Today's interview shows the full circle of a successful acquisition and later exit via the traditional search fund model. True to the stated requirement of traditional search that the entrepreneur be willing to move anywhere for a good business, Edward McDonnell moved with his pregnant wife from Chapel Hill across the country to Seattle to take the reins of Botanical Designs.
Acquiring Minds
Taking a Single-City Acquisition Nationwide
Excerpts · 395 segments · ~1:29:52 long
Short excerpts only — hear the full conversation on the publisher's site.
When he bought it, the indoor plant business was 80 employees in Seattle. Only when Edward exited to a private equity buyer four and a half years later, he'd grown it to two more states for a total of three branches. He continued on as CEO for another two years under the PE Group's ownership and grew botanical another five branches for a total of eight and 200 employees.
Quite a journey. Now listen for Edward's take on traditional search, which often receives the critique of being less autonomous or independent than self funded search. Well, one thing overlooked by that critique is resources cash. Traditional search gives you resources both in the capital that funds the search itself and and later in the cash flow of the larger business you've likely acquired as…
Cash is oxygen in small business, so being perpetually tight on cash as self funded searchers often are both before and after acquisition constrains your freedom of movement. So while you may be freer from a cap table perspective, as a self funded searcher you may ultimately feel boxed in if the business lives. Check to check. This is a generalization of course, but something to ponder.
Okay, Here is Edward McDonnell, acquirer and former CEO of Botanical Designs Today Thursday, a webinar on cybersecurity for searchers. Most small businesses carry unseen cyber gaps that become the oper your problem on day one of ownership.
Nick Akers, president and CEO of Inzo Technologies, who acquire the business through entrepreneurship through acquisition, explains how these vulnerabilities hide inside people, processes, technology and data. You'll learn why searchers miss them, how they impact early operations, and how a cybersecurity risk assessment brings them to light before they become expensive problems.
The webinar is Cybersecurity for searchers why SMBs need a risk assessment it is today Thursday, February 26th noon Eastern. Link to register is right at the top of this episode's show notes or on the Acquiring Minds homepage.
Acquiringminds co. 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.
If you ask owners in the ETA and search community which insurance broker provides highest quality work, great outcomes, and has a practice dedicated to searchers and acquisition entrepreneurs. One name comes up again and again. Oberle.
Oberle Risk Strategies has worked with hundreds of searchers over nearly a decade and is in fact led by a two time successful searcher, August Felker, which makes Oberle a specialty insurance brokerage for searchers by a former searcher. And if you've got a business under Loi, Oberle will provide complimentary due diligence on that business's insurance and benefits program.
An easy no risk way to get to know August and the team at Oberle to take advantage.
Check out oberle-risk.com that's O B E R L E- risk.com link in the notes. Edward McDonnell, welcome to acquiring Minds.
Want what comes before or after? Hear the full episode on the publisher's site ↗