Samson Jagoras 🇺🇸

Trump's advisor just flipped the investment playbook. His economic team is prioritizing Main Street over Wall Street... And they now control the ONE policy lever Silicon Valley desperately fears. Here's how Scott Bessent's vision is creating unprecedented opportunities for small business owners: 🧵

Read the Full Story: clearlyacquired.com/blog/capital-o…

Capital One is acquiring Brex for $5.2B Payments are becoming the front door to business banking. Own the card → own the spend data → own the relationship. By combining Brex’s corporate cards and spend controls with Capital One’s balance sheet and scale, this deal signals a shift toward owning the full business payments stack rather than just lending capital. The banks that win SMBs over the next decade won’t just lend money; they’ll run the operating rails of the business.

Read the Full Guide Here: clearlyacquired.com/blog/what-is-a…

Most HVAC + plumbing owners don’t lose money on the P&L They lose it in the multiple, when they decided to exit. A multiple is just a shortcut buyers use to price your business: Value = Earnings × Multiple So if you produce $300,000 in earnings and the market pays 3x, you’re worth $900,000. Here’s what matters: Which earnings number are you being valued on? > Under ~$3M revenue: usually SDE (seller’s discretionary earnings) at ~2x–4x > Over ~$3M revenue: usually EBITDA at ~3x–8x+ Buyers pay more when the business feels predictable and transferable: ~ Recurring revenue (maintenance plans/service agreements) ~ Low owner dependency (team runs the day-to-day) ~ Strong margins (not just top-line) ~ Clean financials (clear add-backs, consistent books) 2025 snapshot: HVAC averaged about 2.75x SDE, plumbing about 2.47x. If you want a higher exit number, don’t just “grow revenue.” Build a business that looks less like a job… and more like an asset.

Read the Full Article here: clearlyacquired.com/blog/5-signs-y…

Thinking about selling your landscaping company? High-value exits don’t happen by accident. They’re built 18–24 months before you ever go to market. Here are 5 signs your landscaping business is ready for a premium exit: Clean financials: Audited books, 12–20% EBITDA margins, and at least 40% recurring revenue reduce buyer risk. Operational independence: Documented systems and a trained team show the business can run without the owner. Stable, contracted customers: Recurring maintenance contracts and a diversified client base support higher multiples. Legal and labor compliance: Up-to-date licenses, insurance, and organized documentation prevent deal friction. Right timing: Strong performance combined with favorable market conditions drives valuation. Most owners focus on selling too late. The best exits happen when buyers are underwriting the future, not fixing the past. → If a sale is on your horizon, now is the time to start preparing. #LandscapingBusiness #BusinessExit #MergersAndAcquisitions #BusinessOwners #HomeServices #SellYourBusiness #MainStreetMandA

Read the Full Article Here: clearlyacquired.com/blog/energy-st…

📜 Policy tailwinds still matter The Inflation Reduction Act continues to anchor underwriting But execution > incentives in today’s valuations The takeaway is that energy storage has entered its era of infrastructure. Buyers are paying for: ✔️ Deliverability ✔️ Grid relevance ✔️ Predictable cash flow Speculation is out. Quality, patience, and operational certainty are in. If you’re building, selling, or investing in this space, 2026 rewards realism, not promises.

Energy storage is no longer a speculative land grab. In 2026, M&A is shifting hard toward late-stage, revenue-ready assets and away from “PowerPoint pipelines.” Here’s what’s actually driving deals right now: ~🔌 Demand shock is real ~ AI + data centers require 24/7, reliable power ~ Storage is now infrastructure, not an add-on

If you operate in Alabama, Florida, or Georgia and were impacted by recent drought conditions, this matters. The U.S. Small Business Administration has opened low-interest Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for businesses and nonprofits affected by drought beginning November 25, 2025. Who’s eligible: > Small businesses >Private nonprofit organizations >Agricultural cooperatives & nurseries ❌ (Most farmers & ranchers excluded unless aquaculture-related) Covered areas include: - Multiple counties across southern Alabama - Parts of Florida’s Panhandle - Select counties in southwest Georgia What the loans can be used for: ~ Payroll ~ Rent & fixed debt ~ Accounts payable General working capital: 👉 No physical damage required As the SBA put it, this is about helping communities stay solvent and stabilize operations after economic disruption — not rebuilding buildings. 💡 Why this matters: Many operators don’t realize drought qualifies as an economic disaster under SBA rules. If revenue slowed, expenses stacked up, or cash flow tightened — this is exactly what EIDL was designed for. If you’re in one of the impacted counties, this is worth a serious look. Programs like this don’t stay open forever, and they’re often underutilized by Main Street businesses that could benefit the most.

Most people think UPS won because it got faster. That’s not what built a $90B business. What they had was discipline. They expanded city by city, decade by decade, obsessing over reliability and trust long before “logistics” was even an industry. Those slow decisions became systems. And those systems compounded for over a century. The lesson for operators is simple but uncomfortable: You don’t earn the right to scale until you earn the right to be predictable. Speed amplifies chaos. Systems compound certainty. Most people never see this part. 👇 If you’re building, buying, or operating a business — this matters more than you think. Follow for More

When a broker says, “We’ll figure working capital out later. Just submit the LOI.” That’s usually code for: We haven’t done the work yet. Working capital isn’t a footnote. It’s often the lynch pin of the deal. If you don’t understand cash needs at close, seasonality, WIP, AR timing, and payroll float before an LOI, you’re guessing. And deals built on guesses don’t survive underwriting. Therefore, they won't survive the call you make to the broker to retrade on price. Be prepared for it to die later, after everyone’s burned through time, legal fees, and goodwill.

When a seller says, “We’ve never needed marketing,” What they usually mean is: We’ve never tracked it, we’ve never systematized it, and we’ve never tested what happens when referrals slow down. More often than not, the “marketing” is really just the relationships the owner has built over 10–20 years. That can work. Until it doesn’t. Proceed with caution. If the demand is tied to the seller, it leaves with the seller.

@trentjhughes LinkedIn is Superior. Twitter is where the loudest idiots run their mouth again.

Didn't think I'd be saying this but lately LinkedIn is way better than X I was bullish on x, but idk anymore Over there I'm now at 12,000 followers and making real connections with entrepreneurs Way better algo too What are you guys seeing?

Sellers saying “the buyer can just hire a manager” but never priced one into the P&L. Cool. So we’re buying imaginary margins now?

This is a healthier market. But it means sellers have a choice: Accept the new reality, or do the work to build a business that actually deserves a premium. If you want more grounded insights on economics, buying, building, financing, and selling real businesses, follow me here.

The businesses that are still trading well, whether SaaS or services, or trades, all did the same things: – Cut costs – Cleaned up operations – Reduced founder dependency – Built real reporting – Focused on durable cash flow We’re not going back to peak-2021 multiples. And we don’t need to.

2021 was an outlier. Capital was basically free. Growth covered up a lot of sins. You could burn cash, overhire, and still get a wild multiple because money had nowhere else to go. Then 2022 hit. Rates moved. The market sobered up fast. A lot of companies got exposed. What survived wasn’t hype. It was discipline. The companies still trading well today cut costs, rebuilt margins, fixed churn, and learned to run lean. AI didn’t save them. It helped them operate better.