Dave

@pinpulleddrmf Let's chat @dmbkparker. Christian, shoot him my info

Dan deployed 15 times. Now he is moving to Park City with his family. If you are hiring in the next 6 months and wants a dude that figure out just about anything, with limited resources and high risk- he’s your guy.

@housleyd Ha! Not actually related. Funny enough, though my wife gets mistaken for his wife (same name) frequently as they are in our stake. They also have twin daughters as do we.

Big news for your brother @Dave__Gilbert !!! Congrats!!

@philly_smb West Coast

@Dave__Gilbert Location?

Who are my turnaround PE Pros? Acquisition Opportunity (Turn Around) Equipment Leasing Turnaround Platform Revenue: ~$10M+ Historical EBITDA: $5M+ range (pre-current situation)

@Slackwatercap Well said Ben. I agree

Yesterday I announced to our investors that Slack Water Capital and our affiliates will no longer be allocating to new self-funded search opportunities. This decision is based on my belief that the environment for self-funded searchers, and self-funded search investors particularly, has deteriorated significantly since I first came up with the idea to launch a fund 3 years ago. While I still have a deep respect and admiration for the self-funded search model, having been a successful self-funded searcher myself, I believe the opportunity set today is no longer as attractive as it was even just 18-24 months ago for the self-funded search investor. When I first started investing in this space, the opportunity set was very different. High-quality businesses with recurring revenue, low customer concentration, and $1 to $2 million of EBITDA could routinely be purchased for 3-5x. Competition for these deals was relatively limited. They were too big for the average buyer but too small for most private equity. Today, there are far more buyers chasing these same types of SMBs. Private equity firms and their portfolio companies have come down market; family offices have proliferated and are looking for uncorrelated long-term holds with strong cash flow yields; and there is an exponentially growing number of aspiring ETA entrepreneurs looking to get in on the perceived gold rush. The results are predictable. Valuation multiples for quality businesses with $1 to $2 million of EBITDA have expanded materially. Deals that once traded at 3 to 5x, now routinely sell for 6 to 8x...and sometimes even higher! The 70-80% SBA loan, 10-20% seller financing, and 10-20% equity self-funded search model of the past simply doesn't work at these valuation levels. Thus, the self-funded searchers, on average, are left picking through the scraps left behind by other more experienced and better capitalized buyers. These scraps are typically the lower quality businesses with high customer concentration, greater economic sensitivity, more project-based revenues, greater key-person risk, and/or more operational complexity. And valuations for these businesses have moved up as well. These are primary types of businesses that are trading for 3-5x today. I do think there are still some opportunities in the sub $1 million EBITDA range for self-funded searchers. However, it is really hard to deploy a meaningful amount of capital into these smaller deals due to a small total equity check and the SBA's 20% ownership threshold. While these can be good opportunities for searchers and individual investors, they don't really move the needle for a fund. The typical self-funded searcher profile has also changed. The self-funded search model has been heavily marketed and romanticized on social media and podcasts. As a result, it now attracts a much wider pool of people than it did in the past. Many of the new crowd are not as well equipped to perform what is essentially a leveraged buyout of an incredibly fragile small business. Many of these new buyers underestimate how hard it is to successfully operate a small business while also servicing a significant amount of debt. They underestimate just how savvy the current business owner is, how hard they work, and how many roles they fill on a daily basis. Many searchers think they are buying passive income and can operate from behind a spreadsheet. Nothing could be further from the truth. Finally, when I started building Slack Water, there were only small handful of funds or larger investor groups focused on investing in self-funded deals. At the time, I felt like I was filling a real gap in the market. However, I no longer believe that to be the case. There are now dozens of funds and investor groups targeting the space. There was a period of time in 2025 where it seemed like there was a new fund focused on self-funded searchers being launched every week. In my opinion, there are just not enough "large", high-quality, self-funded search deals for all these funds to deploy that much capital in this space unless everyone is going to write a lot of $50k-$100k equity checks. And how much due diligence can you perform, and impact can you have post-closing, across 100 portfolio companies? This flood of new capital, and shortage of quality deals of size, is naturally causing these funds to compete for what limited deal flow there is. This competition is naturally pushing investor terms in an unfavorable direction. Less governance. Less downside protection. More aggressive structures. Higher entry multiples. Less equity participation. In my opinion, the combination of these 3 changing dynamics is not a great recipe for future returns for the space as a whole... Yes, there will still be exceptional operators who find those needles in the haystack, build great companies, invent innovative capital structures, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through self-funded search. I believe that strongly. However, in my opinion, returns for the "asset class" as whole over the next 3-5 years will likely not be what they were over the past 3-5 years. Rather than force capital into what I believe is a deteriorating environment, I believe the disciplined decision is to step aside. Personally, I've also discovered that I actually enjoy operating more than I enjoy being a passive investor. I enjoy the messy process and challenge of building something. The daily battles that inevitably popup. And, selfishly, having the final say on strategic direction. As a result, going forward Slack Water will focus on building our own platforms and explore new ETA models while remaining open to opportunistically investing across both private and public markets.

Friday, we had to let one of our managers go. He had been neglecting things for months, and we finally uncovered that he was the problem. Saturday morning, his wife emails me....Yep, his wife! She wrote how we better be a good reference and how terrible his boss is, and how his boss would ruin everything 🤯. We had loads of data internally and from clients that say otherwise. It was one of the strangest emails I've ever received. Who can top this...bring it.

@tahoetreeguy @theownerop Congrats Leo! Not a bad place to start a biz. Tahoe is one of our favorite places.

What up X SMB community. Gained a ton of insight & knowledge on all things business through X so thought I'd start chiming in and share my story! Started Sierra Crest Tree Service in South Lake Tahoe, CA summer of '23 w/ no savings and 15k+ CC debt: 🧵

💡Quick M&A tip: Before you close, check the resumés of the “leaders” you’re inheriting. Title ≠ qualified. We’ve been burned before—sellers sometimes sneak unqualified people into big roles right before close. Catch it early. Save yourself the headache

Yep. I told them if people knew who they were and that this happened, they’d go bankrupt. They then said they’d refund my recent month's payment. Took them 17 hours to go through their org chart and logs to find their error. They originally said they couldn’t change anything without authorization from the "Admin" 🤯

@Dave__Gilbert Crazy how some companies don’t realize how damaging these slip-ups are to trust.

Had a SaaS company today (one we were testing in marketing) accidentally swap me out for another person outside our org as the main admin for users, billing, etc., and then wondered why I was canceling. They thought it was no big deal 🙄

@Tx_smb I should show the screenshots from my conversation with customer support. I was baffled.

@Dave__Gilbert Man, that’s wild.

Had one of those moments this week where a big New York tech client came back after leaving 2-months ago to find a “cheaper option” when we told him we needed to raise his prices. Baulked at the higher price again this week but we stuck to our guns. Just signed the new contract, which includes closing and cleanup of the last 2-months 😆 Know your value, others will too. Also don’t overcomplicate things. I’m sure his VC is pissed that his books are now behind. For what? Trying to save a few bucks?

@SBA_Matthias Thanks Matthias

@Dave__Gilbert You built a ton of goodwill and trust with that interaction. Kudos Dave.

Had a call yesterday with a potential acquisition target. Got their financials, they went from $16M -> $13M ->$10M on track to $8M this year. After seeing their financials, I said "This is a turnaround, you don't want to sell now". Their main problem is their comp model, paying consultants way too much, and their drop in revenue was from 2 customers leaving. Never done any sales or marketing for 30 years, their contractors just bring in leads if they feel like it. So I said, "Look let us help you get this turned around. Bring in a fractional CFO and right size your comp model, bring in a marketer so you have steady leads, and bring in a fractional CRO to get your sales process built out correctly. Let's revisit in 2-3 years when your EBITDA is closer to $3M and you'll get a better multiple, in fact I'll be a buyer." Turned a lost opportunity into a sales opportunity and helped the seller get more value. Ended the call she said "Thank you so much Dave, you could have just said pass and went about your business but the advice you gave me is invaluable, let's do this." This is how relationships of trust are created and you stand out as a buyer.

@RoryRascal Make sure you’re following so I can send a dm

@Dave__Gilbert Interested.

Spent the last 2 years aggregating acquisition resources, it took FOREVER! I compiled all my resources into one FREE spreadsheet for you. Best Acquisition sites, lenders, investors, attorneys, due diligence providers, ETA events & more. Like & comment, DM me for access!

@Tx_smb Sent

@Dave__Gilbert I’d like to see.

@jnortonma John give me a call

I'm looking for a referral for a firm/agency that does smaller buyside searches. I'll handle the M&A but need someone to do the lead generation. Happy to pay the usual fees for services and provide a nice kicker on a closed deal.