đ§ What I Learned Last Week
Week ending Friday, Sept 3, 2021
What I Learned Last Week curates the most interesting content relating to business acquisitions, operations, entrepreneurship, finance, and more. WILLW is a publication of The Business Inquirer.
Letâs connect: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Group, Calendly
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the inaugural issue of What I Learned Last Week (WILLW).
For those who missed the announcement, this will be a weekly newsletter that is sent out on Friday or Saturday. It will be a curation of interesting articles, Twitter threads, conversations, and commentary. Iâll be playing around with the format so bear with me. This first issue is a bit longer than I envision simply because I have a lot of saved content.
If this additional newsletter isnât your thing, just scroll down and hit unsubscribe. Youâll still receive the original The Business Inquirer.
As always - any and all feedback is very appreciated.
What I Learned Last Week is brought to you by DueDilio. DueDilio is the first M&A due diligence marketplace connecting business buyers and investors with quality, verified due diligence experts.
đ° Articles
SMEVentures writes about the 5 main reasons that search funds fail - Skeletons, Working Capital, Emotions, Time, Third Parties
The 5 serial killers of search fund deals â SMEVentures | Search Funds in Australia
Amazonâs crackdown on Chinese marketplace vendors using fake reviews has resulted in 50k accounts being removed and $15.4B of annual revenue wiped out.
Amazon Hits Chinese Sellers With Crackdown on Fake Reviews
A bit unrelated but I thought this was a good read. Lebanonâs underground cryptocurrency market is thriving. Meet the men making a fortune.
The crypto dons of Beirut
Orchid Black is a member of the DueDilio network and they just published an interesting white paper on leveraging proven models of growth. It outlines why growth is a pivotal stage in a companyâs lifecycle, how to move from validation to scale, and how to leverage the PE growth model without actually working with PE.
White Paper: The Democratization of Growth
Crescat Capital is a very successful asset manager. Their latest blog post looks at US stock market valuations today compared to past bubbles. Itâs a fascinating read that I would highly recommend.
August Research Letter: The Tech Bubble Then and Now
Common Thread Collective put out an awesome data-driven article on the best e-commerce holiday campaigns. Itâs a must-read for anyone in ecommerce.
Data on 437 of the Best Ecommerce Holiday Campaigns: 10 Strategies & 1,897 Examples with Downloadable Screenshots
Data scientists at CB Insights built an algorithm to reduce the subjectivity inherent in assessing founding and management team quality. It allows investors to quickly identify the best startups. This one will be interesting to watch.
CB Insights algorithm scores quality of startups founding & management team
𧔠Twitter
John will help you buy and operate a home service businessâŠ
Thanks, John but maybe owning a âsweaty startupâ isnât all champagne wishes & caviar dreamsâŠ
Learn from Nick Saban. Shift your thinking from outcome-based to process-basedâŠ
Premiering next week of Bravo - âThe Real Business Flippers of Utahâ
No matter the industry, business has more in common than we thinkâŠ
Do your due diligenceâŠ
Eventually, you get paid for who you know, not what you knowâŠ
Having SOPs adds value to your business. Not just for SMBâŠ
Important to tailor your communication to the audienceâŠ
SBA loan without a personal guarantee? Thanks, Iâll take a dozenâŠ
In the dark, the blind man is king. In a zero-interest rate world, the story is kingâŠ
DueDilio gets ~30% of requests from Twitter. I have fewer than 300 followers. Imagine the power of Twitter for those who have a large followingâŠ
đ€ Thoughts & Commentary
MicroAcquire for Mainstreet
Whoâs creating the MicroAcquire of Mainstreet (offline) business? It feels to me like many (not all) of the same industry dynamics are at play.
Few online destinations with terrible UX/UI, notifications, and a lot of junk listings to sift through
Fragmented industry - tons of brokers
Outdated marketing & content
No standardized listings
MicroAcquire disrupted Flippa, Empire Flippers, and other online marketplaces and business brokers. Could a similar approach work for Mainstreet business? Can BizBuySell be innovated on?
ââ
Due Diligence as a Business Expense
I was recently asked if someone can expense due diligence for a business acquisition. Iâm not an accountant or CPA but I think the answer is yes. A buyer forms the LLC, funds it, LLC pays for due diligence, LLC buys the assets of the new business, due diligence is classified as a business expense. Is this kosher? I donât see why it wouldnât be.
ââ
Building Chrome Extensions
I want to give a shout-out to a reader who recently started a newsletter called Chrome Extension Ideas. Each week he presents several ideas for launching a new Chrome extension. The ideas are not random. They are well researched and sourced from podcasts, conversations, and social media. Check out: Chrome Extension Ideas.
ââ
Pet Rocks
I was in high school when the dot-com crash happened. I was an investment analyst when the 2008 crash happened. I donât have a lot of first-hand experience with asset bubbles and dislocations. Weâre seeing some wacky stuff. Last month an NFT of a digital rock sold for $1.3M (priced in ETH). Didnât we go through the pet rock phase in 1975? History doesnât always repeat but it always rhymes.
ââ
Valuations
Iâve written about valuations many times. Theyâre going up. I think we havenât seen anything yet. With the introduction of Fannie MaâŠI meanâŠFounder Path plus tons of other âweâll give you money to purchase a businessâ offerings, the buyer pool will increase and valuations will skyrocket. This is just the beginning. Seeing tons of chatter on Twitter about âIf your startup makes $4k, you can sell it for $800k. Let that sink inâ type of posts. Not saying any of this is a bad thing but I have a strong feeling that weâll look back at 4x-6x SaaS multiples and be amazed at how cheap things were going for.
â Tools & Resources
These are tools & resources that I personally use or have used. They may contain affiliate links so Iâll get a few pesos if you sign-up.
ProjectionHub - Access to 50+ CPA-developed financial projection templates. 25% discount.
PrivSource - Deal aggregator for lower and middle-market listings.
Logology - Best automated logo & brand identity tool Iâve come across.
DeepBench - Access a cutting-edge expert network. $200 discount.
OpenPhone - The best business phone solution that I have found. $20 credit.
Thatâs all for this issue of What I Learned Last Week!
Please, please do share feedback. Howâs the format? Are the Twitter threads too much? Any other thoughts?
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Important Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided for informational & educational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. This newsletter may link to other websites and certain information contained herein has been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, it has not been independently verified. The Business Inquirer makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. References to any companies, securities, listings, investments, or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any business, tax, or investment decisions. Content in this newsletter speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.