Acquiring Minds

Chris Williams was a guest in 2021, just after his acquisition. He returns to share how it's going now, 14 months later. 

Topics from Chris's interview:

• System Six's growth in the first 14 months
• What Chris wishes he had done differently during transition
• Hiring challenges and how to hire from within
• How he has learned sales
• Why he likes to serve searcher-acquired businesses
• The first step in being a great workplace
• Traditional vs. self-funded search
• Why revenue growth does not always equal EBITDA growth
• Pricing challenges in the bookkeeping industry
• Does more investors mean more help & guidance?

References & how to reach Chris:

• His first episode on Acquiring Minds: ‍Stay Open to the Many Flavors of Search
• System Six
• LinkedIn, Twitter, [email protected]

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

• The Acquisition Lab

Register for a live gathering of SMB, Micro-PE, and ETA owners, operators and investors:

• SMBash

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Key findings from SIG's new study on self-funded search: financial outcomes, deal costs & terms, search lengths & more. 

Topics from the interview with SIG:

• What is the self-funded search study & why it matters
• Effect of self-funded search on entrepreneurs' net worths
• Search performance: how many acquisitions saw EBITDA shrink, maintain, or grow 
• How much is too much to pay for legal fees & due diligence
• The pros and cons of a seller note
• Why you don’t need an MBA to acquire a business
• Value of a good relationship with a seller
• How long search takes, on average
• Why acquisition will only get more competitive in the future
• Drawback of a private equity background
• What critics get wrong about self-funded search
• Methodology & shortcomings of the study

Download the study:

• 2023 Self-Funded Search Study

Links, References, and Contacts:

• Self-Funded vs. Traditional Search Fund debate between Robert Graham & Greg Geronemus
• Robert Graham - LinkedIn and Twitter
• Jordan Carter - LinkedIn and Twitter
• Search Investment Group (SIG)
• Stanford Search Fund Study 2022

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

• Eversite

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

How Bradley Roofner & Logan Brown transformed a tough, project-based landscaping biz into a recurring revenue machine. (This is the second part of a 2-part interview.) 

Themes from the interview with Bradley & Logan:

• Buying, growing, and selling a local service business for $20m+
• Why landscaping still has lots of opportunity
• How to transform a project-based business into a recurring-revenue business
• How to build a sales function in a local service business
• Why building a sales function is better for growth than acquiring tuck-ins
• How to convert 25% of sales opportunities
• Working capital as oxygen
• White-glove service in a blue-collar industry
• Why you should build a credit department
• What it's like to sell to a publicly-traded corporation

Links & how to reach Bradley & Logan

• LinkedIn: Bradley Roofner, Logan Brown
• BrightView
• Built To Sell, the book that informed their productization strategy
• Brent Beshore
• Article 1 referenced in valuation estimate: BrightView and the need for growth
• Article 2 referenced in valuation estimate: LM150: 2020 rankings

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

• Eversite

Register for a live gathering of SMB, Micro-PE, and ETA owners, operators and investors:

• SMBash

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

How Bradley Roofner & Logan Brown transformed a tough, project-based landscaping biz into a recurring revenue machine. 

Themes from the interview with Bradley & Logan:

• Buying, growing, and selling a local service business for $20m+
• Why landscaping still has lots of opportunity
• How to transform a project-based business into a recurring-revenue business
• How to build a sales function in a local service business
• Why building a sales function is better for growth than acquiring tuck-ins
• How to convert 25% of sales opportunities
• Working capital as oxygen
• White-glove service in a blue-collar industry
• Why you should build a credit department
• What it's like to sell to a publicly-traded corporation

Links & how to reach Bradley & Logan

• LinkedIn: Bradley Roofner, Logan Brown
• BrightView
• Built To Sell, the book that informed their productization strategy
• Brent Beshore
• Article 1 referenced in valuation estimate: BrightView and the need for growth
• Article 2 referenced in valuation estimate: LM150: 2020 rankings

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

A husband & wife bought a therapy practice for $120k, almost dumped it, then grew it for 8 years when PE came knocking. (This is a rebroadcast from November 2021.) 

Themes from Neil's interview:

• Growing a mental health practice from $615k/year to $2M. 
• How working in your acquired business (not on it) can save you
• Owning a business with your spouse
• Equipment leasing as a solution to keeping overhead costs low 
• To sue or not to sue (the seller, post-acquisition)
• Preferring businesses for sale rather than cold outreach to owners
• When to sell a fast-growing business

Reach Neil at:

• @neilsaidwhat
• LinkedIn

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

JD Klein bought a print shop for $100k, thinking such a small acquisition carried little risk. The opposite was true. (This is a rebroadcast from December 2021.) 

Themes from JD's interview:

• Running a strong-growth, low-margin business
• Selling your house to make ends meet
• Why very small businesses come with higher risk
• Acquirers should hire a financial planner
• Pivoting your strategy when uncontrollable roadblocks emerge
• Pros & cons of the printing industry for acquirers
• Personal victories vs. financial victories

Reach JD at:

• @jdklein33
• LinkedIn

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

Acquiring Minds will start publishing twice per week. Host Will Smith explains the rationale for this decision. 

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

When Fraser Voll first learned about buying businesses, he couldn't stop reading about it. That passion paid dividends. 

Topics in Fraser's interview:

• What working for a boutique M&A advisory taught him about buying businesses
• Anatomy of a self-funded search deal WITHOUT an SBA loan
• How to get a good multiple (3x) on a $600-800k EBITDA business
• What Fraser bought: revenue, margins, price, terms, etc.
• Getting comfortable with high customer concentration
• How to de-risk buying a business whose revenue doubled in prior 2 years
• How to structure an earnout
• Janitorial industry: how to achieve high margins, retain labor, and more
• Search in Canada
• Why small business became more attractive than software

Links & how to reach Fraser:

• Fraser's LinkedIn
• Portage M&A Advisory
• Constellation Software
• Mario Nigro, searcher connector in Canada

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

Chris Koerner acquired a bitcoin mining facility he found on BizBuySell for $750k and now employees 11 people. 

Topics in Chris's interview:

• Bitcoin mining 101
• Challenge of finding real estate to host bitcoin miners
• Economics & ROI of bitcoin mining
• Using BizBuySell to find bitcoin mining facilities
• Price & deal terms to acquire a bitcoin mining facility in Texas
• The business of hosting bitcoin miners
• Why it's difficult to buy miners
• The business of reselling bitcoin miners
• How the crypto winter has affected profitability
• Crazy story of partnering with the late John McAfee

Links & how to reach Chris:

• Mining Syndicate (Chris's bitcoin mining facility)
• Video tour of Mining Syndicate
• Bizy
• John McAfee's tweet of Chris's project No BS
• John McAfee interview by the Australian film crew (filmed the day Chris visited)
• LinkedIn

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

Trevor Boehm shares how Saturn Five started as a venture studio but found buying small businesses a better model. 

Topics in Trevor's interview:

• First rule of holdcos: Do No Harm
• Benefits of buying businesses in a single geography
• What makes for a good owner-operator?
• How Saturn Five finds operators
• Loneliness as owner-operator of a small business
• Great hack for new owner-operators
• Why "boring" businesses aren't boring
• Advice to someone considering buying a small business
• Advice to entrepreneurs wanting to build a holdco
• Who is Saturn Five (and why you haven't heard of them)

Links & how to contact Trevor:

• Saturn Five
• Acquiring Minds episode with Andrew Harbin discussing loneliness as a new SMB owner [at 1:02:10]
• Acquiring Minds episode with Cassi Neikamp discussing building an industry mastermind to combat loneliness & speed learning [at 58:19]
• LinkedIn

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