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Discuss acquisition entrepreneurship as a Fastlane launch point...

USN-Ken

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Exactly this.

  • Hey, somebody was able to talk a retiring couple into seller financing for a car wash!
  • Someone bought some land in Joshua Tree and did a HipCamp on it!
  • Someone bought ice vending machines!
  • etc.

Her model seems to be this: "Find someone retiring, get them to do seller-financing, structure the deal so you don't have to put up any of your money, step 4: ????, step 5: profit!" It's like, yeah, no shit, but HOW do you do that? She didn't do it, other people did. From what I gather, she made her money in cannabis.

Cool, these are nice ideas and I'm motivated to find something I like that I want to get into, but she has little to zero knowledge of any of these areas and telling me someone made money in them doesn't make me want to buy her courses or pay to join her group.

Her latest email was about a guy that turned the crochet needle market upside down with handmade needles (furls). Okay, cool. Guy found a need and filled it. She's never done that, though. I can see that she's trying to profile people that do something different ("contrarian" is the name of the newsletter).

She also spouts some right-wing nonsense and I don't want to see politics in my inbox when I'm just looking at how to get out of the rat race by being an owner/creator and looking for like-minded people. I may unsubscribe for this reason (I'd do the same for ANY political bent because that's not what I signed up for).

I paid for Rob's web dev Legends course because I am interested and skilled in that and he demonstrably was successful in it personally. THAT is content I'll pay for (and I've already earned back the cost of the course).

I paid for another course on how to buy and flip websites from a guy that's done lots and lots of them, and I'm working through that now. Maybe some of the info is the same (use SBA loans, use seller financing, etc.) but it's targeted and specific and he's personally done it, which is what I'm willing to pay for.

MJ is all about, "I did this and you can do it, too!" and wrote books about it. I guess that's the sort of thing I like and she doesn't come across as THAT to me.
I mean, that’s a great point:

She *is* profiling the success stories of others.

How can I replicate that …and profile the success of others and essentially sell case studies?

Love the concept.
 
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MTF

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Assuming this is general acquisition talk, I've been exploring the world of micro acquisitions. These are usually very small deals (less than $50k, often less than $10k) for various online assets. Some of these can be scaled into proper businesses and some are more like strategic acquisitions to grow your primary business.

Two notable micro acquisitions platforms are:

For a few months already I've been tempted to invest in something like that and see where it takes me. The risk is low (considering many of these are sold for less than $10k, unlike regular acquisitions that usually require $100k+) and the upside can be pretty high.
 

garyfritz

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About 10 years ago I went to some Harv Eker courses. One of the speakers was Keith Cunningham, supposedly Kiyosaki‘s original Rich Dad mentor. He was flogging a course to teach you how to buy a business. Naturally he made it sound like an easy way to riches. I talked to him for a while and tried to figure out how you would actually buy a business that would return a decent income. I mean, nobody’s going to sell you a business for $10k that clears $1 million/year profit.

As far as I can tell, sellers usually value their business so that its current profits produce maybe 10-20% return on your purchase price. So basically it’s just a risky investment, and unless you can do something to greatly expand the business over what the previous owners did, you’re just buying a 10-20% return. And probably a full-time job.

Cunningham didn’t do anything to convince me otherwise. I’m sure there are opportunities out there, but you have to know how to run a business so you can grow it beyond what the seller managed to accomplish with the business. If you don’t, the business will probably wither.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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and unless you can do something to greatly expand the business over what the previous owners did,

I think that's the point of acquisition entrepreneurship, you take a poorly managed business and tweak marketing and operations so the business no longer makes $3K a month, it makes $10K. Boom, instant ROI in terms of selling valuation. The key is to spot these hidden gems. There are probably aplenty as some business owners are just burnt-out and want to sell. A fresh perspective is all it takes, especially if the owner is a boomer or a Luddite who refuses to accept technological advances.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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Assuming this is general acquisition talk, I've been exploring the world of micro acquisitions. These are usually very small deals (less than $50k, often less than $10k) for various online assets. Some of these can be scaled into proper businesses and some are more like strategic acquisitions to grow your primary business.

Two notable micro acquisitions platforms are:

For a few months already I've been tempted to invest in something like that and see where it takes me. The risk is low (considering many of these are sold for less than $10k, unlike regular acquisitions that usually require $100k+) and the upside can be pretty high.
Do it and write a progress thread :)

I haven’t acquired anything besides stock and real estate so far and I’m dying to dip my toes into this. This is fastlane investing. Heck, it’s not investing, it’s just business!

I’m sure many here would love to read that like the thread by doitman (couldn’t find him to tag).

I’m still looking. I’ve actually found a local RV park that was a solid contender. Don’t have the cash to do it myself though. Smarter people than I wouldn’t let that stop them. You guys reading this can do it too!!

I hope all of you do, get filthy rich, and keep it out of the portfolio of Blackstone and foreign investment funds.
 

Knuffix

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Assuming this is general acquisition talk, I've been exploring the world of micro acquisitions. These are usually very small deals (less than $50k, often less than $10k) for various online assets. Some of these can be scaled into proper businesses and some are more like strategic acquisitions to grow your primary business.

Two notable micro acquisitions platforms are:

For a few months already I've been tempted to invest in something like that and see where it takes me. The risk is low (considering many of these are sold for less than $10k, unlike regular acquisitions that usually require $100k+) and the upside can be pretty high.

The only problem with those sites is that the multiples are way too high for the profit / revenue figures. Even if you are doing say 10k a year in recurring profits, doesn't really justify a purchase price of 70-80k. These are the kinds of multiples that you would pay for a fully grown SaaS with good systems, plenty of customers and employees. If it was doing 500k-1m recurring revenue per year, a 7-8x multiple would be the norm.

About 10 years ago I went to some Harv Eker courses. One of the speakers was Keith Cunningham, supposedly Kiyosaki‘s original Rich Dad mentor. He was flogging a course to teach you how to buy a business. Naturally he made it sound like an easy way to riches. I talked to him for a while and tried to figure out how you would actually buy a business that would return a decent income. I mean, nobody’s going to sell you a business for $10k that clears $1 million/year profit.

As far as I can tell, sellers usually value their business so that its current profits produce maybe 10-20% return on your purchase price. So basically it’s just a risky investment, and unless you can do something to greatly expand the business over what the previous owners did, you’re just buying a 10-20% return. And probably a full-time job.

Cunningham didn’t do anything to convince me otherwise. I’m sure there are opportunities out there, but you have to know how to run a business so you can grow it beyond what the seller managed to accomplish with the business. If you don’t, the business will probably wither.

What they value and what they get are vastly different. Most of the businesses that are sold in the US get a 2-3x multiple on their EBIT, so the buyer would get a 33-50% yearly return on their purchase. And most of the price paid is usually deferred over a couple of years with a 10-20% down payment.

Multiples of 5-10 are mostly for bigger companies in a stable industry or established SaaS companies. I think PE firms target companies where they pay like multiples of 8-15.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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The only problem with those sites is that the multiples are way too high for the profit / revenue figures. Even if you are doing say 10k a year in recurring profits, doesn't really justify a purchase price of 70-80k. These are the kinds of multiples that you would pay for a fully grown SaaS with good systems, plenty of customers and employees. If it was doing 500k-1m recurring revenue per year, a 7-8x multiple would be the norm.
You might try negotiating with the sellers. I have no idea if those guys actually find buyers for their tiny businesses at those high multiples. I'm sure some do, and some do not.
 
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Two Dog

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The only problem with those sites is that the multiples are way too high for the profit / revenue figures. Even if you are doing say 10k a year in recurring profits, doesn't really justify a purchase price of 70-80k. These are the kinds of multiples that you would pay for a fully grown SaaS with good systems, plenty of customers and employees. If it was doing 500k-1m recurring revenue per year, a 7-8x multiple would be the norm.
Those would be pretty optimistic valuations.

I've looked at a bunch of businesses for sale over the years while playing around with the idea of selling my own. Small business with a real-world presence (e.g. services, storefront, restaurant) would typically be valued at 3x annual owner takeout (not EBITA). The vast majority of these are under $1M in annual sales and generally aren't worth having a professional business valuation. Heck, you'd be fortunate to find reliable financial statements at all. Specifically, there's only about 35,000 - 45,000 US businesses grossing over $1M vs. 30M - 32M total US businesses.

The idea is to count every penny the owner put into their own pockets regardless of tax consequence. You'd have salary and distributions plus things like insurance, car allowance, phone allowance and even a good chunk of travel expenses since those are often mostly personal trips for a lifestyle business. Fixtures, inventory, leases, etc. would be added to the 3x multiple.

Here's a decent summary:

SaaS / online business valuations can be significantly higher. Established sites with longevity and strong growth might sell for 4x - 5x owner takeout (although it's usually listed as a multiple of MRR, not annual), but 30x - 40x is more typical. You can find tiny ones for 3x - 12x (not a typo), but really have to start worrying about scams with fraudulent financial statements, markets that are about to run dry, partnerships that will expire and artificially inflated sales figures (last quarters numbers exploded because something unusual happened). There's plenty of ways to hack the numbers to make it look legitimate.

In the end, that's why I've always decided to keep running my own SaaS business. The numbers just don't make sense for selling it. If you're clearing $20K monthly (and that's a pretty significant takeout), the business might sell for $750,000 with 20 - 30% going to taxes and broker fees. I'd rather have $20K in largely passive income each month. There's no place I can invest that would generate those kinds of returns except for another SaaS business.

Like MJ pointed out, the sweet spot for an acquisition is probably $1K - $5K MRR. That's well under the radar for private equity and small enough that doubling the monthly revenue is feasible. Aside from cash, you really have to understand the niche and have a plan for increasing revenue. Doable, not easy.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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off topic from the thread, but Codie Sanchez's newsletter is really good today. She dives into some stuff about the history of investing, Dodd-Frank, accreditation, and it's very eye-opening.

The acquisition stuff is still very smart IMO.

Great quote: "By protecting investors from themselves we’re asking the SEC to become our parents. Keep out bad actors, hold them accountable but instead of telling someone what they can and can’t invest in, maybe instead we TEACH them how to invest."
 

Ocean Man

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That's actually the best part! The low down payment makes it really attractive and I would swear by this.

The part that is really iffy to me is where she starts going off on this acquisition and roll up track, like you're going to start accumulating dozens of these businesses... Just getting one to run without your daily oversight is going to be quite a feat, because most businesses and business owners are chained together.

However, that is the goal of the fastlane if there ever was one, as far as I can tell.

Usually if a business is truly absentee, it's going to be priced sky high from the beginning. Is this my limiting belief?

Ok, so I would actually totally do this if I were anyone reading this and was not already part of a business (I'm still researching this anyway).

Find a business to buy, get your financial house in order, talk to lenders, research SBA financing, make sure the business you are looking at either meets CENTS or could meet CENTS in the future, and then go for it!

I think this is an incredible opportunity and honestly it's one that's been bothering me too, despite being tied to what I said already.

That 10% down, even 5% down, potential is MASSIVE leverage to get you started on your fastlane journey.

We are talking about an investment where you could immediately have 10 times or 20 times leverage.
Funny how I found this thread! I recently picked up the book "Buy then build" by Walker Deibel, and I'm really starting to consider acquisition being an approach for my first business! Of course, there are the worries of not having an actual business experience so I'd have a lot to learn and figure out. And it won't be easy.

I'm going to keep learning more about what's required when it comes to loans, finding a deal, etc... But this route may be the route I take. :)
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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Funny how I found this thread! I recently picked up the book "Buy then build" by Walker Deibel, and I'm really starting to consider acquisition being an approach for my first business! Of course, there are the worries of not having an actual business experience so I'd have a lot to learn and figure out. And it won't be easy.

I'm going to keep learning more about what's required when it comes to loans, finding a deal, etc... But this route may be the route I take. :)
Think of it this way: do you have a job? Are you going to have a job anyway? Why not make it a job where you show up every day somewhere you’re in control and the bottom line profits are yours?

I don’t see it as being passive but you can grind through the learning process, painfully, by putting in more time and effort. No passive investment let’s you do that.
 

Hong_Kong

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Has anyone read Codie Sanchez's blog about private equity and/or buying businesses? Seems massively oversimplified, but also like the right track (acquisitions in general).

Can't believe the prices these "gurus" charge for courses, though.

MODERATOR NOTE:
Feel free to discuss acquisition entrepreneurship as a means for Fastlane entry...
Discuss business brokers, strategy, SBA loans, or more.
SBA makes it harder on yourself. Don't use a broker either. Directly contact sellers. Your goal should be to get 100% seller finance. Only works with motivated sellers, but it only takes 1 deal.

The broker just wants to get paid. Look at brokers to see what type of biz are in your area and what the numbers are like. Then find a list of these companies, and talk to the owner directly.

There is a reason so many PE guys end up buying a biz. Buying cashflow is easier than building it.

Its not 'easy' though. Its a massive amount of work doing that many cold calls, and then running the biz successfully isn't 'easy' either.

There are many solid books on this topic. I would recommend the one by Harvard Business Review (How to buy a small business). It outlines this exact process, but also shows you how to get funding by outside investors so you can even pay yourself a salary while searching for the biz. (Called a search fund btw).
 

Hong_Kong

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I think that's the point of acquisition entrepreneurship, you take a poorly managed business and tweak marketing and operations so the business no longer makes $3K a month, it makes $10K. Boom, instant ROI in terms of selling valuation. The key is to spot these hidden gems. There are probably aplenty as some business owners are just burnt-out and want to sell. A fresh perspective is all it takes, especially if the owner is a boomer or a Luddite who refuses to accept technological advances.
I've seen it argued otherwise. The recipe I've seen replicated the most is to buy cashflowing companies with large moats. This limits your downside risk, and use leverage to buy the biz with minimal cash input (preferably seller financing). Going after turnarounds has high upside but high downside.


The Harvard book on this topic I mentioned in this thread above recommends against going after turnarounds. They call the class of companies I'm describing "enduringly profitable".

The best case scenario is the business owner is close to retirement, no succession plan in place. This model depends on motivated sellers. If they have health problems and have to do something fast, that's ideal as grim as that sounds.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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SBA makes it harder on yourself. Don't use a broker either. Directly contact sellers. Your goal should be to get 100% seller finance. Only works with motivated sellers, but it only takes 1 deal.

The broker just wants to get paid. Look at brokers to see what type of biz are in your area and what the numbers are like. Then find a list of these companies, and talk to the owner directly.

There is a reason so many PE guys end up buying a biz. Buying cashflow is easier than building it.

Its not 'easy' though. Its a massive amount of work doing that many cold calls, and then running the biz successfully isn't 'easy' either.

There are many solid books on this topic. I would recommend the one by Harvard Business Review (How to buy a small business). It outlines this exact process, but also shows you how to get funding by outside investors so you can even pay yourself a salary while searching for the biz. (Called a search fund btw).
seems like good advice. I know several businesses that were owned by PE though that failed miserably after being acquired; the "good ol' boys" who sold to them seemed to know a lot more about it than the buyers did.

That being said, this is something we all need to learn more about. What I am most interested in is finding a business to buy that would not require me to quit the business I am already in. I'm sure everyone here would like that.
 

Hong_Kong

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seems like good advice. I know several businesses that were owned by PE though that failed miserably after being acquired; the "good ol' boys" who sold to them seemed to know a lot more about it than the buyers did.

That being said, this is something we all need to learn more about. What I am most interested in is finding a business to buy that would not require me to quit the business I am already in. I'm sure everyone here would like that.
As in PE bought them then it failed? If you get 100% seller finance, and the business fails, who cares? You can pay yourself a salary on the way down, and tell the seller screw you, sue me. They foreclose on the biz, and have to run it again. If you targeted a truly motivated seller, they won't be able to do this.

If you meant someone bought a biz from PE and it failed, makes sense PE guys will screw you over out of principle and laugh about it. I would try to avoid doing business with them.

I have contacts from someone doing two deals right now (not a PE guy he is on his own). One is in the 9 figure range, the other I'm not sure. Public companies used as financing, as well as private capital (none of his money). The one deal has been in court for years with the seller, sued by other companies etc. The people that do this are tough as nails, and almost love to fight it out in court it seems. It doesn't make sense when someone controls 9 figure companies and they say they will sue you all the way to the supreme court over ten grand.

My ultimate game plan is to focus on business acquisitions long-term.

Currently we are about to go through the largest transfer of assets in human history. Millions of baby boomers around the world will be ready to retire. Millions companies in boring dated industries that are too small to IPO, or for big-time PE. When their kids are incompetent or lazy, can't run a business and there is no ownership transition plan in place.

When those millions of businesses change hands, I will be right there to capture a piece of the action.
 

Ocean Man

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Think of it this way: do you have a job? Are you going to have a job anyway? Why not make it a job where you show up every day somewhere you’re in control and the bottom line profits are yours?

I don’t see it as being passive but you can grind through the learning process, painfully, by putting in more time and effort. No passive investment let’s you do that.
I agree. I don't expect anything passive and I don't necessarily want anything passive at this early stage of my life. I'd like to learn and become better.

My worry (or excuse) is that I don't understand how to read P&Ls, basic accounting things, or basic business stuff. But at the same time... I believe I can learn any and all of that. Instead of focusing on the 1000s of problems ahead, just focus on the single problem in front of you and solve that. But once again, once you acquire a business, you're the CEO suddenly. You're going to be dealing with all these problems right away. This is where I would learn and grow though.


I've seen it argued otherwise. The recipe I've seen replicated the most is to buy cashflowing companies with large moats. This limits your downside risk, and use leverage to buy the biz with minimal cash input (preferably seller financing). Going after turnarounds has high upside but high downside.


The Harvard book on this topic I mentioned in this thread above recommends against going after turnarounds. They call the class of companies I'm describing "enduringly profitable".

The best case scenario is the business owner is close to retirement, no succession plan in place. This model depends on motivated sellers. If they have health problems and have to do something fast, that's ideal as grim as that sounds.
I'm not sure if "enduringly profitable" is a common term, but I also found that in "Buy then build" in one of the charts.
 
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FillyCheez

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I have a window cleaning business that I am currently growing through acquisitions.

I'm buying small, owner-operated businesses, that are not very systemized, then folding them into my bigger, systemized business. Basically, I'm buying someones job, since these businesses often have no employees and have heavy owner involvement. Since I'm buying "jobs", I can buy them for very cheap, and they instantly become more valuable once they become part of my company. We are often able to raise prices, follow up with past customer in their databases, and create recurring services to multiply the revenue from these purchases.

This all sounds easy when I condense it into a paragraph like this, but theres a ton of headaches involved. Its not easy, but it IS a great strategy. It's certainly possible to acquire businesses, but I wouldn't say its as simple as getting a loan and BAM, you're in business.

Regarding Codie, I have a friend that was featured in her newsletter, and he told me she over-exaggerated a lot of his accomplishments. She has lots of good content, but take it all with a grain of salt. There is no easy money in this world, everything comes with some kind of cost.
 

jdm667

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I have a window cleaning business that I am currently growing through acquisitions.

I'm buying small, owner-operated businesses, that are not very systemized, then folding them into my bigger, systemized business. Basically, I'm buying someones job, since these businesses often have no employees and have heavy owner involvement. Since I'm buying "jobs", I can buy them for very cheap, and they instantly become more valuable once they become part of my company. We are often able to raise prices, follow up with past customer in their databases, and create recurring services to multiply the revenue from these purchases.

This all sounds easy when I condense it into a paragraph like this, but theres a ton of headaches involved. Its not easy, but it IS a great strategy. It's certainly possible to acquire businesses, but I wouldn't say its as simple as getting a loan and BAM, you're in business.

Good for you on following through with this strategy. It sounds like you are starting to dial in a system for your business growth.

When did you start buying other window cleaning companies? At what point did you feel "ready" to tackle an acquisition?

Also, what is the biggest headache when you acquire one of these businesses? (financing the purchase, lack of accounting by previous owner, poor customer records, fitting the new company into your systems, ...)
 

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Good for you on following through with this strategy. It sounds like you are starting to dial in a system for your business growth.

When did you start buying other window cleaning companies? At what point did you feel "ready" to tackle an acquisition?

Also, what is the biggest headache when you acquire one of these businesses? (financing the purchase, lack of accounting by previous owner, poor customer records, fitting the new company into your systems, ...)

Good for you on following through with this strategy. It sounds like you are starting to dial in a system for your business growth.

When did you start buying other window cleaning companies? At what point did you feel "ready" to tackle an acquisition?

Also, what is the biggest headache when you acquire one of these businesses? (financing the purchase, lack of accounting by previous owner, poor customer records, fitting the new company into your systems, ...)
I started the process of acquiring companies in the middle of last year. After spending about a year and a half making my business more systemized, I felt way more confident that I could absorb other companies into mine.

The biggest headaches are lack of records, logistics, lack of automation, and pricing. Lack of good records makes it really hard to "reactivate" their old customers and generate additional revenue, and just makes it really hard to stay organized in general. For window cleaning in particular, logistics is super important. Sometimes a company we acquire has customers all over the place, so we need to prune customers. Pricing can be a big challenge if the company was charging below market rates, which is often the case for owner-operators. WHen we service old customers, sometimes we find that the pricing has been way too low, and we lose money on that one service.

A lack of automation has been a huge headache for us for one particular acquisition. The company had a lot of small, repeat commercial clients (which are great!), which they sent out invoices for manually. It take a lot of work to create these invoices, so we are looking to implement solutions for this ASAP
 
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Get Right

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The key is to spot these hidden gems.
If I can expand on this a little. I think the real way to make this work is to actually buy/start a business brokerage. You get to pick the cream of the crop businesses before they hit the market.

I vetted a few and may do it one day.
 

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By the way for anyone doing this method I would solidly recommend building a board of advisors before contacting sellers. Ie: Find experts in the target industry, and offer them (small) equity stake in the holding company. People that are either management or retired owners. Offer these people the passive income stream in exchange for their expertise and their credentials. Lets say as an example you find 2 industry experts one who worked for 20 years, you have your lawyer, and accountants (lets say both 20 years experience) you can advertise 80 years of experience on your board when you talk to sellers.

My long term strategy is acquisitions. One thing I've been doing is finding groups out there that do acquisitions for various industries and saving their website, and marketing materials. I've found several groups that have done many deals from over a dozen industries.

Check out West 88 Partners as an example of how to market this style of business.
 

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If I can expand on this a little. I think the real way to make this work is to actually buy/start a business brokerage. You get to pick the cream of the crop businesses before they hit the market.

I vetted a few and may do it one day.

This thread talks about something similar... interesting idea!
 
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MJ DeMarco

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