Chad Fondriest

Thanks @whentheresawill for having me on to share my story! acquiringminds.co/articles/chad-…

🙋🏼‍♂️ this topic is easy to talk about and incredibly difficult to execute. A LOT of things have to fall into place. Right target, right price, right team, right time - those are just the price of admission. Then the real work begins, and it doesn’t stop. The further you go, the harder it gets. It’s not for the faint of heart. If you think signing a PG is hard, take pause, as the consequences of failure here are infinitely worse. There’s a reason Bankers are conservative.

@SBA_Matthias There was someone at SMBash who had. Trying to remember their name. His colleague kept making fun of my name badge being all lower case, I think her name was Blessing.

It would be cool to buy a bank with folks from Twitter Has anyone on here ever bought one? I could direct about $100 million + in SBA loan volume to a bank which would translate to over 7 figures of net income

@ChandlerReedSMB 7 or 8am. Get the day started right

Gym-goers, I’ve been experimenting with lift schedule/timing all of 2024 I’ve settled on 11am or 4pm weekdays, 9am weekends Am I wrong? When’s your ideal time to lift?

@JohnJBlatchford I’m a fan of local community banks for real estate construction deals. I’d recommend First Commonwealth, First Merchants, or Riverside. DM me if you want lender contacts at each.

Any Ohio lenders follow me? Would love to talk about some upcoming projects!

@ChandlerReedSMB What it actually means is the Bank deems you to be a good credit risk. A deal being “good” is a subjective measure. All depends on perspective. Good for whom is what one should be asking.

Hot take: Just because your deal is approved by an SBA lender doesn't mean it's a good one

How many times can you say the keynote speaker at a conference was actually worth it? Let alone life changing. This guy crushed it. @SMB_ash @mhp_guy

Blessing and I in between sessions @SMB_ash

Closed out the pipeline in March and working to fill it back up again.

@ClintFiore @SBA_Matthias 🙋

Who is going to be at SMBash in Salt Lake City next week? Want to make sure I see you!

I’ve personally experienced this with the passing of my Mother last month. Everything in Sean’s post is 100% accurate. Everyone goes through it, no one talks about it. I had a LOT of people show up for me. I wasn’t expecting any of it, and I’ll never forget. I’ll be sure to pass it on and show up for others.

New loan approval today for buyers to acquire a competing funeral home 17 miles away from their current location. $2.2M loan which includes working capital of $100k as well closing costs and SBA gty fee. This was a no money down business expansion transaction.

I always show up, buy something, and check the place out. My business is in retail so it’s easy to fly under the radar. I do it in the Banking biz as well, these days, only if it’s local, although, very shortly after we bought the bank we did hop on a plane and go check out a biz in Tulsa. Years ago while at Big Bank if we had a large deal in an industry that we didn’t know a lot about, I would buy their product if it was appropriate to do so. I got miles and miles of goodwill out of the bank executives for buying a water softener and reverse osmosis filtration system from a prospective seller. That purchase paid real dividends. Original prospect was the son of the founder, they were a manufacturer and had licensed dealers all over the USA. We ended up doing dozens of deals for the distributors. To this day, if I see one of the old bosses at an event, they still bring it up.

If you're trying to buy a local business, should you: 1. Call the store/shop/office? 2. Stop by to meet the CEO unannounced? I have strong opinions, but what do you think?

Looked at a new deal yesterday. Roughly $4M management buyout of a home services biz. The numbers work, but one thing is sticking with me. Seller put a deferred comp plan in place a few years ago for a key employee. That liability currently is about $250K. Buyer is to take on said liability. My gut says the deferred comp that has accrued should be a credit to the purchase price. As a lender, should I care? Buyer seems fine with taking it on, and wants that employee to stick around. Am I overthinking this?

@Mikethelummox Every order gets a handwritten thank you note, will have to step it up for this one.

@SBAChadF So they just found you and bought it? THAT is crazy. I wouldn’t even know how to leverage that for future business. Guess they’ll come back to you when they are ready. Also crazy how many applications of your products exist

I look at a few Darby orders every morning just to see what people are buying. Turns out yesterday we sold a tropical arrangement to Disney.🌴🤯❤️

@peterfloresSMB Not crazy, nor improper, but I would be transparent with both sellers, and I would have a plan on how to split my time should I wind up owning both.

Has any Searcher tried to run two deals (SBA biz acquisition) at once? Am I insane for considering it? I have two deals under LOI, which I like for different reasons. I would be happy with either or both. I am OK paying for extra diligence cost to keep optionality open as long as possible. is this crazy? Improper?

Been a busy past few weeks for us at United Midwest.

@SAOliver_Atty The answer I was given to this question many years ago was that somewhere in the regulations a lender must be an officer of the corporation. I think it falls to an institution’s tradition as to where the title falls on the org chart.

When I first started practicing law, I thought it was odd that virtually EVERYONE in banking was a “Vice President.” I still think it’s odd.

@mhp_guy This is basically indoor trampoline park for adults. I bet the metrics are similar too with regard to margins, labor, etc. Not a bad biz. Take the lessons learned from trampoline, apply them here, and you’ve got something. Keep it for 3-4 years and sell at a large profit.

THE ECONOMICS OF A SMALL TOWN PICKLEBALL CLUB: I just played here & did some digging. City: Logan, UT - Pop: 54,436 Club: 24k sqft & 9 courts (Old Bed Bath & Beyond) Cost: $99 - $225/month # of members: 2,000 Rent per square foot: $17/year = $34,000/month Annual profit: This is where it gets tricky. I had to guesstimate # of members. I asked the person working there and she was ho hum. Apparently she doesn't want some rando encouraging would be competitors on Twitter? Rude. I asked if she had a thousand? "Oh, way more." So I guessed at 2,000. The population in the whole valley is 133,000 so less than 2% of them being members isn't unreasonable. My cousin is a member and said it's ALWAYS PACKED. It sure was today at noon. It's open 108 hours per week and every court there had doubles playing. 100% capacity and 100% doubles * 9 courts * twice per week per person = 2,500 members. But it surely isn't at 100% capacity. 80% capacity would be about 2,000 members. Plus ancillary revenue from events, equipment sales, etc. If the average membership is $150/month then that's $300k/month in top line. That seems high, so let's say $200k/month. That's just a $2.4m/year business. Not crazy for a space so big. Maybe 1,500 members is more accurate. Rent + CAM charges + utilities are prob $45k/month all in. There were only 3 people working, while packed. If that is the case all day every day then monthly wages are likely $40-50k/month as well. Being conservative here. I bet this location nets about $1.2m/year, and growing. Great margins. Very bare bones building. Almost no build out whatsoever. Not bad money for a small town like Logan. (home to Crumbl's first location, and my birthplace) It was pretty janky, too. Mom and pop vibe. It still looked like a bed bath and beyond (old slat shelving still there). I expected more from a reputable nationwide franchise. If I were going to do this I wouldn't buy into a franchise. What's the point? People come here to play indoors, not for the brand. It isn't rocket science. I'd find a city of 100k+ that doesn't have a club and open my own brand. Marketing is kinda built-in as people need partners to play with. Free referrals! What do you think about my assumptions? Way off? Pickleball is here to stay. Follow me @mhp_guy if you nerd out about small biz like I do.

@ConnorAbene Be present. Enjoy every single moment. The tough ones are those that you will remember most.