🧐 What I Learned Last Week
Week ending Friday Feb 11th, 2022
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.
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Hello Friends!
This issue of What I Learned Last Week is brought to you by Curators.
Autopilot Buy-Side Research & Outreach
We serve a wide variety of clients ranging from individuals, search funds, independent sponsors, SMBs, and sophisticated private equity groups.
We combine proprietary technology with human intelligence to streamline the process of delivering our clients on and off-market acquisition targets.
📰 Articles
Jordan Novgrod is a searcher and is documenting his journey in his blog - Small Business Acquisition. His latest article talks about the various CRM options available for acquisition entrepreneurs and the pros/cons of each one.
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BizBuySell needs no introduction as one of the largest online business listing aggregators. They recently released their Insight Report for 4Q 2021 where they highlight transaction trends they are seeing on their platform.
Transactions expected to strengthen in 2022 as more sellers return to market
Sale prices rise 16% as low interest rates and intense demand for strong performers drive sales
Increasing number of owners looking to sell and retire as pandemic burnout weighs heavy
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Lenny Rachitsky wrote a post that shared benchmarking data for SaaS churn.
On a similar topic, here’s A Complete Guide to Retention and Churn Rates for B2B SaaS
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Micro Angel by Eyal Toledano published another free update on the state of the micro-SaaS fund. These updates are always a great read with a lot of takeaways. If you’re interested in launching, growing, operating a micro-SaaS or a fund then this is a must-read newsletter.
While I plan to explore some of the learnings I’ve accumulated over the past 12 months, today’s (shorter than usual) post focuses on the work that was done this month to graduate from Improving the products to Growing them nearly full-time.
I managed to tear myself from code and begin building out a variety of growth systems that will play crucial roles as we aim to accelerate the portfolio’s run rate moving forward.
MicroAngel State of the Fund: January 2022
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Chenmark is a holding company buying, operating, and growing SMBs. In their weekly blog post they discuss the topic of scale. They quote a recent Seth Godin blog post:
"Successful small businesses often stumble when they seek to get to an entirely different scale.
It’s easy to believe that things are dramatically better when there’s more.
More customers, more employees, more market share.
And it’s easy to believe that getting to the next sustainable level is simply the result of efforts similar to the ones that got you here.
But neither is true.
Between this level and the one you seek there may be a slog that’s longer, more difficult and more expensive than it appears.
Staying at a scale that’s working isn’t a cowardly copout. It might be the single best way to do work that matters for people who care.
And if you choose to get through the Dip, consider whether you have the resources, the patience and the team to get to the other side."
Chenmark Weekly Thoughts - Scale
🧵 Twitter
Another gem of a post from Twitter’s favorite anonymous SMB attorney. Tons of great content in this one…
Some things to consider when deciding whether to raise capital or bootstrap…
SaaS has traditionally not been a popular business type for a search fund. Here’s why it should be…
And here’s how to acquire, operate, and grow a SaaS…
Orlando recently hosted a meeting of SMB entrepreneurs, owners, and operators - SMBash. Here are some key lessons from the gathering…
If you’re thinking of getting into a franchise, here are some things to be mindful of…
🤔 Thoughts, Events, Other
They Got Acquired
This is a project by Alexis Grant that I’ve been following for some time on Kernal. This week they finally launched. They Got Acquired is a newsletter, podcast, and database covering entrepreneurs who had a 6 to 8 figure exit. It tells their stories, lessons learned, etc. There are some similarities here to Bootstrappers, Failory, and Starter Story. It’s great to see more coverage of this part of the market.
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Event: Risk & Opportunity When Buying & Selling Companies
Ted Leverette of Business Buyer Advocate is hosting a free Zoom webinar on Feb 24th.
Feb. 24 Zoom event - Bridging the Gap: Risk & Opportunity When Buying & Selling Companies Panel of experts. Open Q&A. (Legal, dealmaking, sourcing, brokerage and more.) They have it. You want it. Explore ways to make the exchange during these unsettling times. We'll talk reality, about what we’re seeing, experiencing. And what we can do to increase our opportunity and mitigate our risks.
Advance register now. I'm limiting the attendees so everyone can participate.
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Stack Acquisitions
Jon Stoddard continues to put out some great content over at Stack Acquisitions. Whether it’s his podcast or the free webinars, there’s tons of value. I highly recommend his free webinar about sourcing off-market deals using LinkedIn.
How to Use LinkedIn for Off Market Acquisition Deal Flow. Register Below
A 9 step approach for deal flow outreach that will fill your acquisition pipeline, provide you with more opportunities to make more offers to acquire a business than you thought possible.”
Who this training is for:
1st AcquisitionIf you are new to the M&A game,you will learn how to create and fill your pipeline with business owners who want to sell their business.
10th + Acquisition(s)If you have years in the M&A world you will add another unlimited source to your deal flow.Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrde2srD8pHNyXOGURp4L_MDfpt4ZR2Yh6
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Event: Buying & Operating a SaaS Business
Searchfunder is hosting a webinar with Alex Mears and Steve Ressler on buying and operating a SaaS business as a search fund - March 10th.
🛠 Tools & Resources
These are tools & resources that I personally use or have used. They may contain affiliate links so I’ll get a few pesos if you sign-up.
Cerebro Capital - Cerebro has a network of 1,500+ lenders who can provide debt financing for your acquisition, refi, etc. $500k minimum.
Curators - Proprietary deal sourcing. You need targets that fit your investment criteria, and Curators delivers week after week - we even update your personalized database on a daily basis with new information on best-fit targets.
BizNexus - Proprietary deal flow, deal aggregator, and exit prep.
PrivSource - Deal aggregator for lower and middle-market listings.
Calendly - Leading scheduling platform to easily schedule meetings without the back and forth. I’ve been using it for several years now. Free 14-day trial.
ProjectionHub - Access to 50+ CPA-developed financial projection templates. 25% discount using code “duedilio” at checkout.
Logology - Best automated logo & brand identity tool I’ve come across.
DeepBench - Access a cutting-edge expert network. $200 discount.
OpenPhone - The best business phone solution that I have found. $20 credit.
Eloquens - Knowledge marketplace. I’ve bought a few guides and templates here.
Deal Flow Scout - Peer-to-peer deal flow exchange. Free, open, transparent.
Deal Sourcing Guide - A directory I put together of online marketplaces, brokers, DFY deal flow, and more.
That’s all for this issue of What I Learned Last Week!
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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.