In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, host Casey Minshew talks with Anica John, who shares her inspiring path from the tech industry to acquiring a book printing business. Anica opens up about leaving the corporate world, the lessons learned during the acquisition process, and how family support has been a driving force in her success.
She also discusses the impact of tech layoffs on her decision to pursue entrepreneurship, the complexities of financing and closing a deal, and how leadership and team dynamics shape the post-acquisition journey.
Whether you’re transitioning from a tech background, seeking your first acquisition, or exploring the small business space, Anica’s story offers valuable insights into the journey from employee to entrepreneur.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- Anica’s journey from the tech industry to entrepreneurship
- Lessons learned while acquiring a book printing business
- The importance of patience during the acquisition process
- How family support contributes to business success
- The impact of recent tech layoffs on career choices
- Navigating financing and due diligence challenges
- The value of leadership and strong team dynamics post-close
- Why understanding your business landscape is essential
- How to hire the right people and create a strong company culture
Guest Contact Info:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anicajohn/
Additional Resources:
- Sponsored by O’Connell Advisory Group – Work with a trusted Quality of Earnings and Financial Diligence partner who focuses solely on business acquisitions.
Visit: https://www.oconnelladvisorygroup.com
- Attend the M&A Launchpad Conference – October 25, 2025, in Chicago, IL.
Premier event for entrepreneurs, investors, and dealmakers in the lower-middle market.
Learn more at https://www.malaunchpad.com
- Contact Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa at info@equity-launchpad.com
Learn more at https://www.equity-launchpad.com
M&A Launchpad Conference
The next M&A Launchpad Conference is happening in October 2025 in Chicago. Date and location details coming soon.
This is the premier event for entrepreneurs, investors, and dealmakers in the lower-middle market.
Get your ticket at https://www.malaunchpad.com and use code LAUNCH for $200 off.
�� Have a question or want to work with us? Reach out to Casey and Feras: info@equity-launchpad.com
🎧 Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3VWwqqp9vA0
🎧 Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GablK8yvUHqKw2NsyOsWN?si=zhmWNdr2TDCyewZjANzFkA
🎧 Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-tech-to-business-ownership-an-acquisition/id1740382586?i=1000731192252
Transcript
00:00 Hey there, this is Casey with the M&A Launchpad podcast. Want to let you know about October 25th. Put it on your
00:07 calendar. This is a do not missed one day event. There’s going to be incredible headliners, but really at the
00:14 end of the day, you’re going to get a chance to talk to people that have made acquisitions, learn from some of the
00:19 challenges that they’ve made because this is definitely a challenging process. But more importantly, there’s going to be people there that can help
00:26 you and support you along the way from great vendors, quality of earnings, how to run the due diligence process, and
00:32 how do I get financed, how do I raise capital, how do I structure all of these things. October 25th in Chicago, we’re
00:39 going to be gathering. It’s going to be hundreds of people that are all focused, like-minded people. And man, everyone
00:45 that’s come has given us incredible feedback. So, mark your calendar. October 25th in Chicago. We look forward
00:51 to seeing you there. All right. And on today’s episode, we interviewed Anika John, where we talked about what it’s like to be a woman,
00:58 leave the tech world, and go and buy a business. And not just any business, but a book manufacturing business that is
01:06 printing books. And on top of that, right, a fairly sizable transaction that included real estate, included a seller
01:12 carry, included seller rolling equity, and all the above, right? and some of the things that it takes to get in
01:17 there, buy that business, complete that transaction, and go in and operate that business. So, Casey, what were some of
01:23 your takeaways? You know, we had a chance um to meet her at the conference, and uh it was really
01:30 impressive to see, you know, the evolution of of her journey. You know, she was um her story 100% inspiring. Uh
01:39 so, to hear her whole story, fantastic. But then to be able to take the knowledge that she got, she went out and
01:46 seek the knowledge, then to be able to execute it, find the deal, very very diligent on how she closed the deal took
01:52 almost 7 months. So I mean to be able to be patient to sit in that long, man, it’s it’s absolutely incredible. But my
01:58 takeaway, my biggest takeaway from her is is you know how big things can be. She did not she set out to buy a bigger
02:05 business. She had her reasons and she did it and uh that was pretty impressive.
02:10 No, I agree. you know, and it’s it’s everything is possible. It’s about being methodical and working through it and
02:17 get it accomplished, right? If it’s a bigger deal, there’s more pieces, but it’s all the same pieces, and you just have to work through it and believe in
02:23 yourself. I mean, that’s the one thing with with with Ana. I think she she has confidence in herself, and that’s good, right? Because that’s what you need as
02:28 an entrepreneur to work through all the road bumps it takes to get to closing and then on top of the business, the all
02:34 the road bumps after closing. So, there’s a lot of juicy nuggets in this one.
02:39 All right, guys. Just take one second here
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03:13 buyers like yourself successfully purchase and operate enduring, profitable businesses. In fact,
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03:29 notes. Hey, Ana, welcome to the show. Thank you. It’s so good to be here. Yeah, it’s great to see your face again.
03:35 Yeah, likewise. I know we met you at our conference about a year ago and you’re here excited to share kind of some of your story and so I know a little bit
03:42 about you but for the listeners right before we dive into the business that you bought right let’s talk about you
03:48 know what were you doing before yeah so um my my story really begins
03:53 like how I grew up so um you know I think it’s an important part of my story to really tell the full background uh my
04:00 parents came here in 1965 from India under the immigration and nationality act and uh the Indian government at that
04:07 time only allowed people to have $1,000 uh to start a new life in a new country
04:13 and so they took that $1,000 they came here they were uh certified uh charted accountants from India they studied here
04:20 got jobs saved up their money and they started one of the oldest uh South Asian businesses in the Philadelphia area it’s
04:27 a CPA firm and over 50 years they then had about 20 different businesses so um
04:33 they bought some of them they started some of them And the uh really most
04:38 important one to my heart is the Philadelphia Sari Palace. It was the business that I worked in when I was 10
04:45 years old. robing women, uh, helping them pick out saris, uh, color matching their blouses. And I have a lot of
04:52 beautiful memories from that time, especially watching my mother on this entrepreneurship journey and
04:58 understanding that entrepreneurship was really her way of navigating this life
05:04 in a new country and maintaining control over her income and her time. And so
05:10 that has really really influenced me a lot in my life. Now, since then, you
05:15 know, I went to law school, started a business uh in the legal services industry, sold that. I started a uh I
05:22 co-founded actually a venturebacked computer vision company that’s doing really well. And then when I had my own
05:29 family, I decided to go into big tech. So, I worked at places building AI
05:34 systems at Walmart Labs and Disney streaming and most recently, uh Amazon
05:39 Music. and I was working there in podcasts and audiobooks and that’s when
05:45 I was really kind of looking for an exit path from corporate life back into entrepreneurship to just kind of make a
05:52 full circle and go back to my childhood and that’s really what led me to this journey. All right, so I got to hop in. So you
05:58 know I’m also have a software background. I worked at Microsoft came from the tech world and I got to ask you
06:03 was your role project manager or developer? Because from my experience, right, most people that were more in the
06:08 project management side have the interpersonal skills, the people skills and the technical skills to typically be
06:14 successful as an entrepreneur because a good entrepreneur needs to have all those pieces including the financial
06:19 acumen, including just the confidence. And so that’s maybe my question to you. What were you doing in the tech side?
06:25 Yeah, so um I was a product leader. So uh I uh you know scoped out um what we
06:31 were doing next and I really focused on innovation and building out the product road maps. I believe at Microsoft that
06:38 role is called a project manager. It is project manager product manager and there’s a third one. They’re all variations of the same thing.
06:44 Right. Exactly. And so you know at Amazon and places like that um you know product leaders are really the people uh
06:51 who are on the executive track in the business or they go out and start ventureback uh startups. And then in my
06:57 case, I decided to um you know still do entrepreneurship but uh in in in a um
07:03 acquisition. No, it’s nice. And your story about your family, it’s that’s that’s absolutely an incredible story. Um you know, it almost
07:10 kind of takes away, well, why can’t I do it, right? It takes away a lot of those those feelings. But also, you know, I’ve
07:17 I’ve met a lot of entrepreneurs over the years. And, you know, having a family
07:22 that is entrepreneurial driven, you know, helps break through a lot of the barriers of like, can I do it? Will I do
07:28 it? You know, what happens if I don’t have a paycheck tomorrow? So, it’s one of those things that’s pretty amazing to
07:33 have that background and have those people in your life that kind of give you that encouragement, that gave you the storyline. And man, it sounds like
07:39 your mom’s a pretty dynamic woman, so that’s pretty awesome. Yeah, she’s she’s absolutely amazing and
07:46 um I think you know in addition to that I think the having the entrepreneurship in my family is very important. Um but
07:53 one thing I have to say is that the uh big tech experience also did help me a
07:59 lot you know because you really gain some hard skills and you really understand um how big spaces are and the
08:08 uh you know just just how to scale in in a very very big way. And so you can take
08:13 that knowledge and then really apply it to this kind of a small business framework uh and it ends up being quite
08:20 successful. Um you know and there’s there’s less opportunity now uh in tech
08:26 to do that. I was one of the lucky ones. I’d like to talk about the other half of my motivation. So, you know, one half of
08:33 it is family. But during my journey um in the tech industry in the 2010s, it was very very
08:42 uh sure thing, right? You got a computer science degree or you got a job as a product manager at one of these big
08:47 companies and then you pretty much had a straight path and you had to not screw it up. And really since the end of 2022,
08:56 that’s not so much the case anymore. Um there have been since 2022 to the present day there have been over 250,000
09:04 layoffs in the tech industry in the US. Now women specifically make up about 26%
09:12 of the tech industry but women have also be disproportionately affected by those
09:17 layoffs and comprise about 45% of the layoffs. And so um I also wanted to
09:22 share that because for that reason there are a lot of
09:28 people looking to exit that corporate path and I want to be the person to let
09:33 them know that acquisition is a viable path after that corporate life. I think
09:39 since 2022 also uh the general landscape
09:45 that first changed in tech but is kind of you know coming for the rest of the
09:50 world is AI as well. So between agentic AI and robotic systems we are seeing a
09:58 fundamental shift between labor and capital. Now, historically, labor and
10:03 capital have always negotiated with each other with pretty equal uh negotiating
10:09 power because capital has always needed labor to build products and services. Now, with AI, having been one of those
10:16 people who was building those AI systems, I can tell you that that is really, really changing. And so um what
10:23 my other goal was in addition to my entrepreneurship journey and really just itching to get back to that space um was
10:30 really to shift to the capital side of that equation. Uh now in my company what
10:36 we’re doing also is we’re doing profit sharing so that our employees are also shielded uh from this tectonic shift in
10:43 the landscape. Um and I want to let other people know about that too. uh that now is is a good time to be
10:50 thinking about these things because of of the world around us and the advancements that are happening. Yeah. And I completely agree with you
10:56 that being in a tech company, you realize that the things that tech
11:01 companies do is not the norm in other industries, right? Like I left Microsoft with the idea of building software in old industries like real estate. And I
11:08 realized the opportunity is actually about using the things that are normal in the way a tech company’s run to just
11:13 make us a lot more efficient. And that’s what I started disrupt equity based on. and it’s been able to grow because of that and you know and I guess my
11:19 question for you though is you know you were comfortable I’m guessing at Amazon what made you say you know what I want
11:25 to actually go buy that business though right and what was kind of the the thought process behind that because most
11:31 people man you know it’s the golden handcuffs right yeah yeah it was hard to make the jump I
11:37 have to say uh because it it’s there’s no risk in being
11:42 Sounds crazy for leaving Microsoft I know what you mean right right and and the stockish store
11:47 is soaring at the moment. So, uh you know that that is all valid. Um for me
11:53 it it really was an itch to um to to go back to entrepreneurship. You know, I
11:59 could have stayed at Amazon or I could have gotten another big tech job or or joined a ventureback company. Um I
12:07 really wanted to do my own thing. That’s probably the most important uh part of this journey for me and my motivation.
12:15 But I think that um just the
12:20 just all the things that I mentioned that are happening in the tech industry uh made it really hard to stay and feel
12:30 like I was going to be able to continue to innovate at the pace that I had uh
12:35 without worrying about the the shifting of you know everything that we just talked about right the economic
12:42 circumstances of these companies and specifically the workers. ers within them. So, let’s jump in to the business,
12:49 right? Because this is uh this is so tell us the company name and then how’d you find it? All the all the good stuff
12:56 um to get up to the point where you bought it. Sure. So, um the company name is Digipod
13:03 and I found it on a platform called rejig.com. So, on that website,
13:09 what’s that? I was on that website today this morning. Okay. Yeah. So, you’re familiar with it. So, uh they specialize in offmarket
13:16 deals and this was really the only one I really considered from that platform. I
13:21 was really going out for mostly like you know broker deals but this one was big
13:28 enough uh for me to be interested. I was looking at 1.5 to two IBIDA and so uh
13:36 this was the only one that kind of fit those requirements and I had a bit of
13:43 hesitancy because it is in Michigan. Um but as I got to know the business you
13:48 the performance is very strong in the business and uh the team there seemed
13:55 like very self-sufficient and they seemed like um you know they they knew a
14:01 ton about printing combined. they have over a 100red years of printing experience. And so, uh, that was a huge
14:08 attraction and the numbers just worked out. And so, I went to Michigan to visit
14:16 and spoke to all the employees. The seller was very open. He introduced me as the buyer. And so, um, yeah, all
14:23 those things gave me confidence that it would work. So, you know, for the listeners, right, what does the business do? And then on
14:29 top of that, right, you found it on Rejig, which is an online website. you saw the listing, you said yes, you know,
14:34 and you want to reach out to the I’m guessing, you know, they facilitated the conversation with the seller. Did you have an accepted LOI before you went out
14:41 to Michigan? Because it sounds like you might have, right? And so kind of and then how did that negotiation go?
14:47 Yeah. So, I actually had not been out to Michigan before the LOI. However, I did
14:53 have a friend who was working with me at the time and then, you know, he ended up wanting to do something else. said uh he
14:59 went to Michigan, he met the seller and he looked around at the facility and he
15:05 talked to people, he took the tour and he gave me a lot of confidence. I got a lot of pictures back uh and you know, we
15:12 had a good in-depth discussion after and I knew that before I signed anything
15:17 that was binding that I would be visiting and so I signed the LOI on that
15:24 basis and then subsequently I went to visit. Got it. Andrew, what does the business do?
15:30 It is a book printing business. So, self-published authors and small publishers uh have their manuscripts and
15:38 so they, you know, give us their manuscripts and they pay our fee and they pick out their uh preferences, you
15:46 know, paperbound book or hardbound book or spiralbound and the kind of paper,
15:52 etc. And then we take it from there. We prepare it for printing and then we
15:58 print it and we ship it to wherever they want. Uh so and and we specialize in books. We don’t really do any other type
16:05 of printing right now. I love it because, you know, I’m a I’m a I’m I’m a I’m a really avid reader. So I
16:10 try to read at night and do these things. And it’s one of the things that I’m finding a lot of people doing is we
16:16 want to get off our phones. The reason why we’re reading at night is so we can take 30 minutes and just get away from
16:21 on, you know, all this stuff. Yeah. you had this like craze of books are going away and all this whole mentality,
16:28 right? It’s all going to go on Kindle and all these other things. And then you’re avid readers though, like myself,
16:33 I’m buying books again. Like I want the physical book. I’m sitting down and reading the thing, you know? And so it’s
16:39 kind of it’s one of those things where I feel like, you know, you might be coming like that market when people concern,
16:45 oh, is it going to go away? I I don’t think it does. I think most people want a physical copy just to decompress and
16:52 get off of their their their their laptops and stuff. Yeah, absolutely. And my research, my
16:57 commercial due diligence into this business really confirm that. So, 37% of Americans uh only read print books. They
17:05 don’t do audiobooks. They don’t do uh ebook format. Now, a lot more than that do multiple formats. So, print book plus
17:12 ebook or print book plus audiobook. I am in that category. Uh then the Pew
17:18 Research survey did a study for 10 years and every year they found that anywhere
17:25 between 65 to 71% of Americans in a 12 year a 12 month look back period read at
17:32 least one print book and if you look at subcategories like gifting or
17:38 personalization or children I have small children I don’t want them on devices so
17:43 I always that’s where I splurge I buy them really good books. Uh those categories are are really growing. And
17:51 so there’s there’s a very very strong market uh for print um gifting. People
17:58 like you actually, you know, if you were to write a book and you have your conferences and you give out signed
18:03 copies uh to the audience, you know, that’s a huge market, too. So if we do, we know where we’re going to
18:08 get them printed at, right? What’s that? That if we do, we know exactly where we’re going to get them printed at. Absolutely. We’re ready. We are ready
18:15 for you. All right. So, you found so you found the business. You It sound like you did your research. You know, obviously from
18:22 your background, you’re going to do all your research. You’ve you’ve gotten to this point. You’ve put in an LOI. Then,
18:28 how does the next steps work? Because it sounds like, just for the listeners, uh it was a $10 million purchase,
18:34 um which included real estate. And so, it’s a fair it’s a fairly large firsttime acquisition. Um and and and as
18:42 we mentioned, female, you know, entrepreneur, all those things to really just break through and and really kind
18:48 of shatter those ideas of can I do it, right? You did. Um so talk talk to us about that from
18:53 LOI to get it closed, the financing. Give us a little bit of that background.
18:59 Yeah, I think you know it it takes a long time. It always just takes so much
19:05 longer than you think it’s going to take. And so, um, that’s what I would prepare people for. Uh, so we,
19:13 because there’s real estate involved, there was just so much additional due diligence. There was an inspector who
19:19 came out. Um, they inspected the equipment. Um, the underwriting process for a real estate deal, uh, plus a
19:27 business is is just a lot, right? Um, and so, uh, yeah. And also there’s all
19:33 these multiple parties that you are working with, right, with your deal team. So you have the Q of E and the Q
19:39 of E comes back and you know you have some changes in the agreement and then uh you’re trying to go to underwriting
19:45 with that and you have to keep updating the seller to get financials and um it’s
19:51 it’s really um just such a vast process. Now I have been a real estate investor
19:57 for a while. I owned multiple homes and so I thought I was prepared for this kind of process but it actually took you
20:05 know 7 months uh and and I was also still at Amazon at that time. So it was
20:11 calls before work on my lunch hour. I was you know reviewing documents and uh
20:16 reviewing things after you know I basically I didn’t see my family for like four months because I it it’s like
20:22 having another job. Um, and it was like having another job, trying to find the
20:27 right business and do all the due diligence and have the broker calls, but trying to to close was it felt like even
20:35 more work. And so, and it’s so risky, you know, because broken deal costs are
20:40 really, really expensive, especially for this kind of deal where it was um it was a stock sale, so the seller kept 10%
20:47 equity. Um, so that brings more complexity to the deal. um it was real
20:53 estate attached to the business. So, uh it was just such a complex deal with so
20:58 many parties. The one thing I will say is that having a loan broker really helps because it’s their job to help you
21:05 close. Uh and they are um you know, they’ve kind of known you. My my broker,
21:12 Pioneer Capital, they knew me before they were kind of helping me to negotiate LOIs. And so um they helped me
21:19 have like my per personal financial statement and all the personal docs you know those were ready to go and that doc
21:26 gathering process was so I mean I’m used to these huge technical uh rollouts
21:34 right um but I still found this to be very challenging um the you know the the
21:39 complexity of the deal process itself and the underwriting I’ve done I’ve I’ve personally you know on a broker side for as a loan broker
21:45 I’ve done hundreds of millions of dollars of SBA and all different types of unique financing and every bill’s different. Every
21:52 requirement is different and I’ll tell you like right now the SBA process I mean it is it has
21:58 changed. You used to be able to get an SBA done in 75 days and it’s just rolling out for a while. Yes. because
22:04 they’re asking for everything from acrruel to cash base to they’re do and look maybe that’s what they should have
22:10 been doing for the last 10 years but there the default rate in SBA has gone dramatically up right and so their their
22:16 underwriting has changed so again it’s a tremendous amount of work and seven months is most people are not expecting
22:24 seven months yeah no I was not I was not I I was expecting to um be done by April and we
22:31 closed on June 24th so That’s what I would prepare too bad another two months
22:37 a lot. So I started I started the process with H&M our first acquisition here at ALP and it took us 11 months to close. Um
22:46 and so it just takes time like our our our valuation on the equipment came back and then I had to go figure out how to
22:52 get AR financing and and and then go back to the seller and say hey this and then networking capital. I mean it is a
22:59 huge lift. And so did you do were you your own team? It sounded like your
23:05 partner had bailed out on this time, right? Yeah. Yeah, he um yeah, he he he was
23:11 interested in in uh in his product consultancy, which is doing really well right now. But um I think that uh
23:20 it it yes, I was my own team. Uh I I had like I said I had really good loan brokers so they they helped me but
23:27 ultimately to drive everything to close is really on the buyer and so um and and
23:33 the first time doing it you know now I I have so many things that I would have
23:38 done differently. Um I know that’s I know that feeling right. Yeah. So um so you know you you you will
23:46 uh remember like tech standups right from from being a software developer. So I ended up for the last two months I
23:53 just ended up doing it like that. I would just have daily standup calls and I would require my lawyer, the CPA, the
23:60 bank’s lawyer, the you know to the finish line. I literally was having a conversation yesterday. I’m like don’t
24:06 tell the attorneys they have till end of week. If you tell them end of week they’re only going to do it end of week. Tell them tomorrow and have them come back and say otherwise. Right. So
24:13 I was just in the minutia of everything. I was handling the closing list. Um and
24:18 and the banks have closers, but ultimately like I you know the buyer handles the closing list is is really
24:24 what happens. And um for the last two or three weeks I was having two standups a
24:30 day because you know somebody in the morning would say, “Hey, I’ll have that by the afternoon.” And the next day they
24:35 still didn’t have it. So then I made the entire team, there were like 10 people on this call do twice a day meetings.
24:43 Um, and then you know when people started to complain, I was like, “Well,
24:49 if you guys closed it, we wouldn’t have to do this.” Clothing is absolutely about dragging
24:54 everybody to the finish line, right? So, I would say I would say my advice to
25:01 your listeners is really be prepared to be your own project manager. Uh, because
25:07 no one’s going to do it for you and you’re going to have to project manage that close even if it’s the first time you’ve ever done it. Agreed. And and so
25:14 so to summarize the deal for the listeners, right? So what was the IBIDA? You said it was in the one to two. Was
25:19 it like one and a half? Yeah. So so that was a bit of complexity. It was expected to be 2
25:26 million and then I believe it was like 1.65 at the time of close. And so um
25:33 naturally we had to retrade. And honestly, I don’t remember what we went in with, so don’t ask me because it was
25:40 such a long convoluted process that um it but it was about, you know, the loan’s about 7.6.
25:47 It’s about a million4 in a note and then about a million on top of that that I had to put in. So those are the general
25:54 deal economics. Got it. And so it’s a so the real the whole purchase about 10 million, right?
25:59 You also mentioned the seller rolled 10% and he did a $1.4 million seller note, it sounds like, right? Yeah.
26:05 And then the senior note was seven and then you brought the last million dollars of cash to close and do the transaction, right?
26:11 Yes. Yes. All right. And then so I guess you know that was what coming up on 10 months
26:17 ago. So how’s it been? It’s been a ride. It has been it has
26:22 been a ride. Um I think
26:27 what I would tell people is that leadership matters. I think
26:35 when I went into the business uh you know I I had met the team and everybody
26:42 said hey we’re really really excited to grow really excited for you to buy this
26:47 company but when I actually
26:52 started running the company and I had the daily standups and I had deadlines
26:58 for tasks not everybody could handle that right and So we had a lot of churn and so I
27:06 had to bring in my own general manager. Uh I’m hiring for a head of growth right
27:11 now. Uh I had to really revamp the leadership in order to
27:19 ensure that the culture I brought would be the culture that was set especially
27:25 in this remote environment. Right? So the production facility is in Michigan. Um and then I’m managing everything else
27:32 remotely from Palo Alto. And so you know having a leader there um so I actually
27:38 hired a general manager and then I hired a um lead production supervisor who
27:44 reports to the general manager. They are my hires. We see eye to eye on being a
27:51 high performance team on how things should run. um tracking to KPIs,
27:59 just really running a tight ship the way that I’m used to things going at, you know, Amazon and Walmart Labs and and
28:06 Disney and and these these startups that I was in. And so, yeah, I think I think
28:12 really leadership is everything. you know, in the head of growth interviews we’re doing, um, there were some really,
28:18 really great people from the old team that I did keep, and I’m having them interview the head of growth to ensure
28:25 that they feel that they can be led by this person, right? Um, and that’s I
28:32 mean, I think that’s the biggest lesson. I didn’t learn it, but it was
28:38 reinforced that every problem in a business is really tied to people. So,
28:44 it’s either, you know, someone just dropping the ball, not having ownership, not being obsessed with the customer, um
28:51 or uh on the on the flip side of that, every achievement is in a business is
28:57 because of someone who’s demonstrating those qualities and then they deserve
29:02 attention because they should be recognized, right? So, it’s all about choosing the right people, cultivating
29:08 them, and um just constantly monitoring how they’re doing, giving them what they
29:13 need, and um coaching them when they fall behind. Uh and then sometimes you
29:18 have to cut ties with people who cannot adapt to the culture that you’re bringing in. So, that’s been that’s been
29:25 the most memorable part of it. So, a few few like uh technical questions, right? So, um, for listeners
29:32 and and for my own knowledge, so stock sales, right? Usually it’s, you know,
29:37 the the M&A attorney or whoever you’re working with is like, “What are you doing? Don’t buy the stock.” Or all this
29:43 stuff. Did you did you get met with like, was that a big issue in the process for your adviserss? Were they
29:50 were they advising it differently or were they like, “Yeah, it’s just pretty pretty typical.” No, it it it was okay. uh they did warn
29:57 me that there’s a lot of legal due diligence that needs to happen and so you know it’s it’s all about the legal
30:04 due diligence and then also in addition to that all the representations
30:11 warranties and um indemnifications in the purchase agreement. So if you have
30:17 that you’re pretty set. um if you’re worried about, you know, defending some
30:23 kind of litigation before the indemnification kicks in, there’s insurance for that. So, it is a bit more
30:31 complicated, but because I was dealing with the SBA and Parapisu cap, it’s the
30:38 only way I could really buy this business. Um I couldn’t I couldn’t buy the whole thing. Yeah.
30:43 Uh every almost every company we’ve done has been some form of a stock sale. um
30:49 involved. So, it’s it’s one of those misnomers that I I keep hearing. It’s like you got to buy the assets, but if
30:54 there’s long-term contracts and if there’s things that you got to do if for for for buyers like us, you know, to be
31:00 able to go and then redo all those contracts, we just don’t have the the bandwidth and the resources, right? And
31:07 so that would have been a nightmare. Yeah. And then the riskto-reward, right? Because you’re going, okay, what are my risk on a stock sale? So you may not get
31:14 the the step up in depreciation, you may not get all these other things, but you know on the other side you got to walk
31:20 in take over the bank accounts. You you did you continue to use the same accounting software kind of process? Did
31:27 you start a whole new accounting back office? So I did a whole new accounting back
31:32 office, but I am switching over the payroll system because they just use
31:39 something that’s a little bit outdated. I’m I’m changing it to gusto, which is kind of I was going to guess that person.
31:45 Yeah. Yeah. That knowledge and I will tell you, you cannot you’re just not going to find it out there on the street when you
31:51 when you have a specialized knowledge like that and you have all those years of wisdom. It’s amazing. The company that we acquired in May, the owner, um
31:58 he is 81, going to be 81 pretty soon. And he has been doing what he’s done. I
32:04 mean, this is the hardest working human being I’ve ever met. I mean, I mean, no kidding. Put me up against anybody. this
32:09 guy never took a vacation just and he has so much knowledge, right? I I would say he’s he’s probably very high IQ. Um
32:17 doesn’t forget a thing. Um even at his age, uh right now it’s all about ability, but like he to we met with him.
32:24 I met with him last week and he said, “Hey, am I doing my my part?” I’m like, “Man, like we need you to stay.” And
32:29 he’s like, “Well, I want to go down to that three days a week that I talked about.” I’m like, “Well, we understand, but you can’t right now. you are like
32:37 such a he’s still working full-time in the business. He can’t leave. He has he will not
32:42 leave. Even though he says he’s going to go to three hours, he gets a call and he goes out onto it Saturday and he goes and does all he can’t help himself. So,
32:49 it’s it is it is a very interesting dynamic, but like you said about like that knowledge, right? You you don’t
32:55 like that knowledge is oh, it’s it’s unbelievable. It’s stuff that we might be able to come in with better
33:00 systems and tech and all these great little things, but when it comes down to like, hey, how does that work? You’re
33:06 like, oh man, he just knows it. He’s just it’s it’s in his DNA. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So,
33:14 so it’s that trade-off of like this trying to get the seller out and trying to get it just I think it’s one of those
33:19 things you have to kind of be very fluid with, right? You know, u because there is a point where the seller goes, “Wow,
33:26 everything has changed.” And if they are change resistant, you know, you you got to shepherd them out at some point.
33:32 Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah. No, I I think I got lucky, you know. Um Tim is he owns two
33:39 golf courses and he has a little grandson and so he just he wants to play
33:44 golf and and hang out with his his grandson. Uh there was a power outage and you know, we were trying to find out
33:51 like how that affects the equipment and the servers and all these things. And so we were texting back and forth and his
33:56 historical knowledge of the systems was super helpful. Um, but other than that, he’s, you know, he’s he’s just kind of
34:02 in and out. He he does still run his other golf courses from the office and and that will end uh as soon as we
34:09 finish the working capital um tie up. Uh that’s I think four months after, so
34:14 it’s like October 24th, I think. Then he’ll uh he’ll transfer his offices to the golf courses. But um yeah, no, it’s
34:21 it’s been it’s been good. It’s been good so far. Got it. So, overall, you’ve been happy with the purchase and you feel like you
34:26 got what you paid for? Yes. Yes, I have been very happy with the purchase. Um, it’s it’s so much fun.
34:33 It’s every day I am challenged, but it’s
34:39 also just a lot of fun and I just feel that I have so much control uh, you
34:45 know, over my future, um, over my time. You know, I work I really work non-stop,
34:52 but I take my son to school every day and I’m here my daughter’s in preschool,
34:58 so she comes home for lunch and I’m able to have lunch with her. Uh I’m here when my son comes home and then I’m here when
35:05 they go to bed. So, except for my travel to Michigan, right? But other than that,
35:10 um there’s no one dictating my schedule. And those things that are important to me, I’m able to do and still have this
35:18 business that I really love running. All right. Incredible. All right, we’re going to
35:24 move on to our rocket round, Anukica. So, okay, this is where we ask you three very
35:30 important questions um that we ask all of our guests. Uh so, the first question, what do you like to do in your
35:35 free time? what free time. Uh I I I work and I spend time with my
35:44 family. Uh so right now I’m just in the season of life that’s just all about family. But uh before then I would say
35:52 that I really loved rock climbing. That was my passion. Awesome. And I’m hoping to get back to that, you know, at some
35:58 point as my kids grow up. Um, but right now, yeah, it’s it’s, you know, their activities and, um, you know, I’m
36:05 scheduling my daughter’s birthday party and picking out all the napkins and the paper plates and the snow white theme
36:11 and all that. And that is it’s it’s just a blast. But, uh, looking also looking forward to getting back to rock climbing
36:17 at some point. That’s awesome. All right, next question. Most memorable moment in your business journey.
36:23 So, I think we talked about that, right? It was hiring my general manager. So, uh, we
36:30 had this problem with probably the most, uh,
36:36 expensive and most critical machine in our shop and it went down. And so he was
36:42 coming for an interview and as soon as he came in, I said, “I know it’s our interview, but there’s this crisis I’m
36:49 dealing with.” And then he said, “Let’s check it out together.” So, we’re both like in the machine talking to the tech,
36:57 talking to the machine operator, you know, he has ideas, I have ideas. Um,
37:03 it it it was just so synergistic. And then I had a uh you know, some investors
37:09 who might invest in a growth round. They were coming. That was an important tour for me. So, I thought that he had left
37:16 and I took them on a tour and he was still there. He was talking to the staff
37:21 and the people that would report to him and we got the machine back up and running.
37:28 Gary left and we had already had another candidate on site the the previous day.
37:34 And so I got my team together and I said, “Which one?” And they said, “Are
37:39 you even asking us? It’s Gary. Hands down. It’s Gary. We want him as our leader.” And I sent out an offer that
37:46 day. I never do that. I never sent out an offer the same day that I just met the candidate. Um, I sent out an offer
37:53 Friday and he signed it on Saturday and I believe he messaged me on LinkedIn and
37:58 said, “Hey, it’s signed.” Recruiter called me on Monday and said, “By the way, it’s signed.” And I was like, “I
38:03 know. We’re already planning his start date.” So, um, that’s probably the most
38:08 memorable thing is getting the right person in the right position is just invaluable to any business.
38:15 Absolutely. Awesome. That’s great. And last question, what’s your favorite tool or resource?
38:21 So, I guess this would qualify as a resource um for acquisition for your
38:27 listeners. I think uh Sam Rosadi’s boot camp. I highly highly recommend it. he
38:33 does a digital one, but uh I went to the one in Florida and I have friends from
38:41 my cohort still and um it really was invaluable. Uh the other thing that was
38:48 so useful besides just the community you get and the motivation like I can do this, you know, after spending three
38:54 days learning about it is my deal team came out of there. Um my lawyers came
38:59 out of there, the QOV provider came out of there. So, you come out with this complete deal team. I was able I had a
39:05 website for my acquisitions and I was able to list those people and um that was just really powerful and it helped
39:13 convince sellers that I could close a deal. That’s awesome. You’ll see Sam at the the conference coming up. He’ll be there
39:19 as well. I think we’re on the same panel on the conference. So, I just I just ping him. Yeah. So, it’ll be good to catch up with
39:26 him. That’s awesome. Well, look, Anukica, thank you so much for being here with us today. How can our listeners get a get a
39:31 hold of you? So, you can find me on LinkedIn. Um, but I’ve also just put my email address out
39:37 there and searchers have been emailing me and I’ve been answering their questions by Loom if I can’t meet and
39:42 I’m happy to do that. Um, my door is always open. So, my email is anika john.com and get in touch with me
39:49 anytime and connect me with me on LinkedIn also. All right. Very inspiring story. Thank you so much for spending time with us
39:55 today. Appreciate it, Na. Take care. Thank you for having me. Thank you for listening to the M&A Launchpad podcast. If you’ve enjoyed
40:02 today’s podcast and would like to support us, please leave us a rating and a review after you listen. I’m Casey Menchu and I look forward to talking
40:08 with you next week.
