I’m attracted to the Japanese idea of wabi-sabi, which I understand to mean ‘beauty in imperfection’. The bowl image below illustrates the physical form of this concept.
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Rather than replacing the broken bits with a seamless fix or discarding the bowl entirely, the repairs are highlighted and make a dramatic and stunning impression.
Businesses can be viewed the same way. Sometimes it is the imperfections that make them special and “authentic”.
These quirks may well filter out some customers and future employees, but also attract and retain others. Perfection, or its appearance, can feel intimidating or off-putting to many, since we all have flaws. We feel an easy closeness with others who embrace their vulnerability.
As a final aside, I haven’t looked, but if I were setting up an acquisition entity, I might call it Wabi-Sabi Group, or something similar. You could build a great story around it that would resonate with sellers of SMBs.
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If you are an owner, investor, broker, banker, etc. that is involved with SMBs, I'd like to request a few minutes of your time.
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Background: For some time now, I've been frustrated by the lack of engaging, relevant, and timely information about what's going on with SMBs at any given point in time and rather than continuing to complain, I'm going to try to do something (small) to start addressing that.
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I have limited time, as I know is the case for you, so I am just asking for some quick responses (1-3 sentences per question w/ responses via DM to me) to the following prompts:
☑️ Funding - Millions of $ from leading business families
☑️ Compelling strategy - Search fund-like model w/ no PG, full $ support, long-term holds
🔲 8-10 top operators who want to buy & grow a SMB
Today, after a year of intense effort, we're launching Majority Search, a new investment firm created to become the preferred buyer of $1-2 million EBITDA service and light manufacturing companies in the US.
We're conducting a highly-selective process to attract a few high-performing, high-potential entrepreneurial leaders to join us.
Everyone knows someone who is amazing at managing & leading teams and orgs.
With our support, we'll be turning those operators into owners.
What does it cost to fund a search for a business to buy?
To support full-time sourcing efforts for 24-30 months, a typical single funded searcher will budget about $500,000 to sustain their efforts. (2 searchers might require $750k)
Broken deal costs, post-LOI costs (legal, QoE, etc., which can be $100-250k).
The amounts shown do usually allow a searcher to stretch things out a bit longer if they need the time, or it provides some cushion in case of a broken deal or two
For much of 2021 I've been developing a new idea for entrepreneurship through acquisition (EtA) with a partner. We're not quite ready to pull back the curtains, but we're really close.
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In anticipation of our launch, we'd like to start identifying the highest caliber mid-career operators we can so that we can connect with them to share more about our opportunity later this year. That's where I could use your help.
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If you have built and led teams, managed a P&L, are humble, curious, driven, and eager to have greater autonomy and a chance to build significant personal wealth, I'd like to hear from you. If this isn't you, maybe there's someone in your network that fits this profile?
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