I think most here are going for businesses where the owner is not working in the business. We're targeting companies with 10-19 people to start so the owner will be in it most of the time. We need to get his info out of his head and into the next manager, likely another employee in the business. Has anyone does this? Is it enough to interview the current owner and pass his info along (in the form of SOPs/documentation) or did you do anything else to get that critical operating information out?

I notice that business acquirers seem to like having a 3 to 7 year exit as their default strategy. To me it would make more sense to insure management is doing a good job and keep the business forever as a default, only selling off problematic businesses. But maybe I'm not factoring something in.

Hi Paul, 100 deals in business is an enormous amount. I'm imagining that you/your team was doing a trickle in house (100% ownership) and then when you started JVing with operators your numbers exploded, is that how it went?

Do you need funding for your deals? In the last 7 days we secured £40M ($81M AUD, $51M US) UK: Invoice Finance to fund an LBO £450k Facility No PG, No equity going in (Service fee 0.35%, Interest 4% about BOE BR) Plant & Machinery finance to fund an LBO acquisition £300k Facility No PG, No equity going in (Amortised over 5 years, 7% Interest) Term Debt £250K (Amortised over 4 years, 7% Interest) Real Estate – 2 offers £14M + £18M 1 with a PG, 1 without, no equity going in (Amortised over 8 years, interest only, balloon in year 8 / amortised over 20 years 6.5% Interest) Australia: Invoice Finance to fund an LBO AUD $2M Facility – Limited PG of $500K (6% + BBSW, 0.35% Service fee) Invoice Finance to fund an LBO AUD $8.6M Facility – No PG, no equity (Same terms as above) Term Debt AUD $500K. (Amortised over 4 years, 8%). USA: Equity Investor investing $300K into a deal SBA Loan + Term Debt + ABL Facility combined $2M It is possible to raise capital from financial institutions to fund the acquisition of a well run, profitable business (maybe owned by a baby boomer looking to retire). It is also possible contrary to belief to do it without investing your own capital or signing a PG as evidenced here. Investing your own equity will make the solution cheaper and more flexible but it is not essential. If you have a deal you need funding for with any of the following assets + good cashflow + little existing debt and you are looking to raise a minimum of $500K we can help. Real Estate Aged Receivables (B2B) Plant & Machinery Inventory/Stock (big ticket items only, completed product) Operating in the UK, USA or Australia. Funding for acquisitions only (we can help with working capital funding but only as part of an acquisition not as a standalone). Send me a DM, connect with me.

Think I'd like to buy halfway in to minimize risk on the first deal. Lower debt payment. And if income goes down the equity payment to seller also goes down, reducing downside risk. Anything wrong with this approach? We could add a buyout clause to trigger years down the line when cash flows amply support it.