The Business Inquirer #102
The Business Inquirer #102
In this week's issue, I highlight 4 listings including an expert network, a B2B e-commerce business, a WordPress plugin, 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!
In this week’s issue:
🛒 eCommerce - 1 listing
☁ SaaS - 2 listings
💼 Service/Media/Others - 1 listing
🛠 Tools & Resources
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🛒 eCommerce
Commercial Cleaning Products - Open to Offers
For sale is a 19-year-old B2B e-commerce business that sells commercial-grade bathroom cleaning products. The business owner passed away and his wife is selling the business.
Primary clients are restaurants
80% of sales are DTC and 20% from Amazon
In-house fulfillment and leased warehouse
TTM Revenue: $578k; Profit: $2k; Margin: 0%
Asking: Open to Offers
✅ What I Like
This may be an interesting turnaround opportunity for the right buyer and right valuation. Business seems to be recovering post-COVID.
❓ Questions & Concerns
How did this business look when the founder was running it pre-COVID? A lot of investment may be required to turn this business around.
You can view the listing on Quiet Light Brokerage.
☁ SaaS
WordPress to Telegram Notifications - $1,800
For sale is 4-year-old WP-Telegram WordPress plugin that sends automated notifications from any WordPress website to your Telegram channels.
220 customers; One-time purchase model;
TTM Revenue: $364; Profit: $320; Margin: 88%
Asking: $1,800; Multiple: 5.63x
✅ What I Like
This might be an interesting micro-acquisition for someone who is just starting out and wants to learn. Interest in the Telegram messaging app is steadily growing.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Not a lot of revenue for a plugin that’s been around for 4-years. I found a similar plugin with the same name available for WordPress that doesn’t appear to be from the same developer. Have to investigate this.
You can view the listing on Microns.
__ __ __ __ __ __
Financial Modeling - $4.9M
For sale is a 6-year-old business analytics SaaS. The company is a leader in business analytics with support for cost model development, cost estimating, budget support, project oversight, complex acquisition support and special financial studies. Owner is retiring.
Operated as a lifestyle business to optimize cash flow; Debt free;
Holds government contracts and private clients
3 employees and 6 contractors
Seller financing available
TTM Revenue: $1.8M; Profit: $1.4M; Margin: 78%
Asking: $4.9M; Multiple: 3.50x
✅ What I Like
Been in business for a while. There’s a current contract backlog of over $1.8M with another $1.4M of anticipated add-on’s. Access to government contracts provides a moat and those are typically stickier clients. Great margins. Team already in place. Valuation isn’t crazy. There may be easy wins to grow the business since current owner wasn’t focused on growth.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Not a lot of detail in this listing. How many clients are there? What do the contracts look like and when do they renew? Who does the tech support? Is there any key-person risk? There may be unique considerations when buying a business with government contracts.
Good read: BUYING A FEDERAL CONTRACTOR
You can view the listing on BizBuySell.
💼 Service/Media/Others
Expert Network - $3M
For sale is 6-year-old Deepbench which is an expert network to find industry professionals. It is primarily used by product & design researchers. I know the founders and current CEO. They are looking for either an exit or to stay on with a new CEO.
Competitors: GLG, AlphaSights, Thirdbridge
Revenue grew +30% in 2022; Anticipates profitability in 2023
TTM Revenue: $1.3M; Profit: $0;
Asking: $3.0M;
✅ What I Like
It’s a unique expert network that went through several iterations to find its target market. The tech is solid and there’s a good team already in place.
❓ Questions & Concerns
The business hasn’t been able to reach profitability. There is no marketing blueprint and the new owner will be tasked with testing various channels. Tough to come up with the right valuation for this business but I do think that $3M is aggressive.
You can view the listing on MicroAcquire or I can put you in touch with the CEO.
🛠 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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