Opening Up to Franchises to Buy a Great Business

How Doug Johns overcame his reservations about being a franchisee to acquire a dream business with $1.8m EBITDA. 

Topics in Doug's interview:

• Buying a franchise vs. independent business
• Opening your mind to a franchise
• The many (overlooked) benefits to being a franchisee
• Calling yourself "independent investor" instead of "searcher"
• Running a search like a B2B sales process
• The appeal of a deal with few addbacks
• Why home service businesses are so appealing as acquisitions
• Loving, rather than running from, managing people
• Why the top home service businesses have more sophisticated funnels than the Fortune 500
• ServiceTitan
• Where the opportunity is when the business you buy is already well-run and mature
• Owning a plumbing company without knowing anything about plumbing
• The numbers of Doug's deal
• The exact multiple is way less important than you think
• Using ROBS to buy the business
• Why high growth can make a business harder to finance
• Understanding debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) thresholds
• Doug's tip for choosing an SBA lender
• The $500k value of Doug's appeal to the seller
• Going to meet a seller face to face

Reach Doug at:

• doug DOT johns AT couffley DOT com
• LinkedIn

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter