He’s done 22 acquisitions, mostly off-market. Steal my notes.

This Week in ETA:

• Searchers: I spent a full day with Peter Lang, who has acquired 22 businesses, mostly off-market deals. Sharing my notes for those interested; it was the best single-day professional development experience I’ve ever had. (And I’ve both bought and sold businesses multiple times already!) 

• Investors: I co-wrote an article, Make Sure Your Investors are Entrepreneurs. We are convinced that the era of relying on financial engineering for returns is over. In its place, investors need to actually help entrepreneurs create value operationally. 

Featured Off-Market Deals:

Brought to you in partnership with Deal Prospectors

Plus:

• Sending a daily progress report to your deal team is a great way to make sure your deal stays on track and doesn’t stall.

• Beware cash conversion cycle length. When you have long accounts receivable/inventory cycles, growth (and even staying the same) can tie up an enormous amount of cash. That’s why service businesses (little inventory and faster customer payments) are often attractive. Heather Endresen at VISO Capital suggests screening out deals based on cash conversion cycle and working capital needs. Your strike zone narrows — but it saves you from fighting an uphill battle.

• We are founding investors supporting Partnership Acquisition Commonsense Terms (PACT). I break down how typical investment terms work in this video. We hope PACT will help bring clarity and efficiency to small business acquisition deals as a starting point template for both searchers and investors to work from.

Question:

Hit reply and tell us - Searchers, what is the #1 question you ask potential investors? And Investors, what is your #1 question for searchers? We’d love to include your feedback in a future newsletter.