Business Buying Academy

I chatted with Steve Keller, who bought two crime scene cleanup companies and sold them for $5.8 million in less than a year. This is one of the most unique business models I've ever seen, and Steve gave me a masterclass on margins, challenges, and how to run a crime scene cleanup business. 

1:28 Working as a sports cameraman
3:40 Buying the first business
8:01 The second and larger business
10:09 Running the new business
22:03 How he financed the purchases
26:30 Red flags to watch for in buying SMBs
33:58 Economics of crime scene cleanup

Connect with Sieva:

X: https://x.com/sievakozinsky
Website: https://sievakozinksy.com

Connect with Steve:

X https://x.com/stevekeller3
Website: https://franvestor.com/

Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

I chatted with Jake Wurzak, CEO of DoveHill, a business that develops and invests in hotels. Jake told me about how he invests in hotels, a joint venture that almost went terribly wrong, and he even critiques the hotel we recently bought in Montauk, NY. 

Highlights:

5:03 Jake's first deal
12:44 A deal that went bad
20:48 Making mistakes (and why they're necessary)
22:10 Hotels as an asset class - What does Jake like about them?
30:07 Investing in an NYC hotel
37:02 Jake reviews Sieva's hotel
44:20 How Jake markets the hotels
50:07 Where is the hotel business going?

Connect with Sieva:

X: https://x.com/sievakozinsky
Website: https://sievakozinksy.com

Connect with Jake:

X: https://x.com/JWurzak
Website: https://jakewurzak.com

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Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

I chatted with Patrick Dichter, owner of Appletree. He walked me through how he purchased his first business, an accounting firm, for $1.3 million, and how he acquired 2 more tuck-in business acquisitions. We go over the wins, like how he's grown topline by 3.5x, and the losses, like how he lost 40% of revenue in one day on one of those tuck-in acquisitions.

Patrick also helps business buyers evaluate the quality of earnings in businesses they're looking at, so he gave us some helpful advice on evaluating SMBs for sale.

Watch this one if you're interested in buying a business, especially an accounting or professional services firm. 

Connect with Patrick:

Website: https://appletreebusiness.com/
X: https://x.com/patrickdichter

Connect with Sieva:

X: https://x.com/sievakozinsky
Website: https://sievakozinksy.com

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Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

I chatted with Jeffrey Jaeger, co-founder of Standard Communities. They manage $5 billion in assets with a portfolio of 190 properties. He told me how he got started in the business, how he found his initial niche, and tons of secret tips on how to buy, analyze, and manage real estate. Watch this one if you want to build your own real estate portfolio.

0:00 How he picked apartments over retail, offices, industrial
3:10 A word from Vesto
6:23 Buying 15,000 apartment units & finding a niche
11:54 Looking at investments in Ukraine
21:18 When you're forced to shift strategies
38:29 Dangers of partnerships & personal guarantees
47:54 The risks of every deal (but it gets easier)
1:00:19 The team & developing leaders

Connect with Sieva:

X: https://x.com/sievakozinsky
Website: https://sievakozinsky.com

Connect with Jeffrey:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-jaeger-bb48b43/
Website: https://standard-communities.com/

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Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

I chatted with Logan Leslie, CEO of Northern Rock. He owns dozens of automotive shops across the Southeast with more than $150 million + in annual revenue. Logan chatted with me about why he started a holding company, how he did his first deal, and dozens of other lessons from building his empire. 

Here are some of my favorite parts:

3:53 A message from Vesto

4:55 Why start a holding company?

9:47 Why the automotive industry?

15:08 First acquisition lessons

24:02 How he funded his first deal

29:32 How to fund your second deal (and beyond)

39:46 Sale leasebacks

44:16 Keep the old owner of the business around?

Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

I spoked with Bryan Rand, CEO of Rand & Co, who owns 9 platform businesses with $400 million in total revenue. Bryan breaks down how he buys businesses, the wild story of how he started a fuel delivery business, and how he teaches his kids entrepreneurship and investing.

My favorite parts:

3:32 How he got started in investing
10:40 Bryan's first deal: Buying a cigar lounge in Atlanta
13:05 Best advice for getting started buying businesses
19:07 Starting a fuel delivery business
36:30 Balancing businesses with his family life
30:00 Teaching his kids entrepreneurship
31:20 Growth partner model
33:35 How Bryan buys legacy businesses
44:45 Why Bryan prefers majority stakes


Connect with Sieva:

X: https://sievakozinsky.com
LinkedIn:   / skozinsky  
Newsletter: https://www.sievakozinsky.com/

Connect with Bryan:

Website: https://rand-co.com/


Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

I chatted with Aaron Harper, CEO of Rolling Suds Power Washing, about how he scaled a small $2 million/year local business into a 77-location franchise system in just 2 years. Aaron tells me about why the home service wave is coming to an end - and what's next in the "boring business" space: Commercial services. 

Aaron's franchisees wash office buildings, apartments, and even famous football stadiums. And there's a huge opportunity in commercial services that many are missing right now. 

Here are some of the highlights of our conversation: 
2:51 Power washing a football stadium 
5:21 An underrated way to grow boring businesses 
10:27 How the franchise business model works 
16:35 Home service rollups 
20:04 Forget home services - think commercial services 
25:49 Should I franchise my business model? 
32:25 How do you get the first few franchisees? 
36:40 Aaron's content process 

Connect with Sieva: 
X: https://x.com/SievaKozinsky 
Website: https://sievakozinsky.com 

Connect with Aaron: 
X: https://x.com/AaronHarperCEO 
Website: http://rollingsudsfranchise.com/

I spoke with Dave Gilbert, a holding company operator who bought two different businesses over the last two years with his partner. First they bought an accounting service for $2.8 million (Note: $3.8m was mentioned during the episode, but $2.8m is the correct figure). Dave walks us through some of the legal considerations of a non-accountant buying an accounting business, including how he expanded the services. Despite all the chaos that comes in the first year of buying a business, Dave and his partner managed to grow the business by 10%. 

They also bought an engineering firm last year, and are working on finding new acquisitions. If you're interested in starting a holding company, listen to Dave's thoughtful approach to structuring deals and operating his businesses.

Thanks to Vesto for sponsoring today's episode. Visit https://vesto.com/sieva to check them out.

1:01 Starting a holding company and buying 2 businesses
3:20 A word from Vesto
4:26 Dave's previous business & exit
13:23 Buying an accounting business
24:48 Structure of the deal 
33:26 How to grow a business post-close
40:10 Buying the second business

Connect with Sieva:

X: https://sievakozinsky.com
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Newsletter: https://www.sievakozinsky.com/

Connect with Dave:

X: https://x.com/dave__gilbert

Website: https://proven.co/

Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

Gary Hoover knows more about American Business History than anyone else. He collected over 70,000 books, about half of which were business related, and studied each of them. Gary is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to business history. His expertise and passion is retailing, and he was at the center of the retail universe for most his careers. He'll talk about how he started a book retail chain that got acquired by Barnes & Noble, and his careers at several other prominent retail chains.

I could have listened to these stories for 8+ hours, but you'll have to make do with a little less than 2 hours worth of content. 

Watch this interview if you are interested in business, how great companies came to be, and why others failed.

Highlights:

0:00 Introductions
9:57 Getting into the book business
23:47 Sam Walton & what makes a great CEO
29:32 Dying retail businesses 
37:41 The art of building great malls
41:12 What would Gary work on today?
46:58 History of conglomerates and holding companies
1:09:33 Antitrust and monopolies
1:27:02 Gary's 70,000 book collection (and how he lost it)

Connect with Sieva:

X: https://sievakozinsky.com
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Newsletter: https://www.sievakozinsky.com/

Connect with Gary:

Website: https://americanbusinesshistory.org/


Want to hire top global talent? Get started with Somewhere (I'm a customer & investor) - https://hirewith.somewhere.com/sieva

 I sit down with Founder & CEO of Vesto, Benjamin Doepfner, a service we use at Enduring Ventures. We had a huge problem: Our controller had to spend hours logging into dozens of bank portals just to get the cash balances across several accounts for our 25+ businesses.

That time could have been much better spent. That's where Vesto comes in. They give you all of your company's financial accounts in one view. Vesto connects all of our banks into one simple dashboard. With real-time balances, transactions, and cash flow monitoring – we went from dozens of account logins to one.

Learn more here: https://www.vesto.com/sieva (Tell them I sent you)

Thank you to Vesto for sponsoring the Business Buying Academy.