Grit Pays Off: From $250k Losses to PE Interest
I guess Nathan has what it takes... (he survived and now private equity is knocking on his door.) A short story on grit and perseverance: He first took out an $850k SBA to acquire a two person HVAC business. Important to mention: he did NOT have previous HVAC industry experience... He'd been running a book publishing business for 15 years and before acquiring a business he relied heavily on consultations. Things started to happen... Shortly after closing he lost roughly 50% of the revenue. Key-man-risk became reality, as they say. Still as naive as he was, he didn't stop... He went and raised a bit of additional capital and acquired a second HVAC company at a VERY attractive valuation after the former owner developed serious health issues. The new reality? Two acquisitions in, he was losing nearly $250k annually. He openly shared that he was drinking and things were very bad. (I kept pushing him to describe the day-to-day reality and appreciated him being so transparent.) To survive, he made a big change: technicians could either move from hourly wages to a commission-only structure or leave. Most chose to leave... The few who stayed were enough to drive the true turnaround (read: transform the business). His strategy is simple: 1. be a master marketer, have technicians become true salesmen who take care of customers, 2. and in M&A, focus on smaller businesses where he can avoid competing directly with private equity firms. Ironically, now that the company is operating at a $15-16m annual revenue run rate, PE firms are constantly reaching out. When I asked whether he would consider selling... "Probably." He said there were periods when he genuinely couldn't see a path forward. The stress was overwhelming. He drank too much. The pressure was unlike anything he had experienced before. If he exits, his plan is to take some time off and then do it all over again by building another platform from scratch. Glad we had this call with Nathan. More in the comments.
Lower‑middle‑
From a capital preservation perspective I wonder how many SpaceX employees begin allocating capital into lower middle market $1-10 million EBITDA businesses. My guess is that the majority of wealth ends up in real estate, ETFs, and fixed income securities. But...
AI‑driven Roll‑ups Turn Fragmented Markets Into Billion‑dollar Wins
- Thrive Holdings is reportedly planning to bet $1 billion on this particular AI-powered roll-up. - @NWischoff said three companies in her portfolio have pivoted to roll-ups over the last 24 months and are crushing it (7-10x their entry valuation). -...
AI Roll‑Up Dwelly Secures $200M After 9 Acquisitions
Want to see true product-market fit? Look at Dwelly. After 9 acquisitions in 24 months, Dan's AI-enabled roll-up is in talks to raise an additional $200m from General Catalyst and other investors. It's great news, as earlier this year they raised $93 million...
Build a $50M Business via 90 Strategic Acquisitions
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Bootstrapped Funeral Tech Roll‑up Hits $1 B Exit
I’d be very surprised if you've heard of this niche roll-up. It operates in one of the most overlooked corners of the market - founded in 2003 by a gentleman who sold candles out of the trunk of his car... Bootstrapped until...
Idun’s Serial Acquisitions Yield 15% Annual Compounding
"The Next Great Swedish Serial Acquirer That Nobody Talks About?" Idun Industrier is a serial acquirer with a simple model: Buy niche, market-leading industrial businesses at 5-8x EBITA, keep them operationally independent and redeploy the cash they generate into further acquisitions. Do that...
Rare 30‑50% IRR: $5
The rare but real 30-50% IRR outcomes One example is a gentleman who bought a $5M EBITDA business and in short four years, paid back most of the $20M in debt. Also grew EBITDA by 50%. Then he exited the business for...
Persistence Pays: Amboro Acquires 80‑Year Aerospace Distributor
Never bet against someone who refuses to give up. You will learn a lot from this one. From Luca himself: "When I launched Amboro Capital, my mission was simple: Find an exceptional SME in an industry I genuinely care about, and operate it...
How Serial Acquirers Build Moats and Drive 10x Growth
This and more in the episode below: - 10x growth in last 5 years - The goal is to raise prices as much as possible - Buying a MOAT and companies with a brand - What makes these serial acquirers so unique? - Post-acquisition...
Serial Entrepreneur Scales Compliance Firm to $80M, Launches New Fund
You may find this interesting. I talked to a serial entrepreneur and business buyer whose recent investments included a property compliance company. He was able to grow the company from $6 million in revenue to $80 million in revenue, sell it...
From $100k to $10B: Holdco Mastery Blueprint
Definitely not just a real/estate mogul... He didn't speak English until the age of 14... ended up buying 500+ companies and turning $100k into $10B. They still make over 50 add-ons a year. I did long research on him; below you'll find a...
Layered Moats Turn Boring Niches Into Billion‑Dollar Exits
Novaria Group and its $2.2B exit playbook: Make 27 acquisitions and build a roll-up platform around high-mix, low-volume, low-relevant-cost products... Add a “layer cake of protections” around process IP, explicit IP, daily discipline, and unit economics. A true moat in an aerospace and...
HVAC Roll-Up Thrives by Prioritizing Technicians Over Finance
Andrea Allegrini is one of the operators behind Lindbergh, an HVAC roll-up that has completed 14 acquisitions. What started as a niche logistics and waste-management business has evolved into a fast-growing acquisition platform doing $32 million in revenue, with 35-36% yearly...
Unlock $1‑10M Deals Through Overlooked Accountants
The best $1-10M EBITDA deals exist where others are not looking... Hint: accountants What can Joshua Friedman of Canyon Partners and Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co., the lower middle market investment banking firm, teach you about creative sourcing? Timestamps: 0:00 Great sourcing comes from...