Acquisitions Anonymous - #1 for business buying, selling and operating

Michael Girdley (@chilis), Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills), and Bill D’Alessandro (@BillDA) review a swim school for sale.----Thanks to our sponsor!Acquira - your acquisition in a box service. Acquira offers training to help you find, evaluate, and close on a small business. All in under a year.    Their team has bought over 30 businesses across  3 different portfolios. Whether you’re just beginning your business search, actively pursuing a specific deal, or looking to grow your existing company, Acquira’s training and team of experts can help. Their M&A advisors provide individualized support through the entire process. They will provide guidance toward your offer structure, drafting your LOI, in-depth due diligence, and securing funding for your deal.  They will even fly out to the business with you.  Once you acquire a business, they can help you grow it too.Acquira’s ACE Framework will help you transition that business from owner-operated to management-led, increasing profits and allowing you to step away from the daily operations and enjoy doing more of what you love.  And if “more of what you love” is buying and growing more businesses, they can help you build a portfolio of businesses, and eventually get liquidity from that portfolio by selling it to a financial buyer, or selling it to its employees.Space is limited each month, so if you’re looking to acquire a cash-flowing business this year, sign up now at acquira.com/pod-lander----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#166 - A legal tech business doing $7mm a year#165 - Should we buy this airplane ad business?#164 - Annual Report Filing Software#163 - Make $2.3M/yr owning a Flight School#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money!#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley), Bill D’Alessandro (@BillDA), and Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills) review a $20mm/year lubricant exporter in Houston. Good times were had by all! -----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#166 - A legal tech business doing $7mm a year#165 - Should we buy this airplane ad business?#164 - Annual Report Filing Software#163 - Make $2.3M/yr owning a Flight School#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money!#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?Do you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills), and Bill D’Alessandro (@BillDA) review a law firm that is for sale (well, a piece of one.)----Thanks to our sponsor!Acquira - your acquisition in a box service. Acquira offers training to help you find, evaluate, and close on a small business. All in under a year.    Their team has bought over 30 businesses across  3 different portfolios. Whether you’re just beginning your business search, actively pursuing a specific deal, or looking to grow your existing company, Acquira’s training and team of experts can help. Their M&A advisors provide individualized support through the entire process. They will provide guidance toward your offer structure, drafting your LOI, in-depth due diligence, and securing funding for your deal.  They will even fly out to the business with you.  Once you acquire a business, they can help you grow it too.Acquira’s ACE Framework will help you transition that business from owner-operated to management-led, increasing profits and allowing you to step away from the daily operations and enjoy doing more of what you love.  And if “more of what you love” is buying and growing more businesses, they can help you build a portfolio of businesses, and eventually get liquidity from that portfolio by selling it to a financial buyer, or selling it to its employees.Space is limited each month, so if you’re looking to acquire a cash-flowing business this year, sign up now at acquira.com/pod-lander----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#166 - A legal tech business doing $7mm a year#165 - Should we buy this airplane ad business?#164 - Annual Report Filing Software#163 - Make $2.3M/yr owning a Flight School#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money!#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?Do you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley) is joined by Michael Arrieta (@MikeArrieta) to talk about his journey from W-2 to HoldCo operator. He gets to talk about storytelling, how his fund is structured, the challenges he faced, and how HoldCo CEO is the most difficult job in the world.-----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----(0:00) - Introduction(0:40) - Our Sponsor is CloudBookkeeping.com(2:10) - Guest Intro: Michael Arrieta(6:00) - How did public speaking affect your career?(7:50) - The gun show analogy(9:00) - What is the biggest enemy we have today?(10:00) - Honesty and vulnerability as an advantage(11:00) - How to grow your network?(14:28) - What is the most important thing about transmitting your message?(16:10) - How do you cultivate missionaries rather than mercenaries?(19:28) - How did you transition from a W-2 to business owner?(22:52) - What was your calling? What is your investment thesis?(25:05) - What was the key to start your fund?(26:30) - How do you build relationship capital?(29:30) - How did you optimize your fund for a permanent hold model?(36:21) - Being smart means you can quote the US Tax code(37:21) - What have you learned in these two years?(40:30) - How do you run a campaign to intermediaries?Links:https://www.joingardencity.com/https://twitter.com/mikearrietaSubscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley), and Bill D’Alessandro (@BillDA) review a business that liquidates old voice-over IP telephones. They have 32% margins and only 11 employees while doing $4M in revenue. Impressive.We also steered away from the deal to talk about how to convince a broker that you’re not a tire kicker, how to make deals with celebrities, pricing a business with upcoming unforeseeable risks, different structures to share risk with the seller in a deal, and much more!Company:                 Highly Profitable Supplier of Used & Refurbished Telecom EquipmentLocation:                   United StatesStated Financials:     Revenue ‘22  $ 4,000,000   |   ‘22 Adjusted EBITDA   $ 1,300,000Asking Price:             Contact the broker-----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----Show Notes:(0:00) - Introduction(0:57) - Our Sponsor is Cloudbookkeeping.com(2:25) - Update on Michael’s Spanish lessons (4:52) - Deal & financials: Highly Profitable Supplier of Used & Refurbished Telecom Equipment(6:05) - What do these guys do?(7:00) - How might Covid have affected this?(8:48) - What do we think about the customers and the operational structure?(15:56) - How to convince a Broker that you’re not a tire kicker?(18:58) - What happens when you try to make a deal with a celebrity?(20:44) - What is the elephant in the room for this deal?(21:18) - Are there headwinds for this? Should you be scared about it?(24:05) - How would we price this business, and why?(25:30) - What is the most important thing of Due Diligence for this business?(27:05) - Audience request: How would we structure this? What are the depreciation benefits? (30:52) - What are the challenges to estimating the risk here? How would we split the risk with the seller?(33:26) - Why are entrepreneurs in liquidations so rich?-----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#166 - A legal tech business doing $7mm a year #165 - Should we buy this airplane ad business?#164 - Annual Report Filing Software#163 - Make $2.3M/yr owning a Flight School#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money!#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley) and Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills) talk about a Legal Technology Provider. What makes this a great teaser? We dig into this deal to find the catch; why are we the lucky buyers? Is there a case for a strategic? Could you aim to build rather than buy it?Company:                 Legal Technology Provider Opportunity ReviewLocation:                   United StatesStated Financials:     2022 Sales  $ 7mm   |   2022 Adjusted EBITDA   $2.4mmAsking Price:          Contact the broker-----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----Show Notes:(00:00) - Introduction(00:49) - Our Sponsor is CloudBookKeeping.com(04:23) - Deal & financials: Legal Technology Provider(08:17) - What do we like?(09:37) - If EBITDA is BS earnings, what is adjusted EBITDA?(11:52) - What is the catch with this recurring income?(14:43) - Is there a strategic buyer for this business?(15:09) - What is @girdley’s pain-in-the-a** factor theory?(17:57) - What is the most interesting part of this teaser?(18:24) - What are the dynamics you will face if you want to purchase a business like this? (20:04) - Why does this business still have a bizarre dynamic?(25:14) - Where will you find the best value in today’s market?(26:55) - Send over some Deals!Additional episodes you might enjoy:#165 - Should we buy this airplane ad business?#164 - Annual Report Filing Software#163 - Make $2.3M/yr owning a Flight School#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money!#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley) and Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills) talk about a company that offers services related to aerial advertising. We discuss the deal structure, margins, and the significant pricing power enjoyed by businesses that operate billboards. Is there a moat around this business? Do we think it’s better to rent a billboard?Company:   Aerial Advertising Service ProviderLocation:   21 States - USStated Financials:   2022 TTM $ 3.5M    |   2022 Adjusted EBITDA   $ 610,000Asking Price:   Unlisted-----Thanks to our sponsor!Acquira - your acquisition in a box service. Acquira offers training to help you find, evaluate, and close on a small business. All in under a year.    Their team has bought over 30 businesses across  3 different portfolios. Whether you’re just beginning your business search, actively pursuing a specific deal, or looking to grow your existing company, Acquira’s training and team of experts can help. Their M&A advisors provide individualized support through the entire process. They will provide guidance toward your offer structure, drafting your LOI, in-depth due diligence, and securing funding for your deal.  They will even fly out to the business with you.  Once you acquire a business, they can help you grow it too.Acquira’s ACE Framework will help you transition that business from owner-operated to management-led, increasing profits and allowing you to step away from the daily operations and enjoy doing more of what you love.  And if “more of what you love” is buying and growing more businesses, they can help you build a portfolio of businesses, and eventually get liquidity from that portfolio by selling it to a financial buyer, or selling it to its employees.Space is limited each month, so if you’re looking to acquire a cash-flowing business this year, sign up now at acquira.com/pod-lander-----Show Notes:(00:00) - Introduction(00:54) - Our Sponsor is Acquira.com(02:26) - We are looking to do more larger deals!(03:46) - Deal & financials: Aerial Advertising Service Provider(07:34) - What's happening to the margins?(08:38) - How do billboard businesses earn a lot of pricing power?(10:24) - What is this company's buy vs. build thesis? (13:34) - The low Total Addressable Market Moat(14:12) - How would we build a moat around this business?(17:54) - What’s the case for medieval times?(20:42) - Is it better to rent a normal billboard?(23:03) - Will drones be a good idea?(24:26) - What may have affected this business to grow in revenue?Additional episodes you might enjoy:#164 - Annual Report Filing Software#163 - Make $2.3M/yr owning a Flight School#Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley), Bill D’Alessandro (@BillDA), and Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills) talk about a Highly Profitable Filing and Document Prep Tech Company. We talk about how this company operates, and the stability of its sales. What is the real transferable value? How did the Covid bump affect this business? Where is the hidden growth opportunity?Tune in for one of Bill’s best takes on how taxes work in eCommerce. Will taxes keep rising? Company:   Highly Profitable Filing and Document Preparation Tech CompanyLocation:   USStated Financials:   2022 AR $ 12,829,000   |   Gross Margin 52% at $ 6,704,000Asking Price:   Contact the broker-----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----Show Notes:(00:00) - Introduction(01:20) - Our Sponsor is CloudBookkeeping.com(02:48) - Mills is back!(03:27) - Deals & Financials: A Highly Profitable Filing and Document Prep Tech Company(06:21) - What does this business do?(07:45) - What do we think about the stability of its sales?(09:50) - Is this business really handy?(11:00) - How do we think Covid affected this deal?(15:00) - What’s the deal with the whole theme of businesses?(17:50) - How does sales tax work on the internet?(22:39) - Mike’s discussion about Chinese Sellers in relation to tax work(24:19) - What’s the climate in the economy now? How to take advantage of it?(28:20) - Will tax continue to grow?(29:20) - What is a Virtual Mailbox?-----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money!#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?Subscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley) and Bill D’Alessandro talk about an aircraft service center and flight training school. Why are we SO excited about hobbyists as a customer base? What is needed to succeed in this business? The business has some exciting numbers for anybody interested in a lifestyle-type business in this space. Company:   Aircraft Service Center and Flight Training School, $2.5M list priceLocation:   New JerseyStated Financials:   Annual Revenue $ 2,322,000Asking Price:   $ 2,450,000-----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----Show Notes:(00:00) - Introduction(00:41) - Our Sponsor is CloudBookkeeping.com(02:08) - Is Bill finally okay after his anger from the last episode?(04:13) - Deal & financials: Aircraft Service Center and Flight Training School(07:31) - What pieces of information are worth noting?(11:23) - Why do you need to love the line of business for this deal?(12:56) - Buyer-business fit: The owner has been in the aircraft business for decades(16:21) - Why do they have a gravy train as a marketing funnel?(16:47) - What is so particular about intense hobbyists as a customer base?(19:51) - What do we forecast for this industry’s future?(21:15) - Why is this such a fantastic lifestyle business?-----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#162 - Cleaning up crime scenes for big money! #161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?#160 - Should we buy this drag strip... for the land?#159 - Make Millions Moving Dirt in Michigan#158 - $1.2mm revenue Court Maintenance Company for Sale!#157 - Make a $1mm/yr with a Language SchoolSubscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

Michael Girdley (@Girdley), Bill D’Alessandro (@BillDA)) talk about an exciting deal today. It is a Home-Based Established Crime Scene Cleanup & Biohazard Decontamination Service.The odd amount they asked for caught our attention first, but we soon figured out what it might mean. We talk about staffing this business, why it is good or bad that it is a franchise, and what the broker did to get the prize.Company:   Established Crime Scene Cleanup & Biohazard DecontaminationLocation:     Denver, CO Gross Revenue $ 900,000   |   EBITDA $ 400,000   |   FF&E $ 70,000Asking Price:   $1,220,000-----Thanks to our sponsors!CloudBookkeeping offers adaptable solutions to businesses that want to focus on growth with a “client service first” approach. They offer a full suite of accounting services, including sophisticated reporting, QuickBooks software solutions, and full-service payroll options.-----Show Notes:(00:00) - What’s going on in Bill’s business?(01:36) - Deal & financials: Home-Based Established Crime Scene Cleanup & Biohazard Decontamination(2:28) - Why are they asking a weird amount?(7:06) - Best listing ever! Shoutout to the broker(9:47) - Do we think it’s hard to staff this business?(11:15) - What do we think about the Tech layoffs?(12:48) - Mike’s classification of Riffs(15:41) - How is this being a franchise so interesting for this business?(21:11) - Are we sure we won’t be cleaning toilets if we buy this?(24:30) - Why should we pay 3x earnings for this franchise?----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#161 - How to spot red flags in eCommerce listings?#160 - Should we buy this drag strip... for the land?#159 - Make Millions Moving Dirt in Michigan#158 - $1.2mm revenue Court Maintenance Company for Sale!#157 - Make a $1mm/yr with a Language SchoolSubscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com