And so this would have been a chunk of your net worth, but not even half of your net worth were absolute worst case scenario. And of course that, that suggests that you couldn't somehow resell the business in some way, that you couldn't somehow recapture some of that $500,000 to, to pay back the original stock. Okay. You, you said something himad about your investor.
Acquiring Minds
Good Bones: Saving a $3m Business in Decline
Deal story
Himmat Singh, a self-identified hands-on operator, bought a $3M large-format printing business (EPI Color Space) in DC for a $500K 100% seller note, expecting it to be semi-passive. After his top salesperson defected and tried to poach clients, he went all-in, bought out his investor partner to become 100% owner, and brought on a sweat-equity partner. The episode also explores his prior run as a non-owner CEO at home-care company Circle of Life, where a 3% stake yielded a life-changing exit.
Deal facts
Industry
Large-format printing and signage
Business
Signage, wall murals, trade show booths, wayfinding/ADA signage
Location
Washington, DC area
Revenue
~$3M historic average, ~$2.4M recent years
SDE / EBITDA
$650K-$700K historic, ~$400K at acquisition
Multiple
~1x-1.25x stated, ~2x including working capital injection
Deal size
$500K (100% seller note, 0% interest over 5 years)
Acquisition model
Partnered
Outcome
Survived top-salesperson defection; Himmat bought out partner to become 100% owner; brought on sweat-equity partner Kevin Durbin; ~$2.1M sales / ~$300K EBITDA at end of 2024, building toward growth/exit
People
Will Smithhost
Host of Acquiring Minds podcast about buying businesses
Himmat Singhguest
Wharton MBA, career operator; owner/operator of EPI Color Space, former CEO of Circle of Life
Kevin Durbinother
Himmat's sweat-equity partner; ex-Goldman Sachs, ex-Exer VP, Georgetown grad
Pat Yeagerother
Founder of Circle of Life home care who hired Himmat as CEO; passed away during his tenure
Josh Greenbergother
Alpine/team home care lead, former searcher who acquired Circle of Life from Himmat
Bill Eganother
Original search fund investor (Asurion); father of Himmat's friend Mark Egan
Topics
Excerpts · 418 segments · ~1:48:41 long
Short excerpts only — hear the full conversation on the publisher's site.
04:30 Himmat's operator-focused background07:05 Failed search fund, 11 LOIs16:46 Running Circle of Life as CEO26:56 Operational fixes that doubled EBITDA48:26 Acquiring EPI Color Space deal terms1:01:42 Investor conflict-of-interest concern1:07:16 Large-format printing industry1:27:27 Sales crisis, partner buyout, Kevin
The, you're the person, you're buying, the principal person that you're buying the business from, not realizing that the same investor is helping you buy it from him.
Yeah. So that was something which was the biggest thing that I had to get comfortable with on the deal myself, because my immediate response to that was my visceral Thing was, this is unethical that the guy that I have on the deal is not disclosing himself as somebody who is going to be my partner in the deal. So he's basically, it's a transaction from one hand to the other hand.
So somebody is moving from being a 25% owner to being a 45% owner of the, of the business. And the person who's selling 51% of the business does not know that, you know, one of that his partner is going to be the next buyer. So that's, that. That was something that I had to make sure was legal.
So I checked into it and in fact, one of the lawyers that I was talking to, basically, he, you know, was also felt exactly like me where he's like, you know, he's like, look, it's, the deal terms are amazing. There's, you know, it's, it's a fantastic deal. But like, yeah, it is.
I can see why you find this, you know, something which is like, you know, sort of just strange.
Yeah, it's, it does feel shady. And just to be clear, himat so this investor. Was not disclosing, right.
To his partner, who was the current owner, 51 owner of the business, that he was also going to be backing you to buy the business, because why, he must have been there. That's a conflict of interest. But what exactly was he standing to benefit, basically, coming out ahead in the transaction, obviously. But can you be more specific?
Yeah, I, you know, my, my take is like, you know, he helped negotiate the terms because it was not like I decided it was 500,000, all seller notes, 0%. This was, this was decided by the two of them and so, and presented to me.
And so I think he, you know, probably felt if he disclosed that he was on the other side, you know, the, the, you know, the, the old main owner is probably going to be thinking, you know, oh, maybe that's like, you know, not the best deal, like, why this guy's trying to buy it from me. So, you know, like. Yeah.
And how do you reflect back on this now?
I'm still fine with it. I still fine with that decision. I, I, I, I, I sort of believe in life.
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