AMA: First add-on acquisition completed for my MSP (IT Services) Platform

I want to open up an AMA (Ask me anything) about my company's recent add-on acquisition of a managed service provider in Portland Oregon. I acquired my platform business in June###-###-#### I think this AMA might be valuable for others just acquiring their first, and potentially looking for add-on acquisitions as a strategy. I love breaking through the boundaries of what most people think is possible. The world is full of made up rule & guidelines, once you break through a few you start to realize how you can really chart your own path.

Every deal is different, but there's the unique things about this one:

-proprietary deal

-no broker involved, only the seller's lawyer

-sourced through posting on Reddit

-an absolutely transformative deal...has increased my business's recurring revenue from 65% to more than 80%

-believe there was true alignment of core values, we shared everything with them prior to close (what we are and what we are NOT)

-sellers considered doing 100% seller finance (due to tax benefits) but ultimately preferred 100% cash, resulted in 20% discount to initial purchase price.

-2 sellers (1 wanted to leave the business entirely, 1 wanted to stay and grow), they were struggling with growth due to being excellent engineers and poor marketers

-structured phantom equity for seller who wanted to stay & grow so I wouldn't have to restructure my entity

-no outside investors, used cash generated from last year to acquire with 100% cash

-closed deal in 6 weeks from signed LOI, 9 weeks from initial meeting

-Legal was bill extremely low (my lawyer Eli Albrecht said: "I think this was a record for lowest billables on a deal").