Dave

One of my daughters, 17, has totaled 2 cars in the last 12 months...2! She is otherwise super responsible, has great grades, no trouble, drives slowly, but staying on 2 wheels while driving..🙃 I'm 46; I've never totaled a car. What do I even do with that?

Looking for a business to buy? Spend time in Florida and Colorado. In 2024, 1,919 Colorado companies that had been around 20+ years voluntarily dissolved. In 2010 it was 393. Florida went from 886 to 4,320. Older companies are a growing share of these dissolutions in both states. Dissolving isn’t selling—that value just disappeared. A lot of owners never knew selling was an option.

If you're looking to buy a business, two small things will put you ahead of most other buyers. Move fast. Deals are competitive. Larger PE firms need committees and boards to approve offers. That process takes time. You don't have that friction. I see a lot of first-time buyers looking for the perfect deal or waiting until they have zero unanswered questions. From the outside, it's obvious. Having sat on both sides of the table, a lot of those people never close anything. They're trying to eliminate every risk and every fear before they make a move. You won't. Every deal has some hair. You'll always have some uncertainty. Get your key questions answered, then make an offer. Analysis paralysis is how good opportunities go to someone else. A related thing I hear all the time: "I'll be going the SBA route, so X." That doesn't change much. Brokers see SBA deals constantly. It doesn't make your process unique or give you special rules. Treat it like any other deal and move. Communicate. Don't ghost the seller or the broker. You should be able to look at a deal and know within a few hours whether it's worth the next conversation. If you're slow to reply, or you're casually checking email on vacation, you come across as not serious. Treat it like a sales process. Tell them when you're sending questions, when you'll make a decision, and when you're sending an LOI. If you're not interested, say so—and why. Clear next steps and honest feedback keep the other side engaged and show you're serious. Make sure they have your direct email and phone number, then actually use them. Most buyers overcomplicate this. Speed and clear communication still matter more than almost anything else early on.

This is amazing! The ingenuity of Elon and team is incredible. Delta better be careful maybe what comes next for SpaceX is they just skip the whole airline WiFi thing and just create a better airline. Last time I checked Delta isn’t competing in Space.

Had a very strange acquisition call this week. On with a potential buyer and a company owner. This was the 3rd in-depth call with the owner (2hrs)—no LOI from the buyer...they still had questions. Drilled the owner with questions the entire time on costs, projections, operating detail. Then they said something that puzzled both of us. "I'm looking at several other companies' CIMs in this vertical trying to decide if they are good or we should just steal their customers." Um...what? Did I hear that correctly? We both stopped. That is not diligence. That is using a sale process to harvest competitive intelligence. We stopped sharing information and eliminated that buyer. If you are running a process, watch for this. Real buyers follow a process. They do not shop other people's CIMs so they can poach the customer list. Be careful what you hand over before someone has shown they are actually a buyer, regardless of track record or NDAs.

I'm loving @grok over Claude these days. Responses seem so much easier to manage + GrokBot. Two issues I dislike: #1 No Mac App, #2 this error when I only ask one question..."The conversation is too long. Try shortening it or starting a new one." Not sure the fix on that

Got this reply today: "Closed the business at the end of June. I still have the equipment if you want to start a business in this market." 32 years in business — shut down, never knowing it could've sold. Not everyone's online. Keep having conversations. Do what others won't.

Super excited about this new opportunity. - US based AI Services firm ($10.2M rev / $2.0M EBITDA) with Enterprise deployments, owned IP, & Federal projects. - PhD Management team is already in place. - CIM #1000 Access👇 NDA + data room: portal.perservera-advisors.c…

Who are my turnaround PE Pros? Acquisition Opportunity (Turn Around) Equipment Leasing Turnaround Platform Revenue: ~$10M+ Historical EBITDA: $5M+ range (pre-current situation)

Friday, we had to let one of our managers go. He had been neglecting things for months, and we finally uncovered that he was the problem. Saturday morning, his wife emails me....Yep, his wife! She wrote how we better be a good reference and how terrible his boss is, and how his boss would ruin everything 🤯. We had loads of data internally and from clients that say otherwise. It was one of the strangest emails I've ever received. Who can top this...bring it.

💡Quick M&A tip: Before you close, check the resumés of the “leaders” you’re inheriting. Title ≠ qualified. We’ve been burned before—sellers sometimes sneak unqualified people into big roles right before close. Catch it early. Save yourself the headache

Had a SaaS company today (one we were testing in marketing) accidentally swap me out for another person outside our org as the main admin for users, billing, etc., and then wondered why I was canceling. They thought it was no big deal 🙄

Had one of those moments this week where a big New York tech client came back after leaving 2-months ago to find a “cheaper option” when we told him we needed to raise his prices. Baulked at the higher price again this week but we stuck to our guns. Just signed the new contract, which includes closing and cleanup of the last 2-months 😆 Know your value, others will too. Also don’t overcomplicate things. I’m sure his VC is pissed that his books are now behind. For what? Trying to save a few bucks?

Had a call yesterday with a potential acquisition target. Got their financials, they went from $16M -> $13M ->$10M on track to $8M this year. After seeing their financials, I said "This is a turnaround, you don't want to sell now". Their main problem is their comp model, paying consultants way too much, and their drop in revenue was from 2 customers leaving. Never done any sales or marketing for 30 years, their contractors just bring in leads if they feel like it. So I said, "Look let us help you get this turned around. Bring in a fractional CFO and right size your comp model, bring in a marketer so you have steady leads, and bring in a fractional CRO to get your sales process built out correctly. Let's revisit in 2-3 years when your EBITDA is closer to $3M and you'll get a better multiple, in fact I'll be a buyer." Turned a lost opportunity into a sales opportunity and helped the seller get more value. Ended the call she said "Thank you so much Dave, you could have just said pass and went about your business but the advice you gave me is invaluable, let's do this." This is how relationships of trust are created and you stand out as a buyer.

Spent the last 2 years aggregating acquisition resources, it took FOREVER! I compiled all my resources into one FREE spreadsheet for you. Best Acquisition sites, lenders, investors, attorneys, due diligence providers, ETA events & more. Like & comment, DM me for access!

Sunday Thoughts… We recently finished the series House of David on Prime. I was reminded of how great of a story David and Goliath is. 5 takeaways 1. Greatness Starts in Obscurity David was a nobody. A shepherd, not a soldier. But his hidden discipline prepared him for a public breakthrough. → Master your craft quietly. When the moment comes, use what you’ve learned. ⸻ 2. Faith > Fear Everyone else froze. David moved forward—with belief, not bravado. → The scariest decisions often define the future. Move forward with clarity, not crowd consensus. ⸻ 3. Use What You Know David didn’t wear borrowed armor. He used his sling. → Play to your strengths. Don’t chase playbooks that don’t fit your DNA. ⸻ 4. Giants Reveal Opportunity Goliath was a terror—until David saw him as a target. → The market’s biggest pain points often scare everyone else away. If you lean in, they can become your biggest edge. ⸻ 5. One Bold Act Can Change Everything David’s win changed Israel—and launched his career. → A well-timed product launch, pivot, or deal can change your trajectory overnight. Be ready when the moment comes.

You don’t need a better culture. You need a better org chart. We’ve seen it 100 times: - Managers with no clear authority - High performers reporting to bad managers - Founders stuck as the bottleneck Morale issues are usually structure issues in disguise. Fix the chart. Then fix the culture.