Looking For Thoughts on Small Business Roll-ups

Member resources:

Frequent asked questions:

What is Searchfunder.com?

Searchfunder.com is an online community of searchers, investors, lenders, brokers and other professionals. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder account to help them network, hire, and mentor others.

What are the benefits of membership?

In addition to accessing the most active online network of business buyers, Searchfunder licenses research that is simply not cost effective for individuals. Access over 15,000 industry reports and 50,000 transaction financials. You also get monthly credits for contact information for your company sourcing campaign with the option to purchase more at drastically discounted rates. Searchfunder has pre-purchased access from these data providers in order to empower individual buyers and to help searchers level the playing field versus private equity.

Do you have deals?

While we are primarily a buy-side network, we do have hundreds of brokers that regularly post deals to the community.

Can I find an internship on Searchfunder?

Absolutely! We have the industry's largest intern job board. If you are considering a search, the first step is to help another business buyer so you can hit the ground running.

What does it cost?

Searchfunder is a subscription service. We offer flexible monthly, annual and lifetime memberships.

Monthly

$79 / month

Annual

$19 / month

Lifetime

$432 / once

Those who maintain an account with us for over 4 continuous years are permanently added to the community without the need for a membership.

Do I need an MBA to join?

While a large number of our members come from dedicated programs at Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth, and other top programs, searching is no longer reserved for the elite. With the current abundance of dry powder in private equity, and an increasing number of business owners reaching retirement age, good deals rarely go unfunded.

Post a question, deal, job, etc...

Make a post...

Complete registration to post.

by a searcher from University of North Carolina at Charlotte
in Raleigh, NC, USA

1yr ago

Looking For Thoughts on Small Business Roll-ups

All, I'm thinking about drastically changing my previous search fund plan. I think what I'd like to do is buy much smaller businesses (sub $1M in profitability). Probably ecommerce, given its portability and ease of management. I have seen firms of this type plateau simply because the founder does not know how to put systems in place. The idea (which is not particularly original) is to buy these type of firms, introduce systems and a growth strategy then sell in a higher market. Then wash rinse repeat, same concept as flipping houses, the hold time would be relatively short. Has anyone ever done anything like this? Are there specific investors that have an apatite for this kind of strategy?

2 Likes

494 Views

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
in Rindge, NH 03461, USA

You are thinking about rolling up ecom and trying to sell for a higher multiple......gee, that is new. Don't you think that if it was as easy as you suggest it would be done already?? What new skill, idea, trick do you have that others do not?

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from University of New Mexico in Jackson, WY, USA

Felix beat me to the punch in pointing out Thrasio as the casebook example of why this thesis is more challenging than one often perceives. Certain synergies can definitely be possible with greater scale (via sharing services like marketing, fulfillment, etc.) yet there are also ample challenges. Headwinds can also compound quickly (for example, an algorithm change that suddenly reduces your SEO performance across the board, rising costs for paid advertising, etc.). All this being said, I think many would argue that one of the best ways for this approach to be successful would be to apply your thesis in a singular vertical or industry (ex. pet products, the home improvement category, etc.). This provides a clear focal point for honing your craft, developing industry expertise, and maximizing opportunities for cross selling, cross promoting, and effectively sharing services.