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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ  Profile
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 

@bentigg

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Learn how to acquire, grow, and invest in cash-flowing SMBs | Bought healthcare biz at 26, grew 8x by 31 | Subscribe to the SMB Scoop weekly newsletter

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Joined April 2009
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
PPP Data is a goldmine for a small business buyer - I shouldn't be telling you this... In less than 10 minutes, I found 95 'Flooring Contractors' in Texas, estimated their revenue & EBITDA based on their PPP loan data 6 steps: 1. Get PPP Payroll data for the specific NAICS
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Working Capital 101 ๐Ÿ”ฅ Let me save you years of headache. I've put together an example that should explain everything you've ever wanted to know about working capital Now you know everything
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
How I turned public PPP loan data into a mind blowing business acquisition pipeline: ๐Ÿคฏ To get PPP money, businesses had to disclose never-before-seen private dataโ€ฆnow it sits on the SBAs website available for anyone to download for free But remember, data is completely
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
27 year old buying a multi-million dollar business with 95% debt, a personal guarantee, and no management experience:
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Raising equity for a self-funded search acquisition deal? In 2022, Iโ€™ve reviewed over 100 self-funded deals and made investments in 4. Hereโ€™s the 7 slides I want to see in a deck (plus some red flags & other tips at the end), from an investor's perspective... --> --> --> -->
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Want to buy a small business near you (within 15 miles)? 12 tactics for a geographically constrained acquisition search: 1. get a list of PPP loan data from your geo, filter to best 200 with your criteria (email & cold call). Drop in unannounced live to top 25 and meet the
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Using SBA debt to buy a small biz? A simple valuation & structuring strategy: 1. EBITDA minus capex 2. Multiply by 3.5 for a good biz or 4 for a great biz to get the purchase price 3. 80% SBA debt / 10% seller note / 10% equity 4. Req working capital as part of offer That's it
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
The 27 best ๐Ÿงต threads of 2022 for small business & entrepreneurship The amount of free value in one spot is mind blowing ๐Ÿคฏ ๐Ÿ‘‡
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Want to buy a ski resort? Well now you can: for only $8,500,000! Powder King is a Canadian ski mountain in BC with 900 acres of skiable terrain, 37 runs, three lifts. It even has a lake resort as a bonus Too bad thereโ€™s no SBA loans in Canadaโ€ฆ ๐Ÿ˜‰
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
How much does a sole founder of a $300M private equity fund make assuming you 3x the investor's money? $65,000,000 ... ๐Ÿคฏ ๐Ÿ‘‡
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
@SMB_Attorney Guess Iโ€™m not seeing whatโ€™s wrong with this. Firm wants to build a certain culture. People can choose to join or not. Sounds like a great management move on their part - outline clear expectations
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Hack I learned in private equity when buying a small business Read 10Ks and investor presentations of publicly traded companies in the same space (competitors, customers, vendors) โžก๏ธ Strategy playbooks, industry insight, risks, financials Thank me by commenting "Ben you rock"
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
EV charger install biz is a great electrician niche. Start or buy one Ride the wave of new EV owners for the next 25 yrs Easy installs 1/2 day of work for $1.5K-$2K Upsell opportunities (solar, monitoring systems, electrical upgrades, etc) All about lead gen You in?
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
I've been asked this a million times, so let me show you how to calculate the investor equity ownership in a potential self funded (SBA) deal OR put another away, how much you as the entrepreneur can retain when you put up 0% of your own money (100% of equity from investors) 3
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Insider info: One thing you should know about SMB deals is that most are sold between 3.5x and 4x EBITDA And itโ€™s not driven by buyers unique valuation of a companyโ€ฆitโ€™s mostly driven by how much debt it can support according to SBA underwriting methodologiesโ€ฆthis is NOT
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
In Austin now: people setting off fireworks, blocking off the street, doing donuts, like 500 people, cops canโ€™t get close (Lamar and Barton Springs Rd) Is this a promotional event of some kind youโ€™re sponsoring @girdley ?
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Cash flow is king as a business buyer 3 steps to get from SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings) to cash flow using a live business for sale on BizBuySell: ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿงต
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Legal poker rooms are cash flow machines โ™ ๏ธโ™ฃ๏ธโ™ฅ๏ธโ™ฆ๏ธ A single mega location has the capacity to do >$10M of revenue at 40%+ EBITDA margins Let's use my local poker room in Austin TX that I play at as an example: @LodgePokerClub The place is MASSIVE. Over 80 tables (10 people per
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
โ€œAI/Drones could never automate my power washing businessโ€ Me: ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
All I want for Christmas is a recurring revenue business for 2.5x EBITDA with 100% seller financing
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
12 tactics to find an extremely profitable, cash flowing SMB within 10 miles of your house: 1. get a list of PPP loan data from your geo, filter to best 200 with your criteria (email & cold call). Drop in unannounced live to top 25 and meet the owner 2. send a high value
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
SBA rule change โžก๏ธ now allows ROLLOVER EQUITY and continued involvement by the seller! I'm calling it now...This will change the dynamic between buyers & sellers in SBA 7(a) financed business purchases (if you know how to wield it) Here's what buyers need to know ๐ŸŽ:
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
How much do M&A advisors (business brokers, investment bankers) get paid to sell a business? ๐Ÿ”ธ5-10% for $2M to $5M ๐Ÿ”ธ4-6% for $5M to $10M ๐Ÿ”ธ2-4% for $20M to $50M ๐Ÿ”ธ1-2% for $100M to $150M (imo they're underpaid!) This hot tea ๐Ÿซ– came from a report that was just released ๐Ÿ‘‡
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
What do you think of this boring business that makes $1.3M a year in profit re-selling rocks and dirt? My head immediately goes to 1) real estate and 2) inventory
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
The next billion dollar industry? Male-focused aesthetics: med spas, injectables clinics, hair loss treatments, hormone replacement therapy High margins, cash pay, massive growth w aging millennials, low risk medical procedures
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
The playbook for buying a cash flowing small biz: 1. Find a quality biz for less than 4x EBITDA 2. Use a loan to fund >70-100% 3. Get >10% seller financing 4. Raise any equity from investors 5. Own 60-80% after investors paid back 6. Operate, sustain, and grow for a lifetime
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
My wife bet me I couldn't get to 1,000 followers on Twitter in a month She was wrong. I did it in 2 weeks! (from 55 followers) I had a winning playbook and it worked:
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Coolest thing I've seen in the last month: A 17 yr old is building a world-class mountain bike park in Austin he found a land investor to buy a $3.2M property (then lease it to back to him) so the total cost is only $350K to do full buildout + begin operations ๐Ÿคฏ๐Ÿคฏ๐Ÿคฏ
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
You're missing out on the latest small business buying opportunity in 2023 100% Seller Financing: no money down and no bank loan And as interest rates rise, I think it will be even more effective ๐Ÿงต โฌ‡๏ธ Here's how to do it and why I think it's a legit strategy
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Small business ownership is the highest risk adjusted return as long as you: 1. buy big enough - at least $500K of annual earnings 2. purchase for less than 4x earnings 3. use SBA financing (gov handout) 4. donโ€™t make fatality dumb decisions (buy a company with 2 customers)
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Want to become a millionaire in 3 steps? 1. get $733,273 2. convert to Canadian dollars 3. Millionaire
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Do you look at employee count when buying a service business? Itโ€™s one of the first things I look at. Favorite metric: โ€˜EBITDA per employeeโ€™ IT services $1.3M EBITDA / 21 employees = $61K Home health care $1.3M EBITDA / 120 employees = $10.8K This tell me a lot: -what the
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
โ€˜No manโ€™s landโ€™: $1M to $2M of EBITDA Too small for PE fundsโ€ฆduh opportunity for micro PE and hands on entrepreneurs -big gaps in ops or sales -owner heavily involved -not really a platform yet -lacks mgmt team depth -upcoming big cost step functions (COO, Dir of Sales)
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
An investment thesis: Botox & fillers = big ๐Ÿ’ผ & ๐Ÿ’ธ High margins, cash pay, massive growth from Americans who have an insatiable appetite to look better $59 billion in 2021 โžก๏ธ $150 billion in 2030 (11% annual growth rate) A ๐Ÿงต about vanity & what's to come
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 months
@blueprintsmb22 Sounds like maybe the root cause is a culture and people issue, the bathroom time is the result? Time cards might help but it may mask / prevent you from addressing the true issue. Have you dug into the โ€˜whyโ€™?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
$1-2M of EBITDA businesses: โ€œNo manโ€™s landโ€ Too small for private equityโ€ฆtoo big for doctors/high net worth folks who canโ€™t acquire Valuation multiple goes up massively if you get a tiny bit bigger at this size biz Iโ€™ve got a better name for it: โ€œMoney Tree Landโ€
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
A friend owned a successful HVAC business. He had deep trust in his employees, treating them as family...especially his bookkeeper. As he was selling the biz, he discovered she had been embezzling $30k-$60K per year over the prior 10+ years. How would you feel?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
How does self-funded SBA acquisition structuring work? Let me give you the short version in 3-4 minutes You're buying a $1.4M EBITDA company for $6M with 80% SBA senior debt, 10% seller note, and 10% equity You have to raise approximately $600K of equity to get the deal done
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
9 months
When I sold my business in early 2022, I had convos with a bunch of exited entrepreneurs. Their advice: 'take serious time off' and 'don't make any big decisions for the next 6 months' My wife and I decided to take the next 8 months off. We traveled to 13 countries. This is is
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
A winning small business buying strategy: 1. Consistent revenue over last 3 yearsโ€ฆGrowth is not always good! 2. Size must be >$1M of SDE/EBITDA 3. Price less than 4x 4. Owner has already stepped back from the day to day 5. YOU can drive more revenue in the first 30 days Simple
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
10 months
@tylerkastelberg $5M house in SF:
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
2 life insurance hacks: 1. get term life insurance when you're young and healthy. 10 year term $4,000,000 policy for $1,100 a year ๐Ÿคฏ 2. free blood panel - they send a nurse to you & do a complete panel (more detailed than your physician), get results even if you don't go w it
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
What happens once youโ€™ve signed an LOI to buy a cash flowing SMB? This is a visual summary that I provide to the broker, seller and myself to make sure I have my ducks in order You can tell Iโ€™ve done this beforeโ€ฆ Any questions?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
5 reasons to visit Argentina: 1. Meat 2. Very, very cheap 3. Mind blowing beauty and landscape 4. The best Malbecs 5. Meat
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Maintenance CapEx 101 and how to discover the true cash flow of an asset heavy business ๐Ÿ‘‡ ๐Ÿงต
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
MBAs graduating spent $425,000 now face a declining tech market and layoffs on Wall Streetโ€ฆI wonder how many will regret it knowing that they could have used the money for a down payment on a cash flowing small business doing >$1M of profit a year?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
I bought a business that has been operating for 57 years. Iโ€™m 32. ๐Ÿคฏ Enduring โœ…
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
So you've signed an LOI to buy a business, how do you actually get to Close? The "BIG 3": 1๏ธโƒฃ Core Diligence 2๏ธโƒฃ Debt Raise 3๏ธโƒฃ Equity Raise Start out general, then get more granular. Adjust the timeline to your unique deal & preferences Example of my 90-day close timeline:
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Mezzanine / sub debt is going crazy right now as senior lenders tighten up Mez debt make money by sitting between the: ๐Ÿ˜จ fear of senior debt holders and the ๐Ÿค‘ greed of equity holders A quick intro to Mez debt ๐Ÿงต๐Ÿ‘‡
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
PPP loan data is the best true look into small business operations Iโ€™ve ever seen Businesses had to publicly declare their headcount and monthly payroll ๐Ÿคฏ 968,532 companies received a loan $150K and $10M Now thatโ€™s a qualified lead list Iโ€™d Iโ€™ve ever seen one
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
What's a 'Pick-and-Shovel' business? A live example from BizBuySell: Med spa marketing agency for sale doing $925K of earnings for $2.65M ๐Ÿ”ธbet on overall market trends - massive growth in med spas & aesthetics across the board ๐Ÿ”ธsolves a core problem: getting customers in the
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
>$100M opportunity โžก๏ธ Emergency ONLY home services (Plumbing, HVAC, locksmiths, etc) Hire techs who want to work nights, pay 20% over market Price at 2x Setup rev share w daytime providers Existing owner could create brand on top Dominate SEO, answer the โ˜Ž๏ธ, 30 min response
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
The best businesses make it crystal clear what their values are & who the right employees are for them This law firm is an extreme example: insanely high expectations, obscenely high pay, 80+ hours a week Whatever your personal philosophy is around 'work', this is a GREAT
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
EBITDA is pronounced โ€œEee-Bit-Dah" Not โ€œEbb-It-Dah" Not "Eee-Bit-Dee-Ay" Not E-B-I-T-D-A
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Let me save you a bunch of time, money, and stressโ€ฆ Donโ€™t buy a general contractor business!
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
A very experienced broker said: out of the 250 transactions he's done over last 10 years he knew of only 4 known catastrophic failures (bankruptcies) post close 1.6% failure rate Is the 'fear of failure' overblown?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
"How do I reduce my taxes when I sell?" is the #1 question from entrepreneurs & SMB owners when they find out I sold my business ๐Ÿ˜ and had a big tax bill ๐Ÿ˜ญ 15 ways to lower taxes at exit ๐Ÿงต ๐Ÿ‘‡
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Poop ๐Ÿช  and trash ๐Ÿ—‘ is big business...This small business for sale makes $600,000 per year transporting and disposing all things human waste Talk about a recurring revenue stream...(over 70% of revenue) Good or bad buy? Listing link:
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Why arenโ€™t there more sales-heavy folks doing small business searches? Finding a business is sales Operating a business is sales Growing a business is sales
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
11 months
Many compelling reasons to go after bigger deals (>$1M earnings) and avoid smaller ones ($250K earnings) 1. More cash flow. Opportunity cost. 2. Lower risk. The SBA default data suggests bigger is undeniably lower risk of complete loss. This is huge. 3. Under $250K of
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
I recently started the Cash Flow SMB Investor List 275+ accredited small business investors want to invest in cash flowing small businesses โžก๏ธ 5 deals sent out in last few weeks (1 of them was a debt deal!) Here's how it works: ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
I want to write a childrenโ€™s book called โ€˜Ben Buys a Businessโ€™ about entrepreneurship through acquisition Rich Dad Poor Dad had a huge impact on me when I read it in 4th grade. Would you buy an ETA childrenโ€™s book for your kids? Crazy idea?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Explaining business buying jargon to a 7 year old: โ€˜Full standby seller noteโ€™ -> free money โ€˜Retradeโ€™ -> changed my mind โ€˜Recurring revenueโ€™ -> Willy Wonkaโ€™s golden ticket โ€˜KPIsโ€™ -> report card โ€˜PIPโ€™ -> timeout โ€˜LOIโ€™ -> I want that โ€˜CEOโ€™ -> mommy โ€˜reps and warrantiesโ€™ -> I
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Buy a business at 4x EBITDA with 90% debt: โ€œThatโ€™s insaneโ€ Buy a business at 7x EBITDA with 60% debt: youโ€™re a lower middle market PE firm
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Iโ€™m BUILDING in public โžก๏ธ my short term blue print for the SMB Capital Connector: โœ… distribute 25 sponsors/deals of various types (independent sponsor, self funded, franchisee developers, private equity funds): get a ton metrics on deals sent, convos requested, convos had,
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
I'm building out an SMB investor list 100+ have already registered wanting to invest >$100K each in SMB deals The most interesting insight....64% want to invest in SMB debt ๐Ÿคฏ๐Ÿคฏ๐Ÿคฏ Investor sign-up form here:
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
10 months
Thereโ€™s a huge need for SMB ops coaching, and a lack of solutions Systems like EOS donโ€™t go deep enough in ops and process Itโ€™s laughable how light it is on opsโ€ฆbut itโ€™s the biggest struggle and opportunity for really any business Why is this? Difficult to โ€˜teachโ€™?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
EBITDA is a lie I'll show you what I use instead when I'm buying a business
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
16 Questions you need to ask yourself when buying a business: 1. What fundamental problem is the business solving? 2. Whatโ€™s real cash flow (EBITDA less maintenance capex)? 3. How durable are the earnings? 4. Would I enjoy and be proud of owning it for 5-10 years? 5. Does it
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Overreliance on EBITDA has cost people a lot of money Depreciation is a real expense Very few businesses can cut off its capital expenditures and maintain its strength EBITDA is great for sales or high level communication, but cash flow is reality to me
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
how 90%+ of financial models are created: 1. use summary historical P&Ls as baseline 2. apply a magical rev growth rate (4-10%) 3. apply higher gross & operating margins 4. apply a higher exit multiple vs what you bought at 5. name this the โ€˜Base Caseโ€™
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
I'm convinced SDE (sellers discretionary earnings) is mostly a disingenuous marketing tactic by main street brokers to sell 'jobs' marketed as businesses It's intended to mask the real cost structure No reason to use SDE over EBITDA...ever
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Do you like to eat shit? If so, you may be an excellent CEO or small business owner โ€˜Gritโ€™ is the ability to eat shit day in and day out for an long periods of time. I thought I had grit because I was a hard worker. No. Wrong. Grit is responsibility, burden, sacrifice,
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Range of fees for a $5M self-funded search acquisition using 80% SBA debt: -Legal: $15K to $40K -QoE: $6K to $20K -Travel and lodging: $4K -Lender fees: $15K -SBA guaranty fee: $110K ($4M loan) Legal, QoE, travel, lender deposit spent before you close What are you seeing?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
In 2017, buyers hated HVAC and plumbing Now every PE firm has a home services platform or wants one Seriouslyโ€ฆwhat changed?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
When acquiring a company, you either buy the STOCK or buy the ASSETS (stock deal or asset deal). Why does it matter? ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒCash flow ๐Ÿ’ฒ๐Ÿ’ฒ This ๐Ÿงตis summary of what I've learned doing #smallbusienss stock/asset deals. Ignoring this topic can be...painful (beware).
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Want to buy a business within 25 miles of your house? (called a geographically constrained search)...17 things: 1. be open to a lots of diff business types 2. setup auto deal notifications on biz listing sites for geo 3. meet live every single local biz broker and banker โฌ‡๏ธ
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Austin, TX is the best city Pros: no income taxes, amazing weather, population/economic growth, nice people, SXSW, F1, liberal city in a conservative state, TX bbq, TX wine, music scene, a 'destination', lake & hill country nearby, no suit culture Cons: property taxes, traffic
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
3 months
I wanted to share a big life update: I acquired DataTel in June 2023. DataTel is a managed service provider for IT and voice. The company is based in Idaho (and broader Pacific NW) and has been serving clients for over 62 years. What's most crazy about this acquiring story is
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
@KrissBergTweets Iโ€™d want to ask the question: is he satisfied and living his lifeโ€™s purpose? If soโ€ฆgood for him ๐Ÿ‘
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
16 questions to ask when buying a business: 1. What problem is the business solving? 2. Whatโ€™s real cash flow (EBITDA less maintenance capex)? 3. How durable is the cash flow? 4. Would I enjoy and be proud of owning it for ten years? 5. Does it check all my deal criteria
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
A friend purchased a business using 100% seller finance (no money down, no bank, no PG) โœ… Seller agreed to a 1x SDE price and financed it 100%, paid over 5 years โœ… 3 weeks from initial meeting to closing. Owner was going to shut down. Win-win! Iโ€™m really proud of him ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽŠ๐Ÿพ
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
@sweatystartup My HoldCo strategy: Buy 1 business per year from retiring boomers making $1-2M EBITDA for 3.5x-4x doing B2B services, must be boring and consistently profitable. Get option to buy real estate that the biz operates from. Do better at sales and implement simple ops tech. Repeat.
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
"I'm trying to find a quick way to determine if a deal will attract equity investors" Here it is (ignoring the quality of the business): -IRR >35% AND MoM > 3.0x in flat/low growth base case without changing historical assumptions -Price: <4.5X EBITDA (otherwise it prob won't
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Many buyers don't understand there are real costs in choosing debt or equity ๐Ÿ”ธUse all equity? Give up ownership, possibly constrain growth ๐Ÿ”ธUse all debt? Constrain the business with mandatory payments It's easiest to start with the COST, so let's dive in ๐Ÿงต ๐Ÿ‘‡
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Why does real estate get a 1031 tax free exchange at exit while small business is stuck with QSBS?? (benefits mostly VC founders, not SMBs) I demand a 'small business 1031 exchange' to be enacted in 2023!
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Typical costs/fees in a $5M self-funded search acquisition using 80% SBA debt: $154K to $189K -Legal: $15K to $40K -QoE: $10K to $20K -Travel and lodging: $4K -Lender fees: $15K -SBA guaranty fee: $110K ($4M loan) 3.1% to 3.8% of $5M purchase price What are you seeing?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Unpopular opinion: You gain control and lose freedom when you become an entrepreneur or SMB owner I didnโ€™t really understand the concept of responsibility until I left my W2 and was โ€˜in itโ€™: to yourself, your family, your employees, your customers
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Dana White is one of the most successful acquisition entrepreneurs in America He acquired the UFC for $2M and ultimately sold itt for $4 billion. His secret ingredient? OPM = Other People's Money
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@bentigg
Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
โ€œWhen and how do I find equity investors for a small business acquisition?โ€ Answer: -you do it later than you think -and itโ€™s easier than you think ๐Ÿงต *bookmark this*
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
11 months
In 2015-16, home services companies were very undesirable PE investments. Saw $5-10M EBITDA home services platforms trade for less than 5x Now that same company would trade for 10-14x So what changed?: 1. Boatloads of money began flowing into home services through PE
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Validating EBITDA addbacks is more art than science ๐Ÿงต Simple methodology - put them into one of three buckets: 1. legit 2. maybe 3. not legit / total bullshit
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
11 months
Iโ€™m considering syndicating independent sponsor equity raises of $2M to $20M thru my SMB network Sponsors with awesome deals keep approaching me to fund big checks Invest deal by deal. I vet the deal and only bring ones Iโ€™m personally investing in $4-$15M EBITDA Thoughts?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
1 year
Americans should be required to do a week long international trip every 3 years Especially kids during their formative years See the world, understand new cultures and people. More global, less insular
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
If you want to learn about buying a business, practice makes perfect! Fiberglass pool company located in beautiful Denver doing $3.2M of cash flow per year What says you??
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Iโ€™ve seen some interesting working schedules for SMB owners: -1 month working then 1 month of international travel -2 days a week during ski season, full time rest of yr -3 days: Mon, Wed, Fri -8am to 11am, 5 days a week Whatโ€™s your ideal work amount and schedule?
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Independent sponsor acquisition model is a good one: -15% to 25% carry -management fees (at close + monitoring during) -Using OPM...little to no personal capital at risk (and no PG) -buying bigger โžก๏ธ more professionalized and team in place -your involvement in biz is flexible
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
8 months
BUYERS: do not under any circumstances sign an LOI WITHOUT including >90-day exclusivity, a no-shop, and a requirement to forward any new offers to you. How would you feel if your new girlfriend (who you're wanting to marry) was seeing 3 other dudes on the side after you said
@ShowMeYourCIM
Zach Whitt
8 months
Sellers: do not under any circumstances sign an LOI with 90-day exclusivity, a no-shop, and a requirement to forward any new offers to the buyer. Negotiating power strongly shifts in favor of the buyer after LOI. My ramblings on exclusivity for sellers:
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Ben Tiggelaar ๐ŸŸ 
2 years
Revenue is the new EBITDA
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