🧐 What I Learned Last Week 6.9.23
Curating the best M&A, SMB, and EtA-related content since 2020.
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📰 Articles
The Only KPI You Need to Increase $$$
Chris Munn of The Next Big Thing talks about the importance of labor efficiency.
Labor efficiency is defined as “A measure of how efficiently a given workforce accomplishes a task, when compared to the standard in that industry or setting.”
In a manufacturing setting, this would be “How many labor dollars does it cost to produce your good?”
In a service setting (like we have at Fairfield), “How many labor hours does it take to complete your service?”
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7 Ways to Enhance Your Digital Presence
The team at EADS Bridge Holdings wrote a great blog post on the importance of mapping out digital analytics for your business.
Digital Analytics: The authors emphasize the importance of data gathering and analysis. They recommend tools like Google Analytics and other platform-specific tools to monitor key metrics such as site visits, time spent on the site, clicks, and contact form submissions. These data points help assess the impact of new strategies
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is essential for improving a website's visibility on search engines like Google. The authors highlight the importance of having your site appear at the top of search results for the services or products you offer to drive inbound traffic. They also note the evolution of search technology, emphasizing the need for your website to remain visible to new search tools
Advanced SEO - Accessibility: This involves making your website accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Tools like accessiBe and WAVE can help identify and address accessibility gaps on your site, which can potentially improve your SEO score and open your business up to more customers
Online Reviews: Encouraging customers to leave reviews on platforms like Google and Yelp can boost your search ranking and provide validation for prospective customers. The authors suggest tools like Podium, Reputation, or Yext to automate review requests and manage responses
Email Marketing: Regular newsletters and promotional emails can help maintain active communication with your customers. Tools like MailChimp, Reply, and HubSpot Marketing can facilitate this communication, and when paired with a tool like ZoomInfo, can allow for more personalized marketing campaigns based on various contact lists
Blogging: Regular blog posts can establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. Platforms like Substack and Medium are suggested for starting a blog. The authors also recommend using Google Trends to identify gaps between what people are searching for and what your business offers, which can drive new visitors and improve your SEO
Social Media: Maintaining active profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn can help you connect with your customers. Tools like Buffer and Hootsuite can help schedule posts and track performance. Social media can also be used for reviews and customer support, further increasing customer retention
Advertising: Creating content organically can take time, but advertising can accelerate the process. Tools like Google Ads and Facebook Ads can be used for advertising purposes. The authors suggest that advertising can lead to increased brand awareness, more traffic, and more leads.
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Acquisition Deep Dive: AI Newsletter
Scott Oldford is building Wisdom Group into a media powerhouse. In his latest article, Scott provides a behind-the-scenes look into buying a newsletter and scaling it.
Today, we finalized the acquisition of an AI Newsletter, I won’t disclose the specific name of the newsletter today, however, I will show you the full details and the growth plans for this.
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How to 10x Your Private Deal Flow
Michael Girdley shares his tips to supercharge your deal flow.
Create incentives
Get out from behind the keyboard
Be persistent
Tell unlikely people
Be specific
Produce content
Do the lunch circuit
Host events
Start a co-office
Build a machine
🧵 Best of Twitter
Basic tax minimization strategies for business owners…
As Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Keep these tips in mind when starting your M&A journey…
A lively discussion on the pitfalls of SMB ownership…
ChatGPT is great at helping to answer this question…
Andrew knows SaaS. Unique due diligence items he looks at…
Amazing Twitter thread on the ups and downs of running an SMB…
This is how you hustle your way to an acquisition…
A lot of tax incentives for business owners…
🤔 Thoughts, Events, Other
⚒️ Tools & Resources
I want to share some tools & resources that I have found helpful. Please note that some of these are paid sponsors of the newsletter.
DueDilio - #1 marketplace to hire highly vetted M&A due diligence service providers. Your source for finance, legal, tech, and other key areas of due diligence. Submit your project, review proposals, and hire.
PrivSource - PrivSource helps you source deals and connect with transaction partners without ever paying a success fee.
X5 Deals - Proprietary deal sourcing. They do the outreach and send you relevant, actionable deals directly into your inbox.
Rejigg - Platform that connects searchers/investors directly with owners of off-market software businesses ($500k - $15m revenue) considering exits. All deals are sourced by the Rejigg team, ~5 added per week.
Scott Oldford - If you're interested in gaining insight into the process of building, scaling, acquiring, and selling online businesses, Scott Oldford can help.
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.
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.
🚀 Interested in partnering or advertising with us? Get in touch here.
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