Five Acquisitions & 2 Exits - Acquiring and Growing Companies in Australia with Pete Seligman

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In this video, Pete Seligman walks us through all five of his acquisitions,  major focus on the first one,  that he's been a part of and the two exits.  Pete is an experienced entrepreneur and investor who has been involved in a number of different industries over the years. In this video, he provides some great insights into the world of acquisitions – what to look for, what to avoid, and how to make sure you get the most value out of the deal.

Look for the "sailing" sports - business analogy


SHOW NOTES:
00:00  Intro to Pete in Australia! 
00:56  Call to Adventure - What was missing in his life
03:57  Why some humans need to be responsible for Inputs RESULTS
05:54  Buying a business in Australia (vs the USA)
07:15  acquisition Criteria - Why Direct Invoicing was important
10:29  First Acquisition Cap Stack
11:49  Did seller/owner stay on?
13:21  How did you find the business and was it a "good" business
18:38  Why you need to "work-in" the business - to start
19:25  Bringing a Sledgehammer to the valuation and offer
23:11  His style of offers - margin of safety & single digit offer
26:05  Buy and Hold - no target exit date
27:10  Paying salaries - what happens when cash flow from acquisition is not enough
27:50  big skeletons in the closet came after acquisition
29:48  When he first felt the "What he was meant to do" Dopamine rush
33:18  His inspiration - mentors
34:44  Growing the first acquisition & buying more
36:00  When business owners hit a glass ceiling 
37:50  Ocean racing vs sailing around the harbor
39:11  Courting the 2nd acquisition seller 
39:48  Making an offer to seller they could not refuse - call options
43:50  Buying the same type of business but in unrelated industries just 2X in 5 years
47:13  Scaling,  software vs service - why you need domain expertise
49:13  More acquisitions - parking meters & selling to a PE firm
50:58  Attracting investors to co-invest buying bigger companies
52:23  Buying a Travel Business -  why you need to "stick to your knitting"
54:37  Making himself redundant & Becoming a Search Fund Investor/Coach
1:00:33  Getting in touch with Pete on LinkedIn