Acquiring Minds Getting Unstuck by Buying a Business
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Dec 22, 2025 Christian Bateson, an acquisition entrepreneur and former Wall Street analyst, shares his incredible journey from the financial crisis to buying Resolute Construction Cleanup Services. He reveals the qualities that make a top salesperson and how business acquisition helped him escape a miserable career. Christian discusses the challenges of hiring in construction, lessons from his second acquisition, and his ambitious $100 million revenue goal. He emphasizes the transformative power of small business ownership and the importance of leaning into one's strengths.
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Interview Multiple SBA Lenders
- Shop SBA lenders and walk away from ones that demand unacceptable collateral; alternate lenders will have different underwriting appetites.
- Use relationships and brokers to find lenders aligned with your terms rather than accepting the first 'no'.
COVID Hit But Resilience Followed
- COVID collapsed construction work and revenue fell about 30% in 2020, leaving 35 idle employees and high uncertainty.
- PPP and SBA assistance plus recovered AR helped the company survive until projects returned in 2021–2022.
One Big Contract Can Multiply Revenue
- Winning one large, atypical contract (a data‑center continuous-clean program) can transform revenue and scale rapidly.
- Growing businesses create different operational challenges than stable or declining ones, especially hiring and new skill needs.
