Michael Horowitz was looking to buy an independent business when a different path opened up. Today he owns 20 Wingstops. 

Topics in Michael’s interview:

• Pros and cons of searching within franchises
• Why Michael was attracted to QSR’s (quick service restaurants)
• Buying 7 Wingstop locations in Ohio
• Writing an operating agreement for 3 co-owners
• Development agreements with franchises
• Operating QSR’s during Covid
• Opening and closing a ghost kitchen
• Daily operations of owning 20 Wingstop locations
• Motivating hourly restaurant employees 
• Michael’s advice for searchers considering QSR’s

Links and how to contact Michael:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Michael Horowitz on Franchise Empires

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

• More Staffing

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

• Contact [email protected] or visit Aspen HR

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Kaustubh Deo reflects on his first year as the owner of a tree business versus his former life in NYC private equity. 

Topics in Kaustubh’s interview:

• Buying a tree service business
• Buyer’s vs seller’s discretionary earnings
• Reflecting on 13 months as a business owner
• Possibility for roll-ups
• Being an outsider in the tree industry
• Change management
• His thoughts on holdcos
• Measuring success for his business
• Life as a business owner vs. life in private equity
• His advice for searchers

Links and how to contact Kaustubh:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected] 
• Kaustubh on Think Like an Owner
• Blooma Tree Experts

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

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

Adam Duggins had 650 meetings to find his first business in 2013, not expecting he'd buy 3 more over the next 10 years. 

Topics in Adam Duggins’s interview:

• Meeting with 650 people (in person!) during his search
• How Adam found his partner & structured their ownership
• How Adam became a holdco without meaning to
• How motivating blue collar workers versus white collar careerists is different
• Why Adam prefers working with blue collar versus white collar
• Buying businesses in overlooked geographies
• A bit about each of Adam's 4 businesses: steel fabrication, commercial HVAC, Jet-Hot, boiler services
• What to love about businesses in the construction industry
• Stability vs. growth
• Early mistakes as an owner

Links and how to contact Adam:

• New Page Capital 
• W.C. Rouse 
• Engineered Steel 
• American Industrial Contractors
• Jet-Hot
• Adam’s email: [email protected]

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

Bruce Vann returns to update us on his manufacturing business, and a thesis around the roll-up of window blinds stores. 

Topics in Bruce Vann’s interview:

• Buying a stage curtain/shades business
• Profitability of the business
• Their curtain and shades products
• Acquiring a blinds company
• Integrating his businesses
• Bruce’s vision for expansion
• The possibilities for search in window treatments
• The feast or famine nature of the business
• The long sales cycle
• Investing in a ribbon weight machine
• Bruce’s advice to searchers

Links and how to contact Bruce:

• [email protected] 
• LuXout Stage Curtains

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

• More Staffing

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

• Contact [email protected] or visit AspenHR

Connect with Acquiring Minds: 

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

John Ikalowych shares his traumatic journey of going all-in to buy a hail-repair business, then having to shut it down. 

Topics in John Ikalowych’s interview:

• John’s background in commercial banking
• Buying a car hail repair business
• Losing half his staff just months after acquisition
• The disaster that tanked their finances
• Pivoting from B2C to B2B
• Shutting down the business
• How the business failure changed him
• Closing a business with a personal guarantee
• John’s advice to searchers
• The importance of peer support

Links and how to contact John:

• LinkedIn
• 303-704-2461
• Entrepreneurs’ Organization

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

• The Acquisition Lab

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

Morli Desai left corporate to scratch her entrepreneurial itch, using an SBA loan to buy an ecommerce biz with $1m SDE. 

Topics in Morli Desai’s interview:

• Leaving her corporate job at 40
• Joining the Acquisition Lab
• Purchasing an ecommerce business
• How to approach brokers
• Transitioning an ecommerce business
• Purchasing an Australian entity
• Marketing with PPC
• Assessing risk in ecommerce
• Proprietary vs brokered search
• Inventory management in ecommerce

Links and how to contact Morli:

• LinkedIn
• 4,000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Sam Harris’s app
• Quiet Light
• Market Watch by Centurica
• Joe Mcaleer of Multifunding, LLC
• Joel Ankney
• Amaira Natural Skincare

Overhaul your website with ongoing support & unlimited edits, all for a flat monthly fee:

• Eversite

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

Pawel Kosicki learned about buying small businesses in July. By January, he'd bought one himself with 7 figures of SDE. 

Topics in Pawel Kosicki’s interview:

• Pawel’s background in engineering
• Valuation of a home theater/automation company
• Closing on his very first LOI
• Financing a deal in Canada
• His philosophy on risk in business
• The seller staying on as an employee
• Mitigating risk in a project-based business
• His plans to grow the business
• Projected growth in the home automation industry
• Advice for Canadian searchers

References and how to contact Pawel:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• Sieva Kozinski Twitter thread
• Oakville Sight and Sound

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

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

Damon Chlarson takes a job in tech sales, despite having improved the business he bought & surviving a tough year. 

Topics in Damon’s interview:

• Damon bought Pacific Insulation Supply, an online wholesaler
• Difficulties in scaling the insulation business. 
• Overview of sales in the first year 
• Getting a regular W-2 job again 
• New systems he put in place at the business 
• Training his sales team
• The challenges of working from home
• How he runs a business with bipolar disorder
• Fluctuation in demand for home renovations 
• Managing a sales team in the Philippines

Damon's original appears on Acquiring Minds:

• Nailing the Trifecta: B2B + Remote + Scalable - Acquiring Minds

Links and how to contact Damon:

• Pacific Insulation Supply
• Twitter

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

• The Acquisition Lab

 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

Brenden Van Buren is growing his fencing business, despite the industry's notorious cyclicality & project-based revenue. 

Topics in Brenden’s interview:

• Brenden’s family history in the construction business
• Co-founding Generational Transfer Entrepreneurs 
• The pros and cons of having a pipeline when starting search
• Why the perfect relationship is better than the perfect business
• The risks associated with construction companies
• Acquiring Pro Max Fence Systems
• How he doubled sales in 4.5 years
• The top mistakes searchers make regarding time management and communications
• The advantages of proprietary search
• Self-funded vs. traditional search

References and how to contact Brenden:

• Pacific Lake
• Bringing Down the House
• Generational Transfer Entrepreneurs
• Pro Max Fence Systems
• LinkedIn

Overhaul your website with ongoing support & unlimited edits, all for a flat monthly fee:

• Eversite

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

Justin Turner returns with details on 2 new acquisitions by his holdco Traction, plus updates on the existing 4 portcos. 

Topics in Justin’s interview:

• Justin helps run investment firm Traction Capital Partners
• How Traction is different from Private Equity
• The risks of buying into a franchise network
• How he bought one of his vendors
• Lessons learned from buying 6 businesses
• Driving sales in a disaster restoration business 
• Doubling revenue in 5 years for a Fire Department supply business 
• Facing the post-Covid economic downturn
• Rising competition for acquiring a business
• Trends in the blue and white collar labor market

Justin's original appears on Acquiring Minds:

• How to Build a Holdco (4 Acquisitions So Far)

Links and How to Contact Justin:

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter
• Traction CP

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

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