What I Learned Last Week for 1.12.2024
Curating the best M&A, SMB, and EtA-related content since 2020.
Hello Friends!
In this week’s issue of What I Learned Last Week:
📰 Articles
🧵 Best of X (Twitter)
🤔 Other
🗓️ Events
⚒️ Tools & Resources
💡 How I Can Help
This issue of The Business Inquirer is sponsored by Snowball
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3. By creating a life where personal growth, health, and strong relationships compound over the decades.
If you’re looking for a like-minded community of accomplished doers, a place for SMB deal flow, and a place for long-term thinkers... you’ve found it.
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📰 Articles
What is SDE? We explain seller’s discretionary income, plus why it matters for your sale
The article on "They Got Acquired" provides an in-depth explanation of Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE), highlighting its importance in valuing small businesses for sale.
SDE Concept: SDE represents the total potential earnings for a business owner, including net profit and personal benefits categorized as business expenses.
Calculation Method: It involves adjusting net profit by adding back owner-specific expenses to reflect the true profitability of the business.
Significance in Sales: SDE is crucial for determining a business's value, helping potential buyers understand what they can earn.
Influence on Valuation: Adjusting personal and non-essential expenses can significantly impact the calculated SDE, thereby affecting the business's sale price.
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10 Commandments Of A Profitable Operation
The article "10 Commandments Of A Profitable Operation" by Joshua Schultz offers strategic guidelines for enhancing business profitability and efficiency.
Systemization and Training: Emphasizes the importance of creating efficient systems and providing comprehensive staff training.
Health and Safety: Prioritizes maintaining a healthy and safe work environment.
Value Maximization: Focuses on increasing value-added activities and reducing non-value-added ones.
Problem-Solving and Proactivity: Encourages proactive approaches and continuous problem-solving to improve operations.
🧵 Best of X (Twitter)
Discussion around minimizing tax hit post-sale…
On structuring an operating partner model…
M&A thesis for roofing and exteriors industry…
Pick the right search model for you…
On investing in search deals…
Allocating the purchase price to minimize taxes…
M&A thesis for the behavioral and mental health space…
🤔 Other
SMBootcamp Digital Cohort
Two of the most popular ETA programs cost close to $10k now. I honestly think they are worth the price but it’s also good to see some lower-cost options come on the market. One of those options is highlighted in the Tweet below. Not an endorsement but something to be aware of…
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Buy a Boomers Business Now!
Recently came across this great discussion on Reddit with almost 800 comments.
🗓️ Events
University of Michigan ETA Conference (Jan 18-19) - Ann Arbor, MI
MIT ETA Conference (Feb 16) - Cambridge, MA
Wharton ETA Club (Spring 2024) - Philadelphia, PA
SMBash 2024 (Apr 18-20) - Salt Lake City, UT
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 for a great price. They do the outreach and send you relevant, actionable deals directly into your inbox.
Interexo - Curated deal flow and data solutions. Since 2016 Interexo has been M&A industry’s trusted source for deal flow, with extensive coverage of industry data, from Private Equity to Lenders, Hedge Funds, Brokers, and more.
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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