What I Learned Last Week 9.29.2023
Curating the best M&A, SMB, and EtA-related content since 2020.
Hello Friends!
I am on vacation overseas through mid-October. Luckily, two readers reached out to me and offered to guest edit the newsletter during this time.
This newsletter was written with the help of Corey and Riley, two searchers looking for digitally native businesses <$2M in total transaction value. If you’re interested in networking, please reach out to corey@skyviewadvisory.com and riley@skyviewadvisory.com.
I am very grateful to Corey & Riley for their assistance with this newsletter.
In this week’s issue of What I Learned Last Week:
📰 Articles
🧵 Best of X (Twitter)
🗓️ Events
⚒️ Tools & Resources
💡 How I Can Help
This issue of The Business Inquirer is sponsored by Smash.vc
Buying a business with the SBA?
Would having a capital partner help?
At Smash.vc, they do two things:
Buy minority stakes in existing small businesses.
Partner with entrepreneurs trying to acquire new ones.
If you're actively looking to buy a cash-flowing business using an SBA loan, hit them up if you'd like a partner.
They contribute capital, give advice, or help with growth when asked... but stay out of the way the rest of the time.
Silent partners there to help when necessary, nothing more.
If interested👉 go say hi.
📰 Articles
A Good Business To Own Vs A Good Business To Buy
Dom Wells of Onfolio shares his thoughts on what makes a good business to acquire.
An internet business really needs to have these traits in order to make a good acquisition:
Multiple sources of scalable and sustainable traffic
A diverse range of revenues and low client concentration
No over reliance on the founder or exiting CEO to generate sales
Control over pricing
A team in place
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Boring Businesses Are The Ultimate Time Hack (Only Two Skills To Master)
Ben Kelly of Acquisition Ace argues against starting new businesses due to a high failure rate, advocating instead for acquiring established businesses with a proven track record. The post highlights that such acquisitions require mastering two core skills: growing revenue and building the right team. Ben encourages readers to consider acquiring "boring" businesses that generate steady cash flow and suggests visiting local establishments like car washes, laundromats, or oil change services to understand their operations better.
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Ways to Manage Financial Risk in an Acquisition
Acquire.com outlines how to analyze Days Beyond Terms (DBT), study Late Payment Frequency, and use industry benchmarking to uncover hidden financial issues in the due diligence process.
🧵 Best of X (Twitter)
Tax tips for keeping more of what you earn…
How a gov’t shutdown may impact the SBA…
SMB Attorney’s top 50 important things to know about buying a small business…
The SMB road is not always easy…
Lessons from the 1st year of business ownership…
Acquire.com published updated multiples they’re seeing on their marketplace…
PSA for those looking at an SBA loan…
High quality business Twitter accounts…
🗓️ Events
Austin SMB Meetup (Sept 28) - Austin, TX
The Self-Funded Search Conference (Sept 30 - Oct 1) - Dallas, TX
Booth Kellogg EtA Conference (Nov 1) - Chicago, IL
Main Street Summit (Nov 8-9) - Columbia, MS
Capital Camp (May 21-24) - Columbia, MO
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 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. 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 small businesses ($500k - $10m revenue) considering exits. All deals are sourced by the Rejigg team. Their team adds 7-10 new deals each week
Acquisition Lab - The Premier Accelerator for Buying a Business created by Walker Deibel, Author of Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Start-up Game. They combine world-class education, a vetted community, extensive group coaching, and resources to provide the first do-it-with-you buy-side advisory service.
Smash.vc - Whether you're looking to sell minority stakes in your business to take some chips off the table, looking for a partner to acquire an asset, or needing capital to complete an SBA deal, we'd love to chat with you.
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.
Search Fund Coalition - community for the Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition ecosystem. Monthly events and meetups for acquisition entrepreneurs.
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
Assemble your M&A deal team with DueDilio
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