Decata Group's “car wash integration process” for acquisitions
• Workshop SLC’s 5x growth in the first year of acquisition
• Getting out of the “small business death zone” ASAP
• The knife fight of acquiring and growing small businesses 
• The #1 ingredient in company building
• Maslow’s hierarchy of business needs
• What surprised him about the trades industry
• Conviction in the ability to 5x a business in 5 years
• The intellectual challenge of building a holdco

Links and how to contact Chase:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Decada Group
• Tailor Cooperative
• Workshop SLC
• Built by Design Construction
• Northern Electric Company
• Tatton Baird

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

Amir Haboosheh was drawn to the double-opportunity in acquiring home services businesses: the financial, and the impact. 

Topics in Amir’s interview:

• Why Amir wasn’t interested in a digital business
• Offering blue collar employees shares in the company
• Snowball’s plan for going public
• Snowball’s playbook for operating businesses
• How to hire a good GM for your business
• How to incentivize operators
• Acquiring a marketing company
• Why SDE isn’t everything
• How Anderson Air doubled revenue in 3 years
• Retaining the brands post-acquisition

Links and how to contact Amir:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Snowball
• Acquira
• Enduring Ventures
• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
• Anderson Air
• Digitally Savvy
• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
• Get A Grip: How to Get Everything You Want from Your Entrepreneurial Business by Gino Wickman

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

Mark Sinatra returns to explain what to diligence from an HR perspective when buying your business. 

Topics in Mark’s interview:

• Top 3 things to diligence in your acquisition when it comes to HR
• How industry associations can be a source of deal flow (once you're already acquired)
• "Book of business" acquisitions
• Best type to execute add-on acquisitions
• How to prioritize what to integrate in an add-on acquisition
• How to recover from losing a big customer
• Value of personality profiling tools in hiring

Links and how to contact Mark:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• ETAequity.com
• AspenHR.com

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

• More Staffing

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

Sam Rosati shares a framework to clarify your search criteria & reduce the months it takes to find a business to buy. 

Topics in Sam’s interview:

• The reason search takes so long 
• How to speed up your search process
• Underwriting criteria of SBA lenders
• Knowing how to kill a deal
• Considering the fit of the searcher as CEO
• Understanding SBA loan framework
• Importance of recurring or repeating revenue
• Opportunities and risks in buying small
• Managing criteria to get enough deals in the pipeline
• Common mistakes searchers make

Links and how to contact Sam:

• Twitter
• Links to all Sam’s projects
• Pursuant Capital
• Nick Haschka
• Sam Rosati’s investor list
• Raise $800k to Buy an $8m Business  | Kevin Bibelhausen Interview

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

James Bloom has 8x'd a small mechanical contractor he bought only 4 years ago, despite it being a competitive industry. 

Topics in James’s interview:

• How his background in M&A informed his due diligence process
• How he ensured a smooth transition
• Commercial HVAC vs. residential HVAC
• Why he funded growth out of his own pocket
• Reducing his weekly work hours from 100 to 60
• How his business differentiates itself in the construction industry
• Growing his staff from 8 to 80
• Growing revenue from $3M to $25M
• Working with unions
• Bringing in outside capital to grow

Links and how to contact James:

• [email protected]
• LinkedIn
• Excel Mechanical Contractors

Buy your ticket to the ETA conference devoted to self-funded search:

• The Self-Funded Search Conference (Sep 30 & Oct 1 in Dallas)

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

3 days into Monte Marcum's acquisition of an established franchise, key equipment breaks. Then the crises kept coming. 

Topics in Monte’s interview:

• Buying 2 existing & adjacent franchise businesses at once
• How Filta’s customer pricing is structured
• Why commercial kitchens love his business
• Combining two businesses
• Equipment starts breaking on day three
• Monte’s series of fetal position moments
• What exactly is hard about running a business
• How one rockstar employee guided him through a season of crisis
• The biggest risk of buying small
• The importance of a support system

Links and how to contact Monte:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• Codie Sanchez: These “Boring Businesses” Will Make You Rich
• Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions
• John Schooler update episode on Acquiring Minds

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

Niklas James started off as a self-funded searcher, but evolved into being an independent sponsor of 7 acquisitions. 

Topics in Niklas’s interview:

• Why he returned the funds raised for his traditional search fund
• How the painful challenges of his first acquisition set him up for success on later deals
• Why SaaS isn’t as sexy as it seems
• Evolution from self-funded searcher to independent sponsor
• Definition of an independent sponsor
• Why HVAC is so attractive
• Growing his home services business
• What type of person should consider independent sponsorship
• The difference between searchers and independent sponsors
• The difference between a holdco and independent sponsorship

Links and how to contact Niklas:

• [email protected]
• LinkedIn
• McGuireWoods Independent Sponsor Conference

Buy your ticket to the ETA conference devoted to self-funded search:

• The Self-Funded Search Conference (Sep 30 & Oct 1 in Dallas)

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

Martin Bispels updates us on the DTC ecommerce business he bought in 2020 and had grown to almost $2m/yr one year later. 

Topics in Martin’s interview:

• Using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
• Building and managing a great remote team
• Why he doesn’t sell on Amazon
• The difference between buying and shopping
• Opportunities for bolt-on products
• Marks of a good ecommerce business
• The power of story to differentiate your product
• Moving his supplier from China to Vietnam
• Finding a good 3PL
• Keeping the founder in the business

Links and how to contact Martin:

• [email protected]
• LinkedIn
• Upper Park Disc Golf
• Carro app
• Frangiosa Farms
• Keith Linebach: 8 Figure Exit, 2 Years After Buying the Business

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

Derek Turner has done both a traditional search fund and self-funded. We hear both stories & explore the differences. 

Topics in Derek’s interview:

• The advantages of a geographically-focused search
• His method for pitching business owners doing cold outreach
• Challenges within the laser van business
• Being a good soldier vs being a sucker
• The downside of growth
• The perils of buying from unpleasant owners
• How the company grew with no marketing
• Hiring a GM to run the business
• Why have a board with a self-funded acquisition
• Why self-funded search feels different than traditional search funds

Links and how to contact Derek:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Roll-a-Shield
• Derek’s Twitter thread “When does a ‘good soldier’ become a ‘sucker’?”
• Derek’s thread on traditional search (being a CEO) vs. self-funded search (being an owner)

With SIG, you can buy your own business and retain majority ownership:

• Search Investment Group

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