2 Years to $40m: The Anatomy of a High-Velocity Roll-up

Today's guest has traveled a long way to get where he is. Luis Reyes grew up in the Mexican countryside and didn't get his first pair of shoes until age five. Today, he's leading one of the most active roll-ups I've seen.

Eight million dollars of EBITDA in two years. Luis and his team are building Iberian Ventures, or IBV, a consolidation of fire safety businesses across Spain. They're blanketing the country, dispatching young, hungry former consultants to meet owners and find targets.

It is high volume and high velocity. They've acquired 24 businesses in as many months. Aggregate revenue stands at almost $40 million.

And they want to double that in the next year and a half. They've raised capital from a German family office to do so. So you're going to get a look inside an aggressive entrepreneurial roll-up.

I say entrepreneurial. Listen for the origin story of the business. Luis and his partners raised just about a million dollars for their first acquisition, a poultry distribution business.

It wasn't initially clear exactly what they would build. They just knew they wanted to buy a platform and go from there. Only later did the thesis around fire safety emerge, at which point they became super focused and highly acquisitive.

Also note the conversation around operations in AI. Luis, exposing his background as a developer, talks about being AI first, and we get into how they are leveraging the technology. If you're drawn to this style of rolling up an industry, also see episode 308 with Jordan Dubin, who's doing something similar stateside in garage door service.

Finally, you'll hear my co-host Nicholas James in this interview. That's because this was actually published first on the Minds Capital podcast, where we feature stories of entrepreneurial private equity like this one with Luis. For more such stories, check it out.

The Minds Capital podcast. Okay, here is Luis Reyes, founder and managing partner of IBV. If you haven't checked out Smith List for a while, there are some great opportunities listed there.

These are leadership positions within entrepreneurial small businesses, typically searcher acquired businesses. Some open positions on the site right now, GM for a leading pool business with 10 million in revenue. Entrepreneurial GM to help grow an outdoor services platform from one and a half to 10 million.

COO of a wood product manufacturer with potential to become president or later owner. Head to smithlist.com to check out these roles and others for entrepreneurial operators and GMs. And while you're there, sign up for the alerts so that you're notified as we post yet more opportunities from the SMB and ETA ecosystem. smithlist.com smithlist.com

Welcome to Acquiring Minds, a podcast about buying businesses. My name is Will Smith. Acquiring an existing business is an awesome opportunity for many entrepreneurs. And on this podcast, I talk to the people who do it.