Looking to acquire E-commerce CPG chemical brands

Hi guys and gals,

I have been all over the place with my searching. I have made offers on everything from Home Service companies to a gun store. Never made it through due diligence however. I believe I have finally found a niche that capitalizes on my unique opportunity. E-commerce Chemical brands. The reason I want to focus on this niche is because my father owns a chemical manufacturing company and the synergy between a direct to consumer brand with his manufacturing capability makes a ton of sense. Ultimately I want to build a portfolio of brands and package them with his manufacturing business for a sale. I have 3 questions about how to do this.

#1 How should I structure my business and should I keep it separate from his business? Should I keep the individual brands separate or should I hold them all under one group? I want to use a personally guaranteed SBA loan for the acquisition(s) because I am youngish and not super terrified of bankruptcy at this moment. I would likely want to use some of his money for the down payment on a larger deal. Will that be problematic with lenders? I want to start with something in the 1-5 million price range and go from there. Which brings me to my next question:

#2. What multiple can I expect to pay for an e-commerce CPG brand in that range? Do they use EBITDA multiples? SDE? Revenue?

#3 How do I find them? Currently I am stalking these businesses on google and trying to get messages to the owner. It has not been efficient. One problem is how to determine their revenue/EBITDA #s so I am not wasting time on 40M companies. Are their brokers that specialize in this? I am very high on Pet products right now.

I know this is a lot but this community seems to have great conversations so if anyone has experience in any of this I would love to hear about it!



Cheers!
-Adam Gangl