The Magic of Low Multiple + Growth

So he kind of had. His wife was kind of office admin bookkeeper. And how old was she? Oh, I don't. Younger and much more mentally acute.

She was actually I only spoke to the seller a couple of times before closing. I mainly spoke to her and she stayed on for about three months post closing just to help transition as well. And then there was sort of some lieutenants in like sales, supply sales plus supply chain combined like sales and purchasing.

Well, most businesses, small businesses have key employees. Was there so which is a weakness but almost inevitable. Was there something hairier than just a typical having a few key people?

Yeah, I would say no. But I will also add that due to the seller's lack of involvement day to day in the business, I think maybe there was. He was kind of forced to allow prospective buyers to be a little bit more visible before closing.

And so I got the opportunity to meet those individuals before closing. And actually we went all the way through negotiating comp packages before closing, which just gave me a ton of confidence that these people weren't going to step away and leave the day I bought the business. They certainly could.

There's nothing legally barring them from doing that. But they went through the motions. We agreed on comp. And so I had a lot more confidence than I would maybe have normally had.

In a deal where you don't get to meet those people till after closing, that's pretty remarkable.

David. Everyone, all buyers want to meet the team or at least the executives, management before the deal closes. And we're just told that we shouldn't expect that. That's just very likely not going to happen.

Happens, but very likely not going to. And for understandable reasons that the seller's worried that they'll trot you around as the buyer deal falls apart and then everybody at the business knows is being sold and mayhem may ensue. So you were able to get this done because the seller just acquiesced understanding kind of that it needed to happen or did.

Was there some. Is this something we can learn from the way that you were able to achieve this?

I, I unfortunately don't know if there is something to learn there. I think given the seller's age, everyone knew he's trying to find a successor. When I, when my wife and I together went and toured the business for the first time, it was during business hours.