I chatted with Brian Wolfe, an expert on M&A from all levels - he worked as a partner at a big law firm for 17 years, helping to close huge deals. Now he's in the world of ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition). He helps searchers get started, and he's bought some businesses himself - including a rollup of marketing SaaS businesses. Brian gives a masterclass on buying businesses.

Highlights:

0:58 Going from lawyer to investor
9:25 Rolling up marketing software businesses
19:33 Selling the rollup
26:51 Earnouts in M&A (good or bad idea?)
33:18 Multiple expansion is the 8th wonder of the world
36:43 Personal guarantees
42:20 Sieva's first deals
44:12 Brian's current business, Funded Ventures

Connect with Sieva:

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

Connect with Brian

LinkedIn:   https://linkedin.com/in/brianwolfe
Website: https://fundedventures.com

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

I chatted with Jeremy Yamaguchi, an entrepreneur who's built many empires in home services: with home cleaning first, then lawncare, and now pool services. We talk about the economics of the home service business models he's worked in, how he acquires pool service companies, and how he's scaled to over $100 million in GMV. Watch this video if you want to build a home service empire. And if you're selling a pool company, contact Jeremy through his website cabanapools.com

0:35 Why Jeremy loves home service businesses
4:35 Growing the lawn care marketplace
7:40 How to grow home service businesses
16:54 AI in home services
18:31 Buying pool companies
23:50 Different home service verticals
28:02 Raising VC money
31:49 How much is a pool business worth?


Connect with Sieva:

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

Connect with Jeremy:

X: https://x.com/jeremyyamaguchi
Website:  https://cabanapools.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

Today I sit down with Chris Edwards, who bought a flooring business in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He bought the business for $1.7 million, grew revenue by 50%, and doubled SDE (seller discretionary earnings). He then exited the business after about 3 years, earning himself a 24X return on his invested capital (most of the deal was financed with SBA debt, so he was able to make a large return on his down payment).

Highlights:

5:19 Getting into ETA
7:17 Chris' search criteria
9:54 How long did the search take?
13:56 Process of buying the business
17:04 Structure of the deal
20:21 How he improved the business
22:50 First 6 months was a knife fight
27:30 Why deals go bad
34:15 Exiting the business


Connect with Sieva:

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

Connect with Chris:

X: https://x.com/toph_edwards
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-edwards-44664052

Esteban Reyes talks with me about how he's built and sold 3 companies, and how he invests in other startups through his VC fund. His first business was a software company that helped banks identify fraud. He eventually signed over 400 banks as clients and sold the business - and he didn't even know what venture capital was when he started the business.

0:54 Becoming an Operator & Investor
4:31 Esteban's risk profile when investing
9:32 Going into a new industry (buying schools)
21:28 Economics of buying schools
33:02 Applying AI to roll-ups
43:21 AI for law firms - why it can't work


Connect with Sieva:

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

Connect with Esteban:

X: https://x.com/57cap
Website: https://www.zenda.vc/

Rafael Quinn is the co-founder of Alternative Holdings, a holding company with 9 portfolio companies in a variety of industries. In this interview, Rafael explains how he started a holdco by accident nearly 15 years ago. Rafael and his partner started by just buying one company, but soon found more attractive opportunities.

0:29 How he accidentally started a holding company
6:24 The first acquisition
9:25 Why not focus on one industry?
15:21 Structure of his HoldCo & how they get capital for deals
24:03 Investing criteria
33:30 Retaining the old owner
38:07 Restaurant companies
50:29 Plumbing companies

Connect with Sieva:

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

Connect with Rafael:

X: https://www.alternativeholdings.com/
Website: https://www.alternativeholdings.com/

Today I speak with Moses Kagan, a real estate investor and operator in Los Angeles. Moses goes over some specific real estate deals he's done, including how he got started with a rundown, half-renovated apartment building in east Los Angeles. Moses manages hundreds of millions in real estate and has the battle scars to prove it.

0:00 Introductions

0:55 His first deal

12:35 How to find tenants

16:40 Quitting his job

27:20 Math on new acquisitions

30:20 Seeding new real estate operator

35:30 How much should you pay for a deal?

44:30 Your own capital vs. other people's money

1:05:40 One of Moses' first deal

1:17:10 Immigrant stories

👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: https://x.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/

👉 Connect with Moses

Website: https://kagansblog.com/
https://x.com/moseskagan

Connor Tomkies sold his business for a mid-8 figure payout to private equity. In this conversation, he explains how he sold SupportNinja, including how he hired an investment banker/broker, how he negotiated the fee for the banker, and how he made sure to get top dollar for his company.

Highlights:

0:38 Introduction
1:11 The process of selling the business
2:57 Fees
4:30 Public Comps
5:15 How do you position a business to sell?
6:10 Choosing a buyer

In this interview I chat with logistics entrepreneur Craig Fuller, who owns a data company and dozens of media properties related to logistics and transportation. Over the last few years, he's acquired a portfolio of print magazine publications, including Flying Magazine. But his business model isn't just selling ads; its capturing an interested audience and selling them what they really want directly. One of those things is a fly-in/fly-out community in Tennessee with a runway, resort, several homes, and offices. Take a listen to hear how Craig makes acquisitions, how he raises money in a unique way, and why his partnership with Kim Kardashian didn't work out.

2:27 Craig's businesses and team
11:03 How to raise money and finance acquisitions in a unique way
17:40 Craig's portfolio of companies, real estate, and investments
19:50 The media business model - How magazines actually make money
28:40 The influencer business model, Kim Kardashian's credit card, and the economics of owning a magazine
46:00 Buying traditional publishing companies - Sieva's purchase of Scribe
49:50 Building a resort and pilot community
54:30 Is Craig the next secretary of transportation?

Mike Beckham built Simple Modern into a $200 million/year e-commerce brand. I chat with him about how he got started, another business ventures he had (including talking his brother out of buying $1 million of Bitcoin in 2012).

Mike teaches entrepreneurship and business to students and others, so watch this entire episode if you want to start a business. Mike will show you the way!

0:00 Intro
5:17 How did Mike become an entrepreneur?
9:10 Mike's entrepreneurship lessons
18:22 Entrepreneurial parenting
22:31 How to start a business
25:48 His brother's auction website ($1 billion in sales)
32:38 Almost inventing Candy Crush
35:15 Amazon suspending his account
42:06 How Simple Modern changed over the last 4 years
43:58 Treating employees well
59:04 Who does Mike look up to?



👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/

👉 Connect with Mike

X: https://x.com/mikebeckhamsm
Company: https://www.simplemodern.com/

In today’s episode Boring Businesses, I’m joined by Khai Nguyen, Founder of Powers Gymnastics, the largest multi-vertical acquisition firm in U.S. youth sports, and investor in several companies like OpenSea, Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, and Ignite Tournaments.

Khai shares insights from his journey from working on Wall Street to buying and operating 20+ businesses, his approach to building rapport with business owners, and how he built an empire of gymnastics studios across the United States. 

Timestamps:

00:00 Khai’s journey from homeless to business owner
05:29 Going into Wall Street
08:25 Transitioning to entrepreneurship
10:30 How to build rapport with business owners
15:50 What worked and what didn’t work for Khai
20:31 How Khai came up with the idea for Powers Gymnastics
26:10 Scaling the gymnastics business
33:50 Launching the Ninja Warrior program
37:00 Biggest lessons from growing a business 

👉 Connect with Sieva

Website: www.sievakozinsky.com
X: twitter.com/SievaKozinsky
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skozinsky/
Substack: www.thebusinessacademy.substack.com/ 


👉 Connect with Khai

Instagram: www.instagram.com/passportkhai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguyenkhai/