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BUYING A BUSINESS
The 1.5x to 50x Play: Buy a Boring Business And Make It a Monster Exit
From buying at 1.5x EBITDA to scaling and exiting for way more than just a 10x return.
You usually hear about startup exits on the news and various business-focused outlets, but what about average, normal, “boring” businesses that exit to Private Equity? I never hear about those… and I’m sure you usually don’t either. You almost only hear about startup exits. Because that’s what gets attention. So-and-so started a sexy AI business and sold it to Microsoft for $1.3B. That’s sexy. It gets attention. And I used to think that was the only exits happening in business…
Nope. Not even close.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of boring businesses that get sold to PE (Private Equity) all the time — And they don’t make the headlines.
Which brings me to this article.
What is the play when it comes to buying a boring, cash-flowing business, scaling it, and then exiting for a much higher multiple than you originally acquired it for? And what the heck is a Search Fund?
Let’s get into it.
