The Business Inquirer #101
In this week's issue, I highlight four listings including a FedEx route, a golf car dealer, and more.
The Business Inquirer covers the most interesting business acquisition opportunities. Written for entrepreneurs, search funds, investors, and business owners. It’s completely free and you’re guaranteed to learn something new.
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Hello Friends!
To those who are celebrating, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving holiday!
In this week’s issue:
💼 Service/Media/Others - 4 listings
🛠 Tools & Resources
This issue of The Business Inquirer is brought to you by Scott Oldford.
Scott Oldford is one of the top online business mentors and advisors and he also owns dozens of businesses that collectively generate tens of millions of dollars a year in multiple niches, countries (and even languages), across the world.
In his new "Investing with Scott" newsletter, he gives you a behind-the-scenes look into acquiring, building, and scaling businesses based on his experience of helping 100's of Entrepreneurs scale past 7 & 8 figures.
As an Entrepreneur since he was 7 and by 16 having a million dollar business while ending up a million in debt and now by 31, becoming a decamilionaire, he has a massive amount of insight, understanding, knowledge, and wisdom for scaling and building businesses.
You can check it out right here, perfect for Entrepreneurs and Investors alike.
💼 Service/Media/Others
HVAC in Los Angeles - $3M
For sale is a 21-year-old HVAC business in Los Angeles.
Residential (80%) & commercial (20%) clients
Offers plumbing & solar installation services
500-600 annual residential customers
TTM Revenue: $2.5M; Profit: $669k; Margin: 27%
Asking: $3M; Multiple: 4.48x
✅ What I Like
A lot of operating history. Located in a large metro area with a big TAM. Good margins. Employees in place with appropriate licenses to manage the business. Diversified revenue stream from solar and plumbing services. I’ve heard that solar installation is a big opportunity with these types of home service businesses.
Here’s a good read: 7 Tips on Buying an HVAC Business
❓ Questions & Concerns
HVAC businesses are some of the most in-demand acquisition targets. The skeptic in me says that if this one is on the market for a while, there’s a high chance of some issues. The typical multiple for this type of business is 2.5x-4x SDE making this valuation a bit stretched.
You can view the listing on BizBuySell.
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Cohort Course Directory - $3k
For sale is 1-year-old Next Cohort which is a directory that allows users to find cohort-based courses and ratings. This is a pre-revenue project.
3,600 users; #2 Product Hunt Product of the Day;
Tech: Softr, Airtable
Pre-revenue
Asking: $3,000
✅ What I Like
I like the idea for this project - a directory and rating system for cohort-based courses. Broadly, I think creating a Trustpilot but for online courses would be an extremely valuable tool. I’ve seen requests for this type of service in the past. There’s an e-mail list of 3,600 users which is a large part of what you’re buying here.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Going to the directory and filtering the results to “Entrepreneurship and General Business” yields 0 listed courses. Clearly this directory is not that comprehensive. There’s no real business here yet.
You can view the listing on Microns.
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Golf Car Dealer - $695k
For sale is a 5-year-old golf car dealer located near The Villages in FL.
The Villages is fastest growing retirement community in US
8 employees who will stay on; Seller financing available;
TTM Revenue: $934k; Profit: $218k; Margin: 23%
Asking: $695k; Multiple: 3.19x
✅ What I Like
Simple business to operate. Located in an ideal location for this type of product with a growing TAM. Not clear if this location offers golf car repair services but that may be an interesting area to explore.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Looks like there’s someone (The Villages Golf Cars) already doing roll-ups or cornering the market with multiple locations (see maps below). Not clear what the differentiation would be between vendors. Valuation is elevated.
You can view the listing on BizBuySell.
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11 FedEx Delivery Routes in SW Florida - $1.1M
For sale is a 3-year-old business that manages 11 pickup and delivery routes around Fort Myers, FL.
16 employees; 18 trucks;
Full-time manager runs the day-to-day
TTM Revenue: $1.3M; Profit: $240k; Margin: 18%
Asking: $1.1M; Multiple: 4.58x
✅ What I Like
FedEx routes can be great, steady businesses. They are most similar to buying a franchise. I like that there’s a manager in place so this business can be operated on a more passive basis. The typical profit margin for this type of business is 10-25% so, at 18%, this is towards the higher end of the range.
Here’s a good read: The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Buying (or Avoiding) FedEx Routes.
❓ Questions & Concerns
You want to understand if the trucks and other equipment are paid off or if there’s debt. Employees are key to this type of business. How do you make sure that they don’t leave after the change of ownership? FedEx routes typically sell between 2.5x and 3.0x free cash flow. At 4.58x this valuation is very elevated.
You can view the listing on BizBuySell.
🛠 Tools & Resources
I want to share some tools & resources that I have found helpful. Please note that some of these may contain affiliate links. This means that I may receive compensation if you sign-up and use them.
Kumo - Find every deal in one complete platform. Spend less time sourcing deals and more time closing them. Kumo aggregates 180K+ business listings into one easy-to-use platform.
Cerebro Capital - Cerebro has a network of 1,500+ lenders who can provide debt financing for your acquisition, refi, etc. $500k minimum.
X5 Deals - Proprietary deal sourcing. They do the outreach and send you relevant, actionable deals directly into your inbox.
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. Local Boston company and I consider the founder (Adam Ray) a friend.
PrivSource - Deal aggregator for lower and middle-market listings.
The Website Flip - a newsletter that sends content sites for sale to your email inbox. They send deals each Wednesday and Friday.
Logology - Best automated logo & brand identity tool I’ve come across.
OpenPhone - The best VoIP phone solution that I have found. I use this for DueDilio. You get a $20 credit if you sign-up.
Eloquens - Knowledge marketplace. I’ve purchased a few templates from them.
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 The Business Inquirer!
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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, 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.