The SMB Deal Hunter Podcast How These 2 Partners Met on Craigslist & Ended Up Buying 15 Companies Together | Joe Van Deman and Colin King
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Dec 19, 2025 Colin King, a finance-focused acquisition entrepreneur with accounting and PE experience, and Joe Van Deman, a serial acquirer who scales small businesses, share their unlikely Craigslist meeting and how they bought 15 companies together. They recount buying an overnight auto-parts delivery route, surviving brutal hands-on nights, hiring operators at odd hours, flipping to PE, and their repeatable sourcing, diligence, and operator-first scaling playbook.
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Pay And Empower Strong Operators
- Hire experienced operators and give them autonomy rather than micromanaging.
- Pay appropriately and align bonuses to performance like uptime and minimal downtime.
Workability And Remote Flexibility Matter
- They learned to assess whether they're willing to do the actual work the business requires.
- They also optimized for businesses that allow remote or flexible operation when possible.
Prioritize Cashflow To Go Full-Time
- Solve for cashflow early so you can go full-time and reinvest.
- Run multiple parallel deal processes to increase chances of closing enough cashflow-generating businesses.