He broke ALL the rules of acquisition and still succeeded | Walker Yarbrough

Oct 16, 2025

Walker Yarbrough, an acquisition entrepreneur and former investment banking and healthcare startup finance pro, tells a wild buying story. He buys a vending machine business, battles competitive bidders, a two-month closing delay over $200, and a rookie operator hire that quits. He fixes inventory, improves margins, adds QR feedback, and scales operations while juggling repairs and hiring challenges.

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ADVICE

Buy What You Can Understand

Do buy businesses you can understand quickly and fix if something breaks.
Walker avoided tech-heavy deals because he couldn't confidently diagnose algorithmic failures.

ADVICE

Diligence On Platform Fees

Do check platform integrations and outstanding fees during diligence to avoid closing delays.
Walker's closing stalled over a small owed amount to the NIAX platform that prevented account transfer.

INSIGHT

Low-Hanging Operational Improvements

Systematizing inventory and pricing yielded immediate margin lifts.
Walker increased gross margin ~5–6% by tracking sales data and re-pricing low-margin items.

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I’m very excited to share this week’s interview with Walker Yarbrough.

He started off with long hours in Investment Banking until he looked up at his bosses and he realized he didn’t want their job (at all).

"Even once they'd climbed the ladder, they still just didn't have a lot of control of their own time…They were doing great by a lot of standards, but in the office super late and working on weekends and traveling all the time. It was just a future I didn't see for myself."

Walker

So, Walker did what a lot of us do who want to get into ‘business’. They do literally everything under the sun, hoping something will work:

$35,000 on an Amazon automation store. Started great—days with $1,000+ in sales selling Calvin Klein cologne. Then Amazon banned the store. Money gone.
Print-on-demand t-shirts. His girlfriend had a successful Etsy shop, so why not? Too competitive. Went nowhere.
Options trading. Sometimes worked. Mostly stressful. Never consistent.
Sports betting analytics site. Got CLOSE. Almost signed the deal. Then Walker realized: "If something breaks, I don't think I'm gonna be able to fix it."

Then, he decided to simplify and buy a business he could understand.

A vending machine company with 7 locations in Atlanta. Fully owner-operated by a 75 year old who wanted to retire.

But here’s where things get interesting:
💡 Walker had to beat out an experienced vending machine company competing for the same deal.
💡 The deal got held up for 2 MONTHS over a $200 bill.
💡 And when it DID close, Walker made a classic first-timers mistake. He hired an operator to run the business and went off on vacation. Aiming for a ‘passive’ investment. Until the operator quit 3 months later.

The full story involves a panicked craiglist job hunt, Walker losing one of his biggest customers, and realizing that the business was practically run out of the previous owner’s car.

It’s a wild ride. And at the end, Walker not only succeeded but excelled. So much so, that he’s one of our new M&A advisors.

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