Acquiring Minds

Edward McDonnell, an engineer-turned-CEO who grew Botanical Designs from one Seattle branch to eight locations across five states. He discusses choosing a traditional search fund, buying and scaling an indoor-plant service, digitizing ops with CRM and EOS, expanding by acquisition and market tests, running remotely with local GMs, and exiting to private equity while staying on to lead further growth.

Scott Crosby, owner of American Services St. Louis and an acquisitions entrepreneur with roots in politics, media, and construction. He talks about buying a small HVAC/refrigeration firm, replacing most of the staff, modernizing dusty operations with software and vendors, handling early cash-flow and credit gaps, and using networking and a deal analyzer to find and value targets.

Tato Corcoran, owner of Brandt Molded Marble and entrepreneur who bought a small sink maker, shares her growth journey. She discusses scaling revenue, retooling the factory, and hiring strategies. She also talks about leadership lessons from an unlikely mentor, Profit First accounting, and balancing business ownership with real estate goals.

Don Grigg, CEO and co-owner of Big Adventures and builder of kayak and plastics brands, shares his journey buying small, broken manufacturing firms. He compares selling one business for a big payout to keeping another as a long-term family venture. He discusses scaling recycling and kayak operations, why private equity can clash with small firms, and passing the torch to the next generation.

Evan DiLeonardi, an acquisition entrepreneur who runs a commercial cleaning company and trades buy-side services for minority equity stakes. He recounts buying a rural cleaning business, surviving a brutal first year of staffing and theft, and building remote management systems. He also explains his “Equity in Kind” model: taking ~15–20% slices of SBA-style deals and scaling that into a diversified holding approach.

Paul LaJoy, a serial acquirer and CPA who built multiple home‑services businesses over 25+ years, walks through buying, scaling, and surviving downturns. He recounts first deals, partnership lessons, a cash‑crunch recovery, pivots after 2008, why he favors real estate in deals, and launching BizBuyPro to mentor other buyers.

Andrew Kurzrock, an acquisition entrepreneur who bought Hopewell Sheet Metal after careers at national labs, Yale SOM, and Amphenol, explains his owner-to-owner cold-call approach and why he targeted regional ductwork. He discusses structuring SBA deals to manage construction cyclicality, putting in ~25% equity, choosing asset sales, and a crawl-walk-run plan for smooth post-close transitions.

Ville-Matias Vilén, Finnish entrepreneur and owner of FinEasy (maker of the patented Easy Swing cattle brush), left corporate life to buy and grow a small manufacturer. He talks about buying a sub-million business with strong IP and global distributors. He explains relocating production, partnering with his family company for capital, using Finnish government-backed loans, and aiming to grow the business fivefold.

Jerem Wren, entrepreneur and owner of Van Life Outfitters who left a long corporate brand-management career for acquisition entrepreneurship. He talks about mid-career risk decisions, searching for and valuing online businesses, surprising deal hiccups like earnings restatements, buying 70% and keeping founders on, rebuilding a crashed store, and planning a second acquisition.

Linh Van Deibel, a finance and fintech entrepreneur building a long-term family holdco. Leo Van Deibel, ex-consultant and private equity operator who joined to run acquired businesses alongside his spouse. They discuss choosing self-funded search, navigating UK deals as non-citizens, broker dynamics and volume, structuring financing with seller rollovers, and balancing intense personal challenges while building Acacia Partners.