Max Krakow

@sailak10 Untapped. Already have most of this in motion at lended

@MaxKrakow_ This is for landed or untappedhomes?

Outreach additions this week on Untapped homes side: Bought 2 new LinkedIn profiles (akountify) launched a few campaigns (gojiberry). Low scale rn Bought 500 email accounts (inboxedUp) launched a few campaigns (PlusVibe ; suggest email bison tho). Around 10k emails/day Buying 50-100 prewarmed email accounts to get started asap. (Zapmail) Hired a caller (referred by current caller cause I’m goated boss) upgraded auto dialer to add seat (ReadyMode) Plan to scale these 3 channels heavily. Will implement ads in a month or so. Goal is 100+ demos a month consistently after first month. Scale from there. These should be able to do it main focus is ensuring that all the channels are able to stay alive and not start going to spam in 3 months.

the biggest lie in entrepreneurship is that you need to start from scratch. there are thousands of profitable businesses for sale right now with loyal customers, trained employees, and proven systems. you just need to know how to find them and finance them.

@mikebolen this is literally how roll-ups work in every service industry. the guy with 7 locations has systems, capital access, and leverage on suppliers that the first-time buyer can't touch. seen it play out the same way in home services dozens of times

Naturally this will end up selling to the guy who pulled up in the Bentley and owns 7 other pizza places. He’ll end up hiring the poor guys who passed, all because they didn’t have

W2 employees almost NEVER buy a business, 1 out of 100. Salary range makes zero difference Just walked two late 20s chain GMs through a tiny pizza shop I’m selling right now. One has been a pizza for 6 years, the other chicken for 8. Both hate corporate. One had $300k cash, the other $500k+ Simple changes = easy $250k+/yr. Neither pulled the trigger. One admitted he didn’t have the balls. The other ghosted after too many silly questions Men used to go off to war Now they can’t even take a no brainer leap to save their souls

@GeorgeKanakis the retention risk is the one buyers underestimate the most. seen deals where 40% of the customer base was a personal relationship with the owner. if you don't have a transition plan for those relationships before close, you're buying a business that's already shrinking.

Buying a business isn't just signing papers and changing the name. You might lose staff, contracts, customers, suppliers. The real work starts after closing. That's why a structured approach and expert guidance make all the difference. Ready to buy smart? Link below.

@Sam_Rosati @guessworkinvest the accounting side is so underrated in acquisitions. we see buyers treat their accountant like a tax preparer when they should be treating them like a strategic partner from LOI through close. the ones who get that right save themselves months and sometimes the whole deal.

New episode of TIO is live! @guessworkinvest sat down with Michael Young to talk about building a people-first accounting firm after a long search journey, and what small business owners should actually expect from their financial support. Worth a listen if you own or operate an SMB.

@BuySellSMB the 4x ask is always how you know they haven't screened a single deal yet

When a 2nd year MBA asks if you know of any recession resistant services businesses looking to exit at 4x EBITDA

spent the past few weeks building a new system within Lended to track and manage all potential clients way more efficiently. before: I was the touch point for everything. initial call, prequal follow-up, deal collection, packaging, submission, closing. all on me. now: everyone I talk to gets tracked and managed. someone who asked for more info on a cold call. someone we’re waiting on files from. someone mid-prequalification. everyone has their own follow-up path that actually gets followed. I move contacts across Attio. backend automations handle the sequencing. Ben manages the queue and collects the documents. I only get involved once a full package is ready. nobody gets missed. I can provide a perfect process to every client because I’m focused on the ones with the most pressing needs — active deals — while everyone earlier in the process gets the same experience running in the background.

@josh_tonnesen Ya 100%

@MaxKrakow_ Point #2 is huge! We've seen deals collapse when seller financials don't tell a clean story during SBA underwriting. The banks want to see normalized EBITDA and clear working capital trends, which often requires professional adjustment when add-backs aren't well documented.

What actually kills most SBA deals (from seeing hundreds at Lended): 1. Buyer doesn't have a clear source of the 10% injection 2. Seller has messy financials that can't survive underwriting 3. Deal is priced way above what the cash flow supports 4. Buyer waits too long and loses the deal to someone faster Most of these are fixable if you catch them early.

@aymanalabdul people forget what $17k actually buys you. fraud protection, chargebacks, PCI compliance, uptime. try handling all that yourself for less. you can't.

Host payments yourself and you’ll see why $17k is a steal Focus on growing by $1.4k MRR vs cutting critical expenses

@romanbuildsaas "impressive results though" is the most YC way to fire someone lol

@Lawyer4Deals This is the parenting cheat code nobody talks about. Tired kids = peaceful evenings.

I don’t know much, but I know that my children sleep a whole lot better when they limp inside for bed covered in dirt, smelling like worms, clothes tattered, having spent 10+ hours outside.

@paulg The real tell is when every sentence is exactly the right length and the word choices are suspiciously varied. Real people repeat themselves and write messy. Perfection is the new uncanny valley.

Sadly, one way I now recognize fake AI-generated replies is that AIs write punchier sentences than most ordinary humans.

@Schornack Curious how SBA lending volume specifically trended for you in Q1. We've been seeing more buyer demand on the acquisition side but hearing mixed things from lenders on appetite.

Q1 in the books. Outside of AOCI swing lower, performance on trajectory and asset quality managed. Loan demand steady. Good quarter. Will be interested to see how the broader market performed.

All same industry? I’ve had to go to credit managers regarding this rule to explain it to them, as most loan officers don’t even know this, but the limit is per code, not borrower. Ie, as long as the businesses don’t start with the same 3 letters for the naics code should be able to max out another 5mil. Happy to discuss this more

@MaxKrakow_ I have 3- 7a loans right now. The issue is I have about $6MM in deals under contract so I'm going to blow past the $5MM limit.

I had a big master plan that involved getting an SBIC loan but today I was told multiple times that SBICs require equity injections even if the deal pencils nicely... so I will need an equity investor and dilute myself for no obvious reason... does this sound right to anyone?

@SBA_Matthias @PIONEERCAPADV 40 years of operating history on an HVAC company is a dream deal for SBA. The Express LOC on top is a smart move for working capital on the seasonal swings. Congrats to the team.

My team is excited to announce another successful closing for @PIONEERCAPADV Thanks Keith Warren of Northwest Bank and your team for helping this client get across the finish line from the lending side. 40 years of operating history on the West Coast. A residential and light commercial HVAC business that has been a cornerstone of its community for generations — now in the hands of a new owner ready to carry that legacy forward. What makes a deal like this work? The right structure and the right lender. $4,747,000 SBA 7(a) Term Loan plus a $250,000 SBA Express Line of Credit. Stock purchase with a refinance of existing SBA debt baked in. Not a simple close, and we wouldn't have gotten there without a lending partner who knew how to execute.

@BillDA This is why acquisition multiples for businesses with locked-in distribution channels are 2-3x higher than comparable revenue with no moat. The product is almost secondary. Buyers are paying for the customer access.

People vastly underestimate the power of distribution It's why strategic acquirers always pay the most - they can have your product in 10,000 retail doors overnight It's also the reason to beware of sleeping giants. Slack was obviously the better product, but it didn't matter.

@Jb2Investments The gap between "idea person" and "builder" basically disappeared this year. Wild time to be creative and resourceful.

Man it’s been insane what I can build with my bot. I’m a creative person and this just gets my wheels turning in ways I never thought possible for a non technical person.

@SMB_Attorney @writeclimbrun Same in acquisitions. A buyer who reschedules diligence twice is almost never closing. Momentum is everything in deal flow.

@writeclimbrun Unless it’s a client, they typically fall off forever. Rescheduling months later is so impractical/silly that most of the time it just doesn’t happen.

if someone cancels on me, valid or invalid reasons, it might take another month for them to get back on my calendar. and I try never to cancel on my end. that's fair right? my schedule is so jam packed.