Where are people seeing SBA7a loans these days? Prime +~150-175 feel right?

Reached out to the owner of an interesting commercial services company - size and geography seemed right. Turns out it's owned by an HBS searcher who just sold the company to PE. He gave me some words of encouragement to keep going... ...and that this is his fourth ETA exit

Most well-respected traditional search fund investors in my book: Will Thorndike, followed closely by Jim Edmunds and Kent Weaver. Who else am I missing?

Random HVAC anecdote. Had my unit serviced yesterday - the tech was 22 years old and instead of going to trade school, he applied directly for a job as a tech at a local company. They offered to train him on the job. Unit is fixed but I was definitely wondering how good he'd be.

It's one thing to talk about LBO'ing a small company via an SBA loan with a PG but it's another to actually do it. Choose people to work with who understand that risk and embody it as if it was their own. Many looking for a fee but couldn't care less your life's on the line.

One unique way to find leads for local searchers - find towns/areas you want to acquire in and research who's sponsoring little league teams (it's usually published on some township website). Tedious but fruitful and your intro email is practically written for you.

For geographic searches, I'd think about what it is that the markets you're in do really well and what they don't do well. Easier to jump into an industry that is favorable locally than one with headwinds. I've been surprised by the regional discrepancies of similar businesses.

If anyone is able to offer access to Grata and is willing to help a fellow searcher out, DM me.

Dealing with a seller who is truly ready and willing to sell is the most important seller characteristic other than trustworthiness. Every single conversation is exponentially more difficult when the seller's heart is half in the deal.

Best earnout structures for SMB buyout? Most obvious structure seems to tie payouts to revenue performance but I've thought about something income-related as well. Seller staying on for 1 year.

If anyone has used a good service to help send physical direct mailers I'd love to hear about it

It's easy to get discouraged during a search but it's important to remember it just takes one deal to get in the game. Patience is the key and the search process itself weeds out most.

Having a deal under LOI die after several months of work is the ultimate kick in the nuts. Better to avoid the trauma and carnage of a bad deal, but still not fun. Onto the next.

Furniture distribution business... Expected EBITDA margins? What's a fair purchase multiple? ($2M-$3M EBITDA) Looking for ballpark ranges to frame up a meeting w/ seller today and confirm my initial thought process.

I am at the stage of my search where I'm posting in local facebook groups

Getting a text from a seller asking how you're doing after a broken LOI feels like getting a "you up?" text from an ex at 2am.

Cold email outbound working like a well-oiled machine

So far today I've seen: - multiple companies I've spoken with at length listed on the Inc. 5,000 fastest growing companies list (had dinner with multiple) - one company I spoke with acquired by a notable rollup PE shop (platform inv.) Validating and frustrating. Onto the next

Who are the most people on Operating Partner/Operating Exec roles in PE?

Best acquiring minds podcasts this year?