In 2019, I met an old-timer in Tyler, Texas who was buying up varicose vein clinics.
Yeah, I know.
Let me repeat that: "varicose vein clinics."
You know the ones tucked away in those dingy strip malls?
"I'm running a classic roll-up strategy," he said.
"What do you mean?" I said as I finished another lukewarm Lonestar.
"Whelp, I buy 'em cheap, bolt 'em together and then sell 'em up the chain to my buyer."
[silence]
I was confused. Like, reeeeeaaallly confused.
"How is this possible???"
I wondered how he could be so sure that someone would actually buy this big varicose vein clinic "roll-up" from him.
And that's when he showed me THE EMAIL.
It was a 5 bullet-point email from a large private equity shop in Dallas. Each bullet-point described (in great detail) exactly what they were looking to buy -- niche, size, geography, timeline, etc. -- at exactly what EBITDA multiple they were willing to pay"
This changed everything for me.
Imagine a teacher handing you the answers to the test...BEFORE THE TEST!
Honestly, it took weeks for me to fully appreciate the genius of this strategy.
Here's the bottom line: people pay up for SCALE.
If you can "roll up" your sleeves, scrounge up some capital and buy onesie, twosie businesses in a particular niche (ala varicose vein clinics) -- you can make a small fortune.
Take the "manufacturing" industry, for example.
Check this out...
Did you see it??
You can buy 3 or 4 small-ish manufacturing companies for ~5.7x EBITDA, rollllllll them together, and then sell them for 7-9x EBITDA.
Imagine buying $100 bills for $50 bucks a pop.
Sign me up!
Even better: imagine lining up the eventual buyer BEFORE you even get started.
Giddy up!!!!
Cheers,
Grant
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