Buy Well, Exit Better: A $67m Win in 4 Years

A few episodes ago we heard about a couple early in their journey as owners of a tour operator business. Katherine Butler-Dines and Rahul Desai bought a small niche tour operator as self funded searchers. Well today we hear from an entrepreneur on the other end both in terms of journey he's exited and size of business.

Back in 2013, Greg Geronemus and his partner acquired a larger tour operator, one that did 5 million of EBITDA. Four years later they'd paid back most of the $20 million in debt on the business, grown EBITDA 50% and significantly de risk the organization. They exited the business for 9x which was 4 turns more than where they bought it.

Total proceeds to investors were 62 and a half million. Greg completely breaks down his deals on the way in and the way out, including his psychology in both transactions. It was a fantastic run for a couple of 20 something first time searchers and it set Greg up to invest in other traditional searchers which he does today through his firm Footbridge Partners.

Here he is Greg Geronemus, former co CEO of smarTours and now Managing Partner at Footbridge. Many of you will seek capital from search investors to help support your acquisition of a business. And this Thursday we're hosting a webinar on what a good investor pitch looks like.

Chelsea Wood of Acquisition Lab and Andrew Hippert of Shareholder Ventures will break down what search investors look for in acquisition entrepreneurs. How to present your background as credible to run a business even if you're changing industries. How to avoid the most common search investor red flags, the narrative frameworks that help investors say yes and other topics.

That is this Thursday, November 20, noon Eastern. Link to register for the webinar is right at the top of this episode's show Notes or on the Acquiring Minds homepage. Acquiringminds code.

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. The team at Pioneer Capital Advisory has started offering peripassu debt for SBA business buyers. That means they can help unlock up to $3 million of conventional debt on top of the $5 million limit of SBA 7 loans so Pioneer can structure larger, more complex acquisitions.

Listen to our story with Anika John for one of their clients who did just that, buying a $10 million business as a first time self funded searcher, the Pioneer team has closed more than 100 SBA loans, averaging timelines well below industry standards. Founder and owner Matthias Smith and COO. Valerie Stash bring over two decades of SBA lending experience.

Matthias and Valerie have a full bench of analysts and associates who work your deals with them. A true deal team. Not just a single point of contact. Visit pioneercap.com or click the link in the Notes. Greg Geronemus, welcome to Acquiring Minds.

Great to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

Will Greg, today you are a traditional search investor via your firm Footbridge Partners. But your journey into ETA began with your own search, a very successful one. And today we're going to hear that story.