Listen to This Blog Post When building a model and underwriting an acquisition more broadly, many prospective acquirors understandably struggle with how to balance calculated optimism about the future on one hand, with a sense of what is realistically achievable on the other. While investing is an inherently optimistic act (after all, you wouldn’t makeContinue reading “Ten Ways to Underwrite a Conservative and Realistic Base Case”
Tag Archives: financing
Are Search Funds Moving Up Market?
Listen to This Blog Post Over the past few months, I’ve been presented with five separate opportunities that contemplated the acquisition of a company with $7M or more of EBITDA (this compares to the Search Fund average of $2.2M for the 2022-2023 cohort of Searchers). While I acknowledge that five data points don’t constitute aContinue reading “Are Search Funds Moving Up Market?”
A Finance Survival Guide for SMB CEOs: Liquidity, Hiring, Budgeting, Capital Allocation & More
My Guest Nicholas Andrews is the Founder of Aspen Consulting Group, a company that performs finance, accounting, and operations consulting for a wide range of small and medium sized businesses. Aspen’s services include technical accounting, corporate finance, valuations, operations planning and M&A due diligence, among others. Prior to founding the Aspen Consulting group, Nick wasContinue reading “A Finance Survival Guide for SMB CEOs: Liquidity, Hiring, Budgeting, Capital Allocation & More”
Is the Search Fund Acquisition Rate Falling? With Jim Edmunds, Badge Stone & Kent Weaver
My Guests This week, I’m joined by three of the most experienced and respected investors within the search fund ecosystem to discuss a topic that is understandably of interest to the entire ETA community: That subject is why the acquisition rate among search funds has fallen over the past 10 years, and whether the rateContinue reading “Is the Search Fund Acquisition Rate Falling? With Jim Edmunds, Badge Stone & Kent Weaver”
How to Get Your Exit Proceeds (Mostly) Tax Free
My Guests This week, we explore two separate mechanisms that may allow acquisition entrepreneurs and their investors to receive their exit proceeds largely free of tax. Relative to how powerful these programs can be, both are not fully understood within the Search Fund community, especially among new and prospective searchers. In the first half ofContinue reading “How to Get Your Exit Proceeds (Mostly) Tax Free”
In Conversation with 3 Founders Who Sold Their Companies to Search Funds
My Guests Properly managing the relationship with the outgoing seller is likely to be among your most important tasks within your first 6 months as the new CEO. I say this because a non-functional (or worse, a toxic) relationship between the incoming and outgoing owners has the potential to damage a company more than customersContinue reading “In Conversation with 3 Founders Who Sold Their Companies to Search Funds”
Evaluating The Most Common Forms of Debt Used to Finance Small Business Acquisitions
Listen to this Blog Post Though it is correct to suggest that all acquisitions are funded through some combination of cash-on-hand, debt, or equity, it’s also a bit of an oversimplification. Indeed, the financing options available to prospective acquirors are numerous, and in today’s blog post, I focus specifically on debt, and evaluate the fourContinue reading “Evaluating The Most Common Forms of Debt Used to Finance Small Business Acquisitions”
From $7M to $50M via 14 Acquisitions: A Consolidation Success Story With Jay Davis & Jason Pananos
My Guests After graduating from business school in 2008, Jay Davis & Jason Pananos acquired Vector Disease Control, a company that they grew from ~$7M to ~$50M in revenue in 7 years through successfully executing on 14 bolt-on acquisitions. They were able to grow the business by a 43% compounded annual growth rate before sellingContinue reading “From $7M to $50M via 14 Acquisitions: A Consolidation Success Story With Jay Davis & Jason Pananos”
Why You May Be Ignoring Brokered Deals at Your Peril
My Guest My guest today is Ryan Farkas, a Partner, Managing Director and the Practice Leader in M&A and Capital Markets in BDO’s Central Canada region. Ryan has successfully closed countless sell-side advisory transactions in various industries spanning manufacturing, consumer discretionary, construction, engineering, automotive and information technology. Ryan has also worked on several large performanceContinue reading “Why You May Be Ignoring Brokered Deals at Your Peril”
Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback: Educators, Mentors, and Leaders Within the SMB Community
My Guests Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback are both professors at the Harvard Business School, and co-teach two wildly popular courses called The Financial Management of Smaller Firms and Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, both of which focus on how to acquire, finance and operate your own smaller firm. In 2017 they also co-published the widely readContinue reading “Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback: Educators, Mentors, and Leaders Within the SMB Community”