Acquisition Aficionado Magazine’s Post

🌟 An Exciting Moment in the World of Main Street M&A! The world of Main Street M&A is ever-changing and it is truly exciting to continuously see the innovative and creative deals dealmakers in the marketplace are doing. One deal structure in particular that I have had my eye on over the last few years, is Consulting For Equity. Carl Allen, as you very likely know of, has been on the cover of our publication a couple of times and is commonly known as the godfather of Main Street M&A... His partner, not as well known (yet), Chris Moore, has been featured a handful of times in Acquisition Aficionado for his highly impressive negotiation techniques, how he leverages the art of pre-framing to talk sellers into agreeing to seller financing terms... And Chris is also an incredibly accomplished dealmaker, specifically leveraging consulting for equity deals. LAST WEEK - Carl Allen and Chris Moore have teamed up to bring a NEW community and education course to the market called Equity Partner. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gHFGf-u2 Equity Partner is a community of highly skilled consultants, marketers, executives, and fractional c-suite consultants who are all focused on doing consulting for equity deals. Equity Partner also has a complete training program and weekly calls teaching you everything you need to know to build a portfolio of equity positions in existing, cash-flowing businesses... Leveraging the skills, experience, connection, and expertise you already have... Chris and Carl will teach you: ✅ How to find equity partnership opportunities ✅ How to position yourself correctly in person and online ✅ How to leverage the art of discovery to uncover the bleeding problems in the business ✅ And lastly, how to TRAIN business owners to OFFER YOU equity in their business Equity Partner is not a $20k mentorship program. Instead it is a community of highly skilled people looking to do deals together and help business owners solve crippling problems in their businesses - in exchange for equity. Carl and Chris are offering lifetime access to their Equity Partner community right now for only $1497. I told them they are crazy and it is worth so much more... I jumped in and am looking to learn a lot as Chris and Carl have a lot to teach us. I am here as an ambassador for their program and community and I am extending the invite to you, our valued readers. You can learn all about the Equity Partner program and community here - https://lnkd.in/gHFGf-u2 I hope to see you inside the community and at their live event coming up in February. This offer will not be available at $1497 beyond their initial launch period. Take advantage of this while it is available, get in on the ground floor and be in for life. Cheers 🔥👊

Engaging in business partnerships is often a strategic move for small businesses looking to enhance their market presence and operational capabilities. However, the journey of forming partnerships is not without its hurdles, and understanding these can help you navigate them more effectively.

Rod Turner will be delighted I am coming to the "last post" for this workshop! There is ONLY ONE TICKET LEFT. This isn't your typical "magically a bigger room will appear" - we are one away from the maximum number that we feel we can deliver enough individual attention and quality content directly to. Less than 2 weeks to go now. A chance to pick our brains and gather as much knowledge as you can in a one-day intense but interactive workshop format - covering: Due Diligence Acquisitions of portfolios and businesses (and disposals) Joint Ventures including solid paperwork! Guess what - it doesn't all work out as you would expect. You will be defined by how you deal with the difficult parts - in a timely fashion, how you compartmentalise the things that don't go as well as you might expect, and how you use them as "paid learning" to help you run your winners. Every success I've ever seen in business has let their winners run and cut their losses well. Join us in London on 24th April - or, prepare for the FOMO that will come afterwards! The attendee list alone is worth the ticket price! http://bit.ly/pbwtwo

Here's my process for starting partnerships (to help you avoid a bad one): First, my 4 biggest rules on partnerships: 1. No 50/50 deals. Someone is in charge. 2. Everyone else has to earn into the deal. 3. Strict nonsolicit & nondisclosure, both sides. 4. Both sides need to put money into the deal if at all possible. I haven't always gone into partnerships with eyes wide open. Now I use this due diligence before we do a deal with an operator/owner: ✔️ Background check ✔️ If they’ve ever raised capital, talk to their previous investors ✔️ Review their business's reviews & BBB files ✔️ Attorneys review all contracts prior to doing the deal ✔️ Call and email 10 references Some other things to remember: → Partnerships are easy to get into and hard to get out of. Do you want to work side-by-side with this person in the same office for 10yrs? If not, don’t do the deal. → How does this person talk about & treat people they leave or disagree with? Start with the end in mind. Have a conversation about expectations for both sides, then document them. If it’s not signed, it never happened. → People change, expect it. Expect people to turn into the worst versions of themselves when money's involved. For many, money creates monsters. → Incentives drive actions. If they earn their money regardless of their performance, expect them to do less. → Most people won’t want it as bad as you. They won’t be willing to put in what it takes. Set the agreement accordingly. The cherry on top: You can take all the right precautions. Make all the right agreements. Have all the right attitudes. Do all the right vetting. ...and a partnership can STILL go south. The best advice: proceed with caution. Want more insider takes on business buying and scaling? Read this → https://lnkd.in/gZgZ3XMk

Really enjoying contributing to Business Journals Leadership Trust this summer. My key approach? Add value. By comprehending a partner's objectives and crafting mutually beneficial opportunities, you can establish a competitive edge and strengthen resiliency. #businessleadership #valuecreation #strategicpartnerships #resilientbusiness

If you're considering working with an M&A advisor to get acquired, make sure you push back HARD on exclusivity periods, and make sure the agreement is structured such that the firm is incentivized to work for you. A founder recently told us a story that really illustrates why this is such a huge problem. He's CEO at a software company with 7 figure revenues. It had been over a decade, and while the company was profitable, he felt it was about time to move on. He signed with an M&A advisory firm who reached out, one of the top 3 in the software industry. Three months in, the firm wasn't able to find any interested buyers. The founder reached out to cancel, and learned that while they could cancel the monthly retainer, the firm still had exclusivity for 24 months after the termination of the agreement. This means that if his company gets acquired during that time, the firm would get their fee, even if they didn't do anything to help! At this point, the firm had already decided he wasn't going to sell. And without the retainer, they just stopped working for him altogether. Now the founder was stuck in a situation that was worse than when he started. He had to do all the work of finding buyers himself, and because he's still under exclusivity, he couldn't find anyone else to help him. The business model of many traditional M&A advisors hinges on signing as many founders as possible into these predatory agreements. They'll allocate resources towards the ones they think are likely to close. For everyone else, they lock them in and hope to get their pound of flesh for doing nothing. Being founders ourselves, it was always important that we structure our client agreements to be founder friendly, which is why we never ask for exclusivity after we stop working with someone. Apparently this is a radical notion among traditional M&A advisors.

Here’s what we will cover today: Learn how the right partnerships can help your company flourish Learn about Y Combinator’s new startups cohort Discover a cool new tool for creating videos  Quote of the Day "The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out.” ~Dee Hock Today’s Tip Over the years, I’ve created several partnerships with major websites and organizations to be the only business plan provider they promote. This excludes my competitors from working with those organizations and serving their customers. Having the right partnerships can help you gain customers, decrease costs, and gain credibility among other things. So, please think about this today: can you form exclusive partnerships to help you grow your company and gain competitive advantage? If so, follow these 7 steps to find and secure business partnerships: Identify Needs and Goals: Clearly define what you aim to achieve through a partnership, such as expanding your market reach, enhancing your product offering, or leveraging shared resources. Research Complementary Businesses: Look for companies that offer products or services that complement, but do not compete with, your own. This synergy can create added value for both parties. Evaluate Potential Partners: Assess the reputation, market position, and financial stability of potential partners. Ensure their business values and culture align with yours for a harmonious collaboration. Initiate Contact and Build Rapport: Reach out to potential partners via telephone and/or email with a well-crafted proposal that outlines mutual benefits. Arrange meetings to discuss opportunities and build a relationship based on trust and shared objectives. Negotiate Terms: Clearly define the terms of the partnership, including roles, responsibilities, financial arrangements, and performance metrics. Ensure both parties are aligned on expectations and objectives. Formalize the Agreement: Draft a detailed partnership agreement, reviewed by legal professionals, to formalize the relationship and protect the interests of both parties. Monitor and Nurture the Partnership: Regularly review the partnership's performance against agreed objectives. Maintain open communication and address any issues promptly to ensure long-term success. Do this and you’ll find yourself to be the envy of your competitors. Trivia Today’s Question: Once one of the world's largest non-state oil companies, which Russian petroleum giant was declared bankrupt in 2006? Previous Question: What is the average amount of time people spend looking for lost files and other items in their office? Previous Answer: Officer workers spend an average of 50 minutes each day looking for files, information, and supplies. Schedule an afternoon to get organized. Saving yourself or your team members even 20 minutes per day can mean alot What did you think of today's newsletter? 🔥 Loved it!😐 It was OK👎 Hated it

Adding a new partner into the partnership: What should you consider first? For businesses that run as a partnership, there often comes a time where you need to consider admitting a new partner into the partnership. Perhaps it’s a case of looking for someone who will pave the way for an existing partner to retire, maybe it’s a family business and there are plans to bring the next generation on board, or perhaps you have a key employee that brings value to the business and is looking to grow their role and status in the business. Whatever the reason, what are some of the things you should consider before admitting a new partner? Let’s have a look. Skills and experience Does the new partner bring skills and expertise that complement the existing partners? This could be in finance, marketing, operations, or in some technical knowledge that is specific to your business. Spend some time evaluating the prospective partner’s experience in your industry and how it can contribute to the growth and success of the partnership. Financial contribution How much capital will the new partner contribute to the partnership? Assess whether this capital is sufficient to meet the current and future needs of the business. It also pays to check on the financial stability of the prospective partner. Will they be able to meet their financial commitments to the partnership? Cultural fit Things can get very uncomfortable if there’s a mismatch of values among partners in a business. While it’s not necessary to agree on everything – in fact an ability to have different ideas can be very valuable for a business – long-running disagreements or feuds can be very detrimental to morale across the business. So, consider whether the prospective partner’s values, work ethic, and vision align with those of the existing partners. Look at how well the new partner will fit into the existing team. Healthy interpersonal dynamics are crucial for the smooth operation of the partnership. Legal and regulatory considerations Review your partnership agreement and update it to include terms related to the new partner’s rights, responsibilities, and share of profits and losses. Make sure too that the new partner understands and is willing to comply with all the legal and regulatory requirements relevant to the business. Impact on existing partners ..... click/tap the link to read more https://lnkd.in/ekuPPpME #partnerships #addinganewpartner #businessadviceburton #businessadvicederby

Book Review: How to Maka A Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs might be one of the best management books I’ve read with a clear blueprint on how to run a business and communicate with your team. That being said, I might be a lil biased as many of you probably don’t know who Brad Jacobs is. Not only did he create 4x individual billon dollar companies (not including the split within XPO) but one of them is United Rentals which is my current employer. Whether you like us, love us, or hate us United Rentals it is undeniable that UR is a fantastic company providing value to customers mainly because of principles that Mr. Jacobs instilled back in the late 90s. Some key takeaways for me are: - We are hard wired to feel something small is catastrophic and have negative thoughts. Reframe those thoughts as they typically can be done in a positive light - Life and business are imperfect - When running a business, you need to accept that errors are going to be made by your team - Importance of meditation and “feeling the brain”. This allows you to be cool I’m tempered situations - Mr. Jesselson - “If you want to make money in the business world, you need to get used to problems….each problem is an opportunity to remove an obstacle and get closer to success.” - There’s is no such thing as perfect terms. - Evaluate the information in front of you, lean on your trusted team, make a decision. - No one knows it all. You need to stay humble and opened minded - When forming a company do your research! You need to know the good and the bad. When I read on a topic, something that I agree with, I always like to read something by someone who has a different perspective - Mergers & Acquisitions need to be strategic. The goal is not to buy another company to be bigger. The goal is to add value - Just from my experience, it looks like private equity firms run rental companies into the ground. I did not know about the Cerberus deal back in 2007 with UR “The deals I’ve avoided have contributed more to my success than the deals I have done.” - Brad Jacobs - “Celebrate with a high five and get back to work.” This isn’t only true for M&A but for sales across the board. A big deal is nice but you need to be constantly on the lookout for the next one - Feedback loops should not solely be done when an acquisition takes place. These can be done routinely on the local level and really help when you have several different aspects of the business working together. (Example: Sales, Service, and Operations) - Hiring the right people is critical - Be an A player and hire A players - Overpay your employees - Don’t overcrowd meetings - There are certain rules that need to be followed in meetings. My biggest pet peeve is when in a meeting someone’s phone goes off on loud or worst they take a call inside the room. - Importance of listening. This comes from the top down. No higher management should cut themselves off from employees

Thinking about teaming up in business? Check out these 11 must-know tips before jumping in: bit.ly/AU96TCBP It's all about setting the stage for success! #BizPartnership101 #TeamWorkMakesTheDreamWork #businesspartnership #businesspartnerships #businesspartner #businesspartners #PartnershipTips #BusinessTips #StartupAdvice #CollaborationWins #EntrepreneurInsights