Good evening search fund community,
My name is Jamie Schmidt, and I recently left my position as CFO of Schmitt Industries, Inc. to search for a small business to acquire with my spouse. My spouse and I have been together for over 6 years and have worked together for 3+ years at various companies. We have a strong working relationship and a shared passion for building teams and companies. Before we launch our self-funded search in March, we’re looking to connect with investors and SBA lenders who complement our skill sets and would be interested in seeing deals once our sourcing is complete.

I invite potential partners to direct message me.

Fellow searchers – please feel free to reach out. I’m always interested in meeting new people.

Why Partner with Us? • Our careers have focused on building and investing in small businesses. • We have both managed departments and/or small businesses. We understand the day-to-day realities of small businesses, and we have experience dealing with the resource constraints, limited data, and administrative burdens. • We have experience investigating and closing deals in the lower middle market. We know the realities of due diligence with a small company with a limited team and data and the issues of dealing with founders. We understand no small business is perfect and every deal has its warts. My Spouse’s Background • (###-###-#### Present) Management Director, Small Business (~$4-5m in revenue). Promoted to head of industrial business unit at her company, with ~20 people in the business unit. Developed strategic business plan, oversaw critical hires and rebuilt the team, shepherded the organization through the COVID crisis, and is currently executing a turnaround plan. • (###-###-#### Vice President – Business Development, Boutique Investment Bank. Charged with creating and executing strategic plan for 20-person sales force to reverse 5-year revenue decline. Conducted deep diligence to identify source of revenue decline and spearheaded and completed a 12-month IT project to provide KPI visibility for the sales force. • (###-###-#### Associate Equity Research Analyst, Boutique Investment Bank. Covered 25 semiconductor and technology companies with market capitalizations of $500m - $2.0b for the most profitable senior analyst in the bank. Responsible for all aspects of the research process, including initiations, analyzing industry and company fundamentals, interviewing senior management, creating detailed financial models, and interfacing with institutional clients. • (###-###-#### Analyst, Cargill Risk Management, Over-the-Counter Derivatives. Responsible for development and execution of client onboarding plan for the new Dodd-Frank derivatives regulations. • Education. St. Thomas University, B.A. in Business Administration and Finance (2012)

My Background • (2020) Chief Financial Officer, Schmitt Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMIT). Oversaw the build-out of the finance team from 0 to ~10 full-time employees and guided the organization through the sale of its largest business, the acquisition of Ample Hills Creamery, Inc., and the evaluation of several strategic alternatives.. • (2019) Controller & Sell-side Consultant, Schmitt Industries, Inc. Conducted the sale of the Company’s largest business unit to Tosei Engineering for ~$10.5 million and assisted the CFO in the monthly closing and production and issuance of the Company’s financial statements. • (###-###-#### Analyst, Sententia Capital Management. Deep value hedge fund specializing in micro and small-cap investments. Responsible for idea generation, due diligence, and portfolio monitoring. Played integral role in activist campaign against Schmitt Industries, Inc. in 2018. • (###-###-#### Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group. M&A analyst for sell-side M&A boutique specializing in lower middle-market industrial and consumer companies. Involved in all aspects of transactions, including managing due diligence, preparation of the Confidential Information Memorandum, negotiating non-disclosure agreements, reviewing bid letters, modeling, and drafting management presentations. • Education: Columbia Business School, MBA (2018); Florida State University, B.S. in Finance (2011)

OUR SEARCH
Type of Search • Self-funded • Broker-focused search • Targeted geographies
Criteria • Light manufacturer/assembler or service business • B2B sales channel only; no B2C • Ideal opportunities will contain a mix of: -> Organic growth -> Opportunities for efficiency gains through process improvement and team building -> Opportunity for additional acquisitions • EBITDA: $1.0-$2.0 million

While we won’t consider financially distressed businesses for our first acquisition, we both have experience with distressed businesses (my spouse is currently turning around an unprofitable business and we both oversaw the acquisition of Ample Hills Creamery from bankruptcy) and enjoy the work of a turnaround. We are comfortable with and excited for prospects that require sweat equity to rebuild teams, establish new processes, and build the financial infrastructure for businesses.
Geographies We’ll finalize a list of target cities and states as we get closer to March, but we’re currently considering cities in: • Minnesota • Illinois • Florida • Texas • Arizona • Massachusetts • Oregon • California