🧐 What I Learned Last Week 4.14.23
Curating the best M&A, SMB, and EtA-related content for this week.
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📰 Articles
The 2023 SaaS CEO Survey
Mineola Search Partners released their survey of 41 SaaS CEOs who acquired their business through the search fund model. Not a huge sample size but a very valuable one. Good data here on valuations, growth metrics, and more. If you’re on the hunt for a SaaS acquisition, definitely check this one out.
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How Much Does it Cost to Buy a Business?
Scott Oldford is an investor, advisor, and mentor to acquisition entrepreneurs. The article provides an overview of the costs associated with buying a business, including the various expenses that buyers should be prepared to cover. Scott explains that the cost of buying a business can vary widely depending on factors such as the size of the business, the industry it operates in, and the location. The article breaks down the costs of buying a business into several categories, including the purchase price, due diligence costs, legal fees, and financing costs. Scott also provides tips for negotiating the purchase price of a business and for minimizing costs throughout the buying process. Overall, the article is a helpful resource for anyone who is considering buying a business and wants to understand the costs involved.
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March 2023 Round Up
Andrew Pierno and the team at XO Capital released their latest monthly update on the state of their SaaS-focused micro PE fund. This is some of my favorite reading as the team doesn’t hold anything back and shares the ups, downs, wins, and losses.
If you’re interested in SaaS or thinking of starting your own micro-PE fund then these updates are a must-read.
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My Typical Week
Ever wonder how you spend your time if your full-time job is to search for a business acquisition? David Lamore shares a “week in the life” of a searcher.
It’s hard to capture what happens each week, and that’s the beauty of search. While the activities change when you’re evaluating an opportunity more closely (either crafting the LOI or during due diligence), this structure has provided me with the foundation to remain productive and prevent burnout.
If you want to cut to the chase, here are the ways that I add structure to my week, broken out by Sunday through Tuesday and Wednesday through Saturday:
Sunday through Tuesday
Sunday
Workout (1x)
Read
Life admin
Rest
Email campaign prep
Writing
Monday and Tuesday
Workout (1x)
Email campaign prep
Email campaign performance review
Intern team meeting
Scheduling calls with business owners
Owner calls scheduled from the previous week
1-on-1 intern meetings
Industry and business model research
Wednesday through Saturday
Wednesday-Friday
Workout (1x)
Owner calls scheduled from the current week
Scheduled investor check-ins
Searcher networking
Intern team meeting
Intern recruitment
Saturday
Workout (1x)
Family time
Reading
Rest
Exploring
Writing
🧵 Best of Twitter
You can now own < 100% of the business and still use an SBA loan…
Buying a business with hard assets? Go beyond the #’s when doing your due diligence…
Watch out for these…
Make sure to include NWC analysis as part of your financial due diligence…
A quick and dirty guide to acquiring a business…
It’s best to walk away from a bad deal
Lessons learned in due diligence…
License requirements when acquiring a business. Great question and subsequent discussion in this thread…
🤔 Thoughts, Events, Other
Launching a Proprietary Search
Warren Hawkins is an MD at Bridge Crest Partners. This week he shared a Google Doc which outlines the key steps and tools to launch a proprietary search.
Google Doc 👉 8 Steps & Tools for Launching a Proprietary Search
⚒️ 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.
DueDilio - online marketplace for hiring highly vetted M&A due diligence service providers. We work with first-time business buyers as well as experienced M&A industry participants. Submit a project, review proposals, and hire a service provider.
PrivSource - PrivSource helps you source deals and connect with transaction partners without ever paying a success fee.
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. Local Boston company and I consider the founder (Adam Ray) a friend.
X5 Deals - Proprietary deal sourcing. They do the outreach and send you relevant, actionable deals directly into your inbox.
Import Dojo - a newsletter that sends eCommerce and Amazon FBA businesses for sale to your email inbox. They send deals each Wednesday at 9:00 AM CST.
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.
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