Ep. #271 - Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition ETA with Pete Seligman

In today’s episode, we’re talking with Pete Seligman about his experience diving into the world of entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) after leaving the corporate world to become a business owner. And did he ever dive in! Pete has now bought five companies, been the CEO of three of them, fully sold two of the companies and sold partial stakes in the other three.

His track record proves that entrepreneurship through acquisition is not only possible, but extremely accessible. All you have to do is put your mind to it, create a plan and execute like hell. Intentionally planning how you're going to exit a business as well as enter it allows you to build the life you want while growing enterprise value. Spending time getting to know the people at your company and the industry you service along the way puts you in a particularly powerful position to successfully work yourself out of the business. Want to have real options to do things like keep growing other companies, choose to sit on the board and take distributions, or sell the business? Tune in to this episode to learn how.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN:
-Why it’s important to calculate risk before investing

-Why Pete chose businesses he understood and how important it was when he was getting started

-Why you should grow and sell businesses that you know and are passionate about - plus how to delegate tasks to get growth you desire

-The importance of reinvesting back into a small business for future growth and value

-Pete’s favorite way to invest and how to manage his vision while recruiting people to do the things he can’t

-The three questions you should ask before placing a bid on a business

-Why you need to be able to work with the people in a small to medium business

-Why Pete didn’t take dividends for years and how doing that helped him sell fast

-Why Pete spent a lot on recruiting people when reinvesting in the business

-Understanding capacity is super important in a service business

-Why you grow by taking more market share rather than the market growing

-The relation growing a small business and starting a campfire have in common

-Why managing multiple businesses starts with acquiring the skill of delegation

-Outcomes are derived from how well you can coach your team - so long as you have the same idea of the course you need to go on

-The positive mindset business owners should have when they have sold their business

PODCAST INTERVIEW QUOTES:

09:14 - “We knew how much cash we had - so that kind of put a cap on what we wanted to invest in.” – Pete Seligman

23:05 - “It’s not quality time [you need to spend] it’s just time. You Just need to spend time with the vendor.” – Pete Seligman

34:45 - “If you can get a business up to the 4 or 5 million [earnings] you really can get a ticket to the bigger ball game.” – Pete Seligman

44:00 - “Most of your growth is by taking the market share rather than the market growing.” – Pete Seligman

52:10 - “Delegation is such an important skill." – Pete Seligman

ABOUT PETE:
Pete Seligman is an Investor, Advisor, Speaker, Podcaster and one of Australasia's most experienced practitioners and a leading voice for Search Fund and Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) insights and advice. In 2012, after a 15 year career spanning engineering, project management, investment banking and general management, Pete took the entrepreneurial leap. He co-founded Alpin Group to acquire, operate and grow small businesses in Australia.