My guest on this episode is Ujwal Velagapudi. Ujwal has acquired nine small companies, pieces of real estate, and other investments over the past few years and has stumbled upon quite a number of unique companies. He's invested in a vending business, virtual assistant business, commercial real estate, a sports bar, and several others.
This episode is about getting started and is a departure from our usual episodes about larger businesses in order to focus on small incremental deals running efficiently.
Ujwal is really thoughtful and claims to not be a great manager or operator, but I advise you not to believe him. We talk about all things amusement vending, re-investing profits, close calls, what he is interested in today, and his changed views on debt. Enjoy.
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Links:
Ujwal on LinkedIn
HiByron
Topics:
(4:20) - Ujwal’s acquisition off of Microacquire and other businesses he’s bought
(10:06) - What did the business do when you acquired it and what have you grown it to?
(12:05) - What did you do before you decided to start buying companies?
(13:31) - How are you getting the capital for these deals?
(16:49) - Do you still live off of $1500 per month?
(17:26) - What stands out to you now in a potential acquisition vs. when you first started?
(18:45) - What businesses do you stay away from?
(19:35) - Can you share more information on your vending business?
(21:28) - What types of machines are the most profitable?
(23:41) - How does the operations structure for the Vending business work?
(25:10) - How many employees are in your portfolio?
(25:44) - What have you learned about management during this journey?
(28:15) - How do you onboard new employees at your companies?
(30:58) - Where do you see things needing to improve?
(32:56) - What’s the growth plan?
(37:15) - How much would the average machine earn in net profit for the restaurant on a monthly basis?
(41:46) - What are some mistakes you’ve made that could have been "nails in the coffin" for your business?
(45:53) - What college class would you teach if it could be on anything?
(47:37) - What’s a strongly held belief that you’ve changed your mind on?
(49:38) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?
