Hello Friends!
In this week’s issue of What I Learned Last Week:
📰 Articles
🧵 Online Highlights
🤔 Other - Valuation Calculator, How to Contact Brokers
🗓️ Events
⚒️ Tools & Resources
💡 How I Can Help
This issue of The Business Inquirer is brought to you by:
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📰 Articles
I summarize, so you capitalize.
Why Am I So Lucky?
Kaustubh Deo of Big Deal Small Business reflects on his experience in private equity and small business acquisition, focusing on the critical question: "Why am I so lucky?" — a prompt used to assess competitive advantage in deal-making. He outlines how this question, originally used in high-level PE, also applies meaningfully in small business buying.
Key insights include:
In private equity, common edges are value creation (e.g. management synergy), being the most informed buyer, or financial structuring.
In SMBs, edges shift to practical concerns like securing financing, being able to run the business, and strong due diligence skills.
Financing ability is a major hurdle in SMBs; self-funded searchers can gain trust by showing decisiveness and flexibility in sourcing capital.
Operational ability is often a differentiator; hands-on experience in the business's function (e.g. sales) enables better deal structures.
Diligence ability becomes the sharpest edge when buyers can confidently assess risk and value in complex, resource-limited environments.
Kaustubh’s success came from his institutional investing background, allowing him to spot hidden value and act decisively in niche markets like tree care.
🧵 Online Highlights
I scroll, so you don’t have to.
SBA acquisition loan defaults are rising — but still safer than other SBA loans, hinting at deeper trouble elsewhere…
Interesting deal in Orlando…
Great podcast episode with Brent Beshore of Permanent Equity…
How to turn your SMB into a real estate empire with the OpCo/PropCo playbook…
A $215K addback mistake nearly killed a $3.5M deal—here’s your reminder: dig deep into those tax returns…
Can you build a $400K home services biz with just subs and sales? Turns out — it’s more common than you think…
Ignore working capital and you might as well buy a car with no gas — this one detail can make or break your deal…
A wild story with 11x. Watch out for this in your due diligence…
SBA loan fees are on the rise…
🤔 Other
Valuation Calculator
Axial recently launched a free business valuation calculator on their website. While it’s primarily marketed to business owners looking to sell, I think it’s a handy tool for buyers as well. If you’re evaluating a potential acquisition, you can plug in the target company’s financials and quickly get a ballpark valuation based on Axial’s methodology.
Of course, no online calculator can replace a full valuation or Quality of Earnings review, but it’s a useful starting point — especially for early-stage deal screening or sanity-checking a seller’s price expectations. Worth bookmarking if you're actively looking at deals.
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How Do Brokers Like to Be Contacted
The Reddit thread features advice for first-time buyers on how to effectively contact business brokers. The original poster is seeking to build relationships in M&A and wants to know how brokers prefer to be approached. Experienced brokers in the thread offer candid, practical guidance emphasizing professionalism and preparation.
Key insights include:
Be Specific: Reference the listing number and show you've read the details carefully before contacting a broker.
Show Qualifications: Share your background, industry experience, M&A history, and financial capability.
Professional Presentation: Provide multiple contact methods, including LinkedIn or a website, so brokers can vet you easily.
Avoid Common Pitfalls: Don't appear arrogant, overly demanding, or uninformed—first-time buyers often have a bad reputation.
Follow the Process: Understand and adhere to broker instructions, such as signing NDAs and reviewing Confidential Information Memorandums (CIMs) before asking questions.
Don’t Waste Time: Ensure you're genuinely interested and qualified before initiating conversations, as brokers value efficiency and serious buyers.
🗓️ Events
London Business School EtA Conference (Mar 28) - London, UK
HoldCo Conference (Mar 31-Apr 3) - Sundance, UT
SMBash (Apr 2-4) - Dallas, TX
NOVA SBE EtA & SF Conference (Apr 3) - Carcavelos, Portugal
2nd Annual UCLA ETA Search Fund Roundtable (Apr 9) - Los Angeles, CA
M&A Launchpad Conference (May 3) - Houston, TX
Mittelstand Summit 2025 (May 20) - Berlin, Germany
🎵 Listening: “Stumblin’ In“ by Cyril 🎵
How did you like this issue of the newsletter?
⚒️Tools & Resources
I want to share some tools & resources that I have found helpful. Please note that some of these are paid sponsors or affiliates of the newsletter.
PrivSource - PrivSource helps you source deals and connect with transaction partners without ever paying a success fee.
X5 Deals - Proprietary deal sourcing for a great price. They do the tedious and time-consuming job of deal sourcing so you can spend more time on DD and closing.
Rejigg - Platform that connects searchers/investors directly with owners of off-market small businesses ($200k - $3M EBITDA) considering exits. All deals are sourced by the Rejigg team. Their team adds 15 to 20 new deals each week.
Kumo - 100,000+ deals sourced from thousands of brokers and marketplaces. Plus, AI-powered listings, robust data & analytics, and more.
BizNexus - Marketplace + off-market origination in one platform. The marketplace averages about 10k active listings & pre-CIM opportunities, and the off-market origination focuses on data & multi-channel.
Secret - Say goodbye to overspending on SaaS. With Secret, you get access to up to $1,000,000+ in savings on the best software to run your search, operate, and scale your business.
Deal Sourcing Guide - a comprehensive list of business marketplaces, brokers, deal origination firms, and more.
💡 How I Can Help
Whenever you’re ready, here are a few ways for us to work together…
Schedule 1:1 consulting on deal sourcing, due diligence, M&A ecosystem, newsletters, entrepreneurship, or anything else you’d like to discuss
Promote your brand to business buyers, investors, SMB owners, and other M&A participants by sponsoring this newsletter
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