Inspired Or Acquired

Matt Cafrelli, a former CPA, made a daring leap into acquisition entrepreneurship, partnering to create a HoldCo focused on home service businesses. He shares the thrill and challenges of acquiring a window cleaning company and a landscaping business in quick succession. The conversation dives into the booming luxury landscaping market in Texas, strategic growth tactics, and the complexities of maintaining a 50-50 business partnership. With insights on community relationships and navigating mergers, Matt provides a fascinating look at the shift from accounting to entrepreneurship.

Jesus started Longhill Contracting 7 years ago doing drywall and paint contracting for home builders and multifamily developers. They've grown organically very quickly due to Jesus' servant leadership, his great team doing great work, and housing growth in Colorado. In 2024 they're on pace for $23M revenue and $2.7M EBITDA. We discuss what his company is worth today and where he wants to take it in the next +5 years. Longhill Contracting: longhillcontracting.comJesus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesus-montelongo-18960163/Clint Fiore and Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/Patrick Dichter and Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Mike Pedro and Danielle Pedro started MD Esthetics med spa in 2018. They've grown quickly to 13 locations and $2.5M EBITDA through acquisitions and brand new locations. They recently signed a Letter of Intent to join forces with a private equity group  - so we dive into how the deal happened, picking their PE partner, and their growth plans. This is a fascinating interview to hear from someone in the middle of an acquisition.MD Esthetics: https://www.mdestheticsus.com/Clint Fiore, Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/Patrick Dichter, Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Johannes Hock, a former private equity professional, made a rapid switch to the turf industry by acquiring DFW Turf. He shares insights on scaling the business from $5M to $20M and aims for $50M in revenue. Hock discusses the thrill of operating versus investing, and the strategic acquisitions that fueled growth. He explores the shift from natural grass to turf in Texas, facing market fragmentation, and the importance of local operations and customer retention. Discover how he navigates business challenges and future opportunities in this booming sector.

Mike Botkin is an incredible story of what's possible in the small to mid sized acquisitions space. He left a great job to buy a very small $780k revenue residential landscaping acquisition. Then he completed 6 more acquisitions and focused on commercial maintenance landscaping. They ended up becoming one of the top 100 biggest landscaping companies nationwide and exited - all within 2 years time. We dive into how stressful it was, how he made it happen, and his decision to sell. We also learn what he's up to now in his next venture.Mike Botkin on X: https://twitter.com/MikeBotkin_Canvas Outdoors: https://canvasoutdoors.com/Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiorePatrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Ryan Bakke has built Tax Strategy 365 very quickly and his profit margins are 20-30% better than most similar tax firms. This also makes it difficult to place a value on and tough to tempt him to want to sell. We dive deep into the marketing tactics and funnel he uses to grow quickly and where his firm is headed before he tries to sell. Ryan Bakke on X: https://twitter.com/LearnLikeaCPATax Strategy 365 website: https://taxstrategy365.com/Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichterClint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore

Jordan Evans bought his parents small language services business and has grown it very quickly to $12M revenue. He discusses how they've growth through organic growth and additional acquisitions. And he has his sites set on $50M revenue before a possible exit.Jordan Evans on X: https://twitter.com/JordanPEvansThe Language Network: https://www.languagenetworkusa.com/

Baird Kleinsmith is a savvy entrepreneur who built a self-storage portfolio worth over $28M and founded HireLATAM, an offshore staffing firm. He shares the journey from corporate life to successful investments, revealing critical financial strategies and his experiences with challenging property acquisitions. Baird discusses effective hiring practices in Latin America, team dynamics, and the balance between scaling his business and personal satisfaction. His insights on turning around underperforming properties are both practical and inspiring.

Jeff Toren owns two franchise concepts in Philadelphia - 7 KitchenTuneUp locations and 2 iLoveKickBoxing locations. He's been the #1 franchisee for sales in KitchenTuneUp prior years and in the top performers for iLoveKickBoxing. But the last 2-3 years have been really hard going through massive growth, then not being profitable, and currently back to stable profits. Jeff admits he's debated selling with his wife and we discuss where he wants to be financially before he sells.Jeff Toren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftoren/Kitchen Tune Up PA website: https://www.kitchentuneup.com/main-line-pa/

Alex Forbes has built Lane17 Custom Cabinetry to +$1.5M revenue. They have great sales momentum and are really hitting their stride in ops to be able to keep scaling, but the business today might not be worth enough to temp Alex to sell. We discuss what size he might want to grow to, how hard this industry is vs other businesses, and the possibility of different ventures in the next few years.Lane17 Cabinet Co website: https://lane17.com/ Alex Forbes on X: https://twitter.com/alexforbes__Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/