So installation we get about 90% of the installation costs. But then service is 100% of the service call because the service team is employed by me. And that's where essentially we'll get five, three service calls in a day.
Acquiring Minds
How Business-Buyer Fit Led to 2.2x and No PG
Deal story
Former medical device sales rep Joe Wynn bought an operating-room equipment sales/service distributorship in Georgia for $1.35M, leveraging supplier veto power and business-buyer fit to negotiate a 90%+ seller note at 7% over 10 years with no personal guarantee. The business does $2M revenue with ~45% margins; Joe underwrote it at a stabilized ~$600K SDE and is forecasting $3M+ revenue in his first full year.
Deal facts
Industry
Medical / operating-room equipment (surgical lights, tables, booms)
Business
Sales & service distributorship
Location
Atlanta / Georgia
Revenue
$2M (2025)
SDE / EBITDA
$889K reported SDE; ~$600K stabilized (underwritten)
Multiple
~2.25x on stabilized ~$600K SDE
Deal size
$1.35M purchase price
Acquisition model
Partnered
Outcome
Closed Jan 21; $120K down, ~90% seller note at 7% over 10 years, no PG, 3-month standby; received $150K working capital; forecasting $3-3.5M revenue for the year
People
Will Smithhost
Host of Acquiring Minds podcast
Joe Wynnguest
Former medical device sales rep, now owner of Surgical Specialties, an OR equipment sales/service business
Topics
Excerpts · 410 segments · ~1:33:42 long
Short excerpts only — hear the full conversation on the publisher's site.
05:03 Joe's medical sales background13:40 Finding the equipment business18:15 Revenue and SDE breakdown21:14 High margins and pricing power26:04 Lumpy project revenue history37:13 Purchase price negotiation57:52 Deal structure and seller note1:11:53 Bank froze account post-close
And then it can range in terms of what that cost would be to a customer. So that's, you know, makes up a lot of, makes up a lot of the business as well. So those three functions, so the commission base from the supplier and then the installation cost which is at 90% and then 100% of the service.
But Joe, why do you think, I mean when I see margins like that, that says to me a lot of pricing power, that the business or your category just has a lot of pricing power and something's got to give it that pricing power. Is it just that they're there, there aren't.
There's not a lot of competition because it's hard to have these relationships with suppliers or is it on the labor side that they're not that many people who can actually install this equipment. And so you can charge higher than you might expect fees for the installation or the. And the servicing.
What do you think is it that gives it like if, if another way of asking is if this business is generating 45 net margins, why isn't the marketplace flooded with competitors? Why aren't more people getting into this game?
Yeah, so it is from a competitive standpoint there. There aren't many competitors in this market specifically. But then also from a service perspective, because the service team is local, I control the costs that a customer is going to spend for that service.
So. And that can obviously fluctuate depending on what type of service they need. So one of the things that I came and came on board was looked at the pricing look, you've seen when it was last adjusted, it was Last adjusted in 2020. So obviously that occurred a pricing increase amongst all service across the board.
So that service gives me a lot of flexibility to control kind of what comes into the, comes into the organization because services assumption essentially something that would come in on a daily aspect from a need from a customer. So from a cut, from a competitive standpoint, there aren't many competitors that are in this line in terms of competing, but then also the service is the big component…
And Joe, so what you were saying about the fact that the prices haven't been raised since 2020 is that you think you have room to raise prices actually, as the new owner.
Yeah, I already have raised the prices. Yes. Oh, wow.
So those 45% margins are only going to get better.
Yes. Yeah, yeah. So.
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