Brandon Hall is one of the most impressive accounting firm growth stories we've known. He started Hall CPA PLLC in 2015 and has grown it organically to +$14.5M revenue and 150 team members. We discuss what would tempt him to sell the firm, AI impacting margins, if exit multiples in accounting will go up or down, traditional partnership structures in accounting vs PE exits, and more. Brandon Hall on X: https://x.com/bhallcpa Hall CPA: https://www.therealestatecpa.com/ Eversite - show sponsor &...
Jun 20, 2025•54 min•Ep. 49
Alex Nelson is an impressive entrepreneur in Iowa who built a wedding venue from scratch to $4M revenue within a few years. He also recently bought a chain of coffee shops then renovated and rebranded. We discuss what each business might sell for today, which one Alex might sell, and his long term goals. It's a great discussion on buy vs build, real estate heavy businesses, and compounding. Alex Nelson on X: https://x.com/WeddingVenueGuy The Midnight Gem: https://themidnightgem.com/ Midnight Cof...
Jun 11, 2025•45 min•Ep. 48
Kyle Ewing is the founder of Terraslate, which manufactures and prints waterproof, and rip-proof paper designed to replace traditional lamination. Kyle shares how he scaled the business to over $10M in annual revenue while maintaining 100% ownership and fending off overseas knockoffs. We discuss the business valuation and if he would sell or not. Kyle Ewing on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleewing/ Ideas To Empires newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/ideas-to-empires-72955...
May 22, 2025•46 min•Ep. 47
Brett and Casey McManus bought an old motel in Killington, Vermont a year ago. They've shared all the highs and lows on Instagram such as fixing their own HVAC, doing bathroom remodels, and increasing revenue. We discuss how much the value has gone up in just a year and if they'd sell or not. We also cover another hotel they're trying to acquire and their tech startup for independent hospitality operators, Inndependent Stays. Innvestors on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innvestors/?hl=en A...
May 13, 2025•46 min•Ep. 46
Cassi Niekamp left a corporate career in sales and bought Bowden Fence Company four years ago. She's grown top line revenue 5x and improved the business tremendously but still feeling lots of stress managing that growth. We discuss what the business is worth today, if she would sell soon, and what she's focused on for 2025. Cassi Niekamp: https://x.com/cassiniekamp Bowden Fence: https://www.bowdenfence.com/ Clint Fiore & Dealonomy: https://www.dealonomy.com/ Patrick Dichter & Appletree: ...
Apr 23, 2025•44 min•Ep. 45
Daniel Magazu's first entrepreneurial venture was a landscaping and mulch business he started during college. With the mulch business he cracked the code on Facebook group marketing, and has since gone all in on scaling his marketing agency business, Ride The Wave. It's growing very quickly and has 96% retention rate. We discuss what the mulch business might sell for today, what the agency might sell for, and Daniel's long term goals. Daniel Magazu on X: https://x.com/DannyMagazu Ride The Wave: ...
Apr 16, 2025•43 min•Ep. 44
Christian Kobes is quickly scaling 19:21 Consultants Co, an independent health insurance and employee benefits firm. They've found their niche providing better, modern service to clients with +50 employees. Christian expects revenue to nearly double again this year. We discuss the M&A landscape in health insurance, what their company might be worth today, and if they'd sell soon. Christian Kobes on X: https://x.com/christian_kobes 19:21 Consultants: https://www.1921consultants.com/ Clint Fio...
Apr 02, 2025•48 min•Ep. 43
Furkan Yuce started Elevation Flooring with a couple scrappy partners and $2500 in the bank 7 years ago. Since then they've grown it organically to $7M revenue in 2024 and they're on pace for $10-12M in 2025. They've built some unique advantages that help them scale and be competitive like proprietary software and a back office team in Turkey. We discuss what the company is worth today, working capital constraints and what number might tempt Furkan to sell or not. Furkan Yuce on X: https://x.com...
Mar 26, 2025•48 min•Ep. 42
Tim Ryan has successfully built a pool cleaning business from scratch and sold it - 4 times over! Why does he keep doing it? He's been building a software for pool cleaning companies and is committed a scalable SaaS venture. We discuss what he learned with each exit, the sale multiples, and what his software company, Symbri, might be worth today. Tim Ryan on X: https://x.com/KenziesPoolBoy Symbri: https://symbri.com/ Clint Fiore & Dealonomy: https://www.dealonomy.com/ Patrick Dichter & A...
Mar 19, 2025•41 min•Ep. 41
Brendan Dawson is the founder of Accident Plan, a niche software company solving big problems in commercial trucking. AccidentPlan is a risk management SaaS platform for trucking that mitigates common pitfalls when a commercial vehicle crashes to help keep companies major lawsuits and keep their insurance rates down. Brendan and Clint debate the valuation if it might sell to a strategic partner or whether a cash flow buyer would pay what Brendan wants. We also discuss what it might look like to ...
Mar 07, 2025•44 min•Ep. 40
David Barlev started Goji Labs with his business partner 10 years ago. Goji Labs is a digital product agency building custom software, apps, and tools to drive business outcomes. They're grown steadily to $6.5M revenue and +35% EBITDA margins. We discuss what Goji might be worth today, if they'd sell the business or not, and what a deal structure could look like. David Barlev on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbarlev/ Goji Labs: https://gojilabs.com/ Clint Fiore & Bison Business: ...
Feb 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 39
Matt Glaros joined his small family health insurance brokerage, helped grow it 3x, and recently sold to a large strategic buyer, Hub. He's enjoying working for Hub and business is cranking more than ever. We discuss what went into the decision to sell and how they ended up a very high multiple between 15-20x earnings. Matt and his business partner have also started buying small print shops in Indiana - seeing relatively cheap multiples and lots of similarities to the insurance business. Matt Gla...
Feb 20, 2025•53 min•Ep. 38
Dr. David Ensley has built Celebrate Dental & Braces in Austin to $1.5M revenue and $500k EBITDA within 3 years. He has his sites on multiple offices in Austin, and he's also a partner in a larger DSO that does +$70M of combined revenue. We discuss what his practice could sell for now, how valuations range from 3x to 15x, building vs buying, and different DSO structures. David Ensley on X: https://x.com/theDSOguy Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/ Patrick Dichter &a...
Feb 14, 2025•39 min•Ep. 37
Shane Ehrsam bought North Texas Trailers just a few years ago. Since then he's grown revenue to $11.5M, improved the team and tech, and maintained healthy margins. We dig into what the business is worth today and if he would sell soon, capital allocation for inventory vs real estate vs new acquisitions, and and how he thinks about building the best business it can be so it's a sellable asset. North Texas Trailers: https://www.northtexastrailers.com/ Shane Ehrsam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin...
Feb 07, 2025•49 min•Ep. 36
Robert Mayer has built an amazing business with Arizona Party Bike. It's a unique tour company based in Arizona specializing in pedal-powered party bikes where guests can enjoy their favorite adult beverages on board. He's been a pioneer in the industry bringing the model to the US, manufacturing the bikes for other locations, franchising, and even getting involved in legislation related to party bikes having alcohol. Clint explains why his current business is worth a high multiple, Robert debat...
Jan 29, 2025•44 min•Ep. 35
Hayden Slack joined the family foundation repair business at $4M revenue and grew to $30M. He also launched a plumbing business from scratch that's grown to $4M revenue. We discuss what the plumbing business is worth and if he'd sell it; we also cover what it's like navigating family dynamics and the key growth levers in the foundation business. Hayden Slack on X: https://x.com/Hayden__Slack Clint Fiore and Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/ Patrick Dichter and Appletree: https://appletr...
Jan 15, 2025•39 min•Ep. 34
This is a special episode of Inspired Or Acquired to celebrate 10,000 downloads, reflect on learnings from prior episodes, share 2025 goals, and answer listener questions. The shows hosts, Clint Fiore and Patrick Dichter, also give some of their career backstory of how they ended up Mergers & Acquisitions (Clint) and Accounting (Patrick). Clint Fiore & Bison Business: bisonbusiness.com Patrick Dichter & Appletree: appletreebusiness.com
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 33
In 2023 Ben Tiggelaar made the acquisition most people dream of - an IT services business that's recession resistant, with sticky clients, healthy margins, management team in place, and can be run remotely. He's steadily improved the business and made another acquisition already putting revenue over $8M. We discuss if he plans to sell, the IT services landscape, tuck in acquisition strategies, investing in other searchers, and why he's enjoying life more running DataTel. Previously Ben had a suc...
Jan 02, 2025•50 min•Ep. 32
Marc Hawk joins Inspired Or Acquired to share the journey of selling RevLocal to Hibu. Marc Hawk was the CEO of RevLocal for 14 years and is now part of the Hibu team as EVP. During that 14 year run, RevLocal became one one of the biggest digital marketing agencies for small businesses. Marc explains they didn't have to sell and the 3 reasons why you might sell a company after growing to +$50M revenue. We also cover the details of integration, the company synergies, and how he's feeling a few mo...
Dec 19, 2024•47 min•Ep. 31
What does a Stanford grad and former investment banking employee employee do when they start their own business? A deck construction company of course. Jameson Haslam has quickly built West Coast Deck to over $1.2M revenue within 2.5 years. He's dialed in content marketing and social media, and built some innovative online tools that he might license to other contractors. We discuss if he would sell today, new products he's launching, and how he's modeling his business after other $7-10M deck bu...
Dec 12, 2024•44 min•Ep. 30
Ian started InTech Scientific years ago and it's become a very profitable and well respected business. He services lab equipment in universities, hospitals and bioteach startups through New England. Now he's getting inquiries and offers from buyers, and he's wondering what his business is worth and what a sale could look like. We also discuss if he decided to staff up and scale to 2-3x the value in the next few years. InTech Scientific: https://www.intechscientificsolutions.com/ Clint Fiore &...
Dec 05, 2024•40 min•Ep. 29
Cheryl Ham has built Hypnotic Yarn into a +$1M revenue business with 28% net profit margin and 80% of revenue on a subscription basis. She was an amazing story of trying to 'create a little side hustle' that has become a great business with a great mission to help customers unleash their creativity. We discuss what her business might be worth today and future plans for the company. Hypnotic Yarn Website: https://hypnoticyarn.com/ Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/ Patri...
Nov 20, 2024•39 min•Ep. 28
Devin Wanzor has bought and sold more than 10 businesses. He joins the podcast to share his journey from being an SBA lender to being part of a sign manufacturing roll up to buying a high end liquor store and recently buying a business close to his passion for flying planes. We also discuss how he's improved profitability as an operator and his unique perspective helping others with financial due diligence. Devin Wanzor on X: https://twitter.com/DevinWanzor Devin Wanzor on LinkedIn: https://www....
Nov 15, 2024•52 min•Ep. 27
Chris Edwards recently sold his flooring business in Steamboat, Colorado. He bought the business just 3.5 years prior then quickly grew revenue 50% and grew EBITDA 100%. He's an amazing example of what's possible in acquisition entrepreneurship. Our conversation dives into the hard lessons, growth levers, and his decision to sell. Chris Edwards on X: https://twitter.com/toph_edwards Chris Edwards on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-edwards-44664052/ Clint Fiore & Bison Business: h...
Nov 06, 2024•43 min•Ep. 26
'POV Husband' is a genuine, funny follow on TikTok and Instagram. Prior to becoming a content creator he worked in banking and bought a business to escape his 9-5. He ended up buying a fast casual restaurant in 2020. Then they quickly bought a 2nd and 3rd location with real estate. In 2022 they decided to sell 2 of the locations. We discuss how much they made on the sale, why restaurants sell for lower multiples, and what businesses he's debating next. POV Husband on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.c...
Oct 30, 2024•37 min•Ep. 25
Matt Cafrelli left a stable career in accounting to dive into the riskier world of acquisition entrepreneurship. He and his partner created a HoldCo to buy some service businesses. Their first acquisition was a window cleaning company in April 2023, followed quickly by a landscaping business in March 2024. We discuss the pros and cons of buying on the small side, future acquisitions, and their long term goals for the holding company. Matt Cafrelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcafrelli/ Clint...
Oct 23, 2024•36 min•Ep. 24
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.com Jesus on LinkedIn: https://www.li...
Oct 17, 2024•37 min•Ep. 23
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 Busines...
Oct 10, 2024•37 min•Ep. 22
Johannes Hock left private equity early in his career with the aim to build wealth faster through an exit after buying a business. In 2022 he bought DFW Turf and he's quickly grown the business from $5M to $20M revenue and +3 states through organic growth and additional acquisitions. He sees a path within a few years to $50M revenue and healthy EBITDA before an exit. We discuss whether he enjoys the investor or operator seat more, and what might tempt them to sell. Johannes Hock on X: https://tw...
Oct 02, 2024•43 min•Ep. 21
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 w...
Sep 26, 2024•49 min•Ep. 20
