Adam Markley

1.9K posts

Adam Markley banner
Adam Markley

Adam Markley

@AdamMarkleySMB

Self-Funded Search Investor | SMB Acquisition Entrepreneur (8x Active Holdings) | Actively creating community through the Denver and Baltimore ETA meetups

Denver, CO Katılım Ocak 2012
444 Takip Edilen1.7K Takipçiler
Sabitlenmiş Tweet
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
My standing offer to all searchers… I will happily review your deals for you and help you conceptualize your structure, highlight risks, areas to dig into, etc. I spoke last week at the @VeteranETA virtual meetup and met Rob there. An email, review, and 40-minute call later the deal looked substantially different. Here’s to hoping it works out, but if not, you’re on the right path!
Rob Brooks@therobertbrooks

Exactly 1 month after finishing @SMBootcamp_ I have submitted my first LOI. Coming into this world of ETA my assumption was that I could learn things on my own, but given I am a full-time self-funded searcher, and wanted to accelerate things, I decided to give @Sam_Rosati and @ChandlerReedSMB a chance. I can say with 100% confidence there is no way I would even been at the table on this deal without the lessons and tools given from the boot camp but also the network of amazing partners and deal team members that came from it. Thank you @sbabmarks, @AdamMarkleySMB and John McLeod for diving in with me on the deal. I worked what feels like 50 different ways of structuring this to land on a final approach, due to mitigating customer concentration risk, and couldn't have gotten there without you. I can't see the future and whether or not the sellers will accept my terms, but at least I know if they do I will be in a good spot to protect the companies future. @JermanMichael - you're on deck if the sellers accept! In the meantime, on to the next!

English
14
2
75
15.1K
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
My standing offer to all searchers… I will happily review your deals for you and help you conceptualize your structure, highlight risks, areas to dig into, etc. I spoke last week at the @VeteranETA virtual meetup and met Rob there. An email, review, and 40-minute call later the deal looked substantially different. Here’s to hoping it works out, but if not, you’re on the right path!
Rob Brooks@therobertbrooks

Exactly 1 month after finishing @SMBootcamp_ I have submitted my first LOI. Coming into this world of ETA my assumption was that I could learn things on my own, but given I am a full-time self-funded searcher, and wanted to accelerate things, I decided to give @Sam_Rosati and @ChandlerReedSMB a chance. I can say with 100% confidence there is no way I would even been at the table on this deal without the lessons and tools given from the boot camp but also the network of amazing partners and deal team members that came from it. Thank you @sbabmarks, @AdamMarkleySMB and John McLeod for diving in with me on the deal. I worked what feels like 50 different ways of structuring this to land on a final approach, due to mitigating customer concentration risk, and couldn't have gotten there without you. I can't see the future and whether or not the sellers will accept my terms, but at least I know if they do I will be in a good spot to protect the companies future. @JermanMichael - you're on deck if the sellers accept! In the meantime, on to the next!

English
14
2
75
15.1K
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
@MikeBotkin_ @BoringBiz_ Ran into this exact same thing reviewing a deal for a searcher this month. Addback owners comp, normal, right? Except he stepped out halfway through the last year and gave raises to his leadership. “Oh, they’ll be fine giving up that comp.” Right. Aren’t we all.
English
0
0
0
30
Boring_Business
Boring_Business@BoringBiz_·
Just saw a CIM where the company added back high fuel costs for 2026 in their adjusted EBITDA Still incredible to me that companies can just make up whatever number they want when it comes to profitability If you are not prudent about it, you will overpay for businesses
English
34
15
515
64K
Kaustubh Deo - Guesswork Investing
Kaustubh Deo - Guesswork Investing@guessworkinvest·
I think folks are missing part of what I meant here (which is fair — Jacob articulated it much more clearly in his full hourlong talk at SMBash). Basically — even IF you managed to buy a quality business at a reasonable multiple (which is harder than ever), if you structure it the way searchers did in 2021, your odds of success are far lower. Max leverage in this rate environment just doesn’t work the same. And post-close growth feels harder than ever to drive, especially as more of these businesses change hands and competitors start deploying the same strategies/tactics.
Kaustubh Deo - Guesswork Investing@guessworkinvest

Number one theme from SMBash 2026 for me: it is objectively harder to get deals done, and deal quality is going down. To paraphrase Jacob Hall: The self-funded search playbook of 2019-2021 no longer works.

English
2
0
21
9K
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
@OneManLBO Yes, I think they didn’t have the perspective to separate the marketing from the reality of how unserious that funnel math really is. We own a proprietary firm… self-funded to family office clients. None of their funnels look anything like this nonsense.
English
1
0
2
125
One Man LBO
One Man LBO@OneManLBO·
@AdamMarkleySMB So just to make sure I understand (since I wasn’t in the room): are you saying the attendee misunderstood what the numbers actually mean? Or that it’s exaggerated marketing? Those numbers are non-sensical to me, so not sure what’s going on
English
1
0
2
308
One Man LBO
One Man LBO@OneManLBO·
Apparently the below was a deal funnel shared by a presenter at SMBash this week (Wasn’t there, but someone posted this on Searchfunder) She may as well have saved herself a a bunch of work and given the audience the punchline: “If you’re doing a geo search, you’re DOOMED. GOOD LUCK scanning 28,000 businesses to find the perfect one in Omaha, Nebraska!” I mean, come on… BizBuySell has something like 40,000 listings at any given time. We know this stuff is hard, but it can’t be that hard, right
One Man LBO tweet media
English
16
1
22
28.1K
Blueprintsmb
Blueprintsmb@blueprintsmb22·
Got my first statement on my Schwab pledged asset line that I used to payoff my entire 7a SBA loan last month. Less than $7k to be paid 5/15. Had I kept my 7a, I would have paid $26k 4/5 and another $26k on 5/5. I have been using the excess cash flow to upgrade manufacturing equipment. I also jokingly floated to another SMB owner w preferred investors that I would buy them out to earn a double digit yield and 19 pct equity while allowing the SMB owner to start taking distributions immediately (right now he can’t until the entire preferred is paid off). This would take my effective interest expense on my PAL to zero. He laughed and said he would think about it (I don’t see why his preferred investors would want to do this tbh).
GIF
English
4
0
32
9.2K
Adam Markley retweetledi
SMBash
SMBash@SMB_ash·
Before we start posting live updates (starting Wednesday), here is the rest of our lineup! Quite a few will be on the SMBash stage for the first time. As the word gets out about ETA and SMB ownership, folks that have been in this space for years step up to share their industry knowledge. So, who haven't we mentioned yet? Let's get to it! Jacob Hall will be our keynote speaker Friday morning! Don't sleep in! Following that we have a packed schedule, ending at 2:30 so attendees can make their way home for a restful weekend. Don't forget to look over your notes and reflect on everything you learned! Thanks to all of our amazing panelists, we can't wait to learn from you! @justinroffmarsh , Joseph Cabrera, @SuccessWithJake , @JermanMichael , Danny Payne, @chasemurdock , @SMB_Attorney , and @AdamMarkleySMB . More generous sponsors to mention too - more companies that believe in the power of sharing knowledge freely, @Hollywellteam , @smblawgroup , and Elite Video!
English
0
4
4
617
Adam Markley retweetledi
Thejeremyhans
Thejeremyhans@Thejeremymhans·
A Great FT Worth Aquire Meetup hosted by @JaredJohnsonSBA. Jacob Hall and @AdamMarkleySMB didn’t hold back on the risks and downsides of ETA. After being around search for 18+ months it’s interesting to see how much more the downside is discussed in open than my first events in 2024. I’m personally super appreciative of a little cold water on the topic.
Thejeremyhans tweet media
English
1
1
4
252
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
@diligentsAI Lots of folks, bankers, the broker, and others looked at this deal. Took me 10-minutes to find something they hadn’t.
English
1
0
1
36
diligents
diligents@diligentsAI·
@AdamMarkleySMB Or the broker who won't push back because they need the listing. Sometimes the searcher's own advisors are the last to level with them.
English
1
0
1
35
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
Nothing says doing a searcher a service than telling them their deal is overvalued by 400%. Happy Tuesday, all.
English
2
0
7
562
TK
TK@sourcesandmuses·
I’ve been under LOI for a month but have been at an impasse. Had dinner last night with the seller and it was clear none of the back and forth was truly over deal economics. Truly humbling to see the seller brought to tears on facing the reality of handing off his life’s work, and his father before him. We obsess over multiples, addbacks, capital structure, but none of that really matters to the guy across the table. To see that raw emotion, really put things into perspective. A dinner I’ll never forget. Glad to get up from that table with a path forward because this is a great business with even better people
English
8
1
59
9K
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
@KHendersonCo My guy. Your beard was built to be a fu manchu. Keep dropping the knowledge bombs.
English
0
0
1
36
Kevin Henderson
Kevin Henderson@KHendersonCo·
I don’t know who this guy having a bad hair day in this video is, but damn, he’s dropping some killer advice that every buyer and seller should be aware of when doing deals! 🔥
Ryan Ray 🦏@ryanraysr

Can any attorny help you sell your company? Maybe. But you need really need a M&A attorney. @KHendersonCo explains why The exit ready cohort starts 2/10. Learn how exactly what you need to do to get hundreds of thousands, if not millions more, when you exit. rgahub.short.gy/ExitReady

English
1
0
6
1.4K
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
@LisaGForrest As I always say… “DSCR is what buys you the company, but working capital is what allows you to survive.” In these days of stretching on deals, the latter tends to get forgotten.
English
1
0
3
55
Lisa Forrest
Lisa Forrest@LisaGForrest·
Growth isn’t free. And it sure as hell doesn’t just happen. You need excess liquidity. Not your operating cash. New machine? New sales hires? Expect ramp-up time. Integration. Training. Downtime. Delays. If you’re using payroll, rent, or lender money to “fund growth”… Stop. That’s not strategy — that’s gambling. Talk to your CFO. Or a fractional one. Or your CPA. More debt won’t fix a liquidity crunch. Bank deferrals don’t save you — they sink you deeper. You’ll end up needing equity. So plan ahead. Stack cash first. Then grow. @sarah_m_andrews @Slackwatercap @AdamMarkleySMB @systemsixbooks @patrickdichter @SMB_Attorney @SMB_ash @SBA_Matthias @MikeBotkin_ @CTW_SMB @profithuntercfo
English
4
1
15
2.1K
Adam Markley
Adam Markley@AdamMarkleySMB·
@alexmcaulay @TreewalkQOE We loved having them in Colorado, as a partner of the RMETA conference, sharing their work and experience on QOEs.
English
0
0
2
54

Keşfet

@T7inga @VeteranETA @MikeBotkin_ @BoringBiz_ @guessworkinvest @OneManLBO @blueprintsmb22 @justinroffmarsh