Inspired Or Acquired (Clint Fiore, Patrick Dichter)

Alex Forbes has built Lane17 Custom Cabinetry to +$1.5M revenue. They have great sales momentum and are really hitting their stride in ops to be able to keep scaling, but the business today might not be worth enough to temp Alex to sell. We discuss what size he might want to grow to, how hard this industry is vs other businesses, and the possibility of different ventures in the next few years.

Lane17 Cabinet Co website: https://lane17.com/ 
Alex Forbes on X: https://twitter.com/alexforbes__
Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Jordan Evans bought his parents small language services business and has grown it very quickly to $12M revenue. He discusses how they've growth through organic growth and additional acquisitions. And he has his sites set on $50M revenue before a possible exit.

Jordan Evans on X: https://twitter.com/JordanPEvans
The Language Network: https://www.languagenetworkusa.com/

Chris Edwards recently sold his flooring business in Steamboat, Colorado. He bought the business just 3.5 years prior then quickly grew revenue 50% and grew EBITDA 100%. He's an amazing example of what's possible in acquisition entrepreneurship. Our conversation dives into the hard lessons, growth levers, and his decision to sell. 

Chris Edwards on X: https://twitter.com/toph_edwards
Chris Edwards on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-edwards-44664052/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Shane Ehrsam bought North Texas Trailers just a few years ago. Since then he's grown revenue to $11.5M, improved the team and tech, and maintained healthy margins. We dig into what the business is worth today and if he would sell soon, capital allocation for inventory vs real estate vs new acquisitions, and and how he thinks about building the best business it can be so it's a sellable asset.

North Texas Trailers: https://www.northtexastrailers.com/
Shane Ehrsam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-ehrsam/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/
Walker Deibel & Acquisition Lab: https://acquisitionlab.com/

Cheryl Ham has built Hypnotic Yarn into a +$1M revenue business with 28% net profit margin and 80% of revenue on a subscription basis. She was an amazing story of trying to 'create a little side hustle' that has become a great business with a great mission to help customers unleash their creativity. We discuss what her business might be worth today and future plans for the company. 

Hypnotic Yarn Website: https://hypnoticyarn.com/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

In 2023 Ben Tiggelaar made the acquisition most people dream of - an IT services business that's recession resistant, with sticky clients, healthy margins, management team in place, and can be run remotely. He's steadily improved the business and made another acquisition already putting revenue over $8M. We discuss if he plans to sell, the IT services landscape, tuck in acquisition strategies, investing in other searchers, and why he's enjoying life more running DataTel. Previously Ben had a successful exit in a dental platform after his investment banking career.

Ben Tiggelaar on X: https://x.com/bentigg 
DataTel: https://datatelco.com/
SMB Junction: https://www.smbjunction.com/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Matt Cafrelli left a stable career in accounting to dive into the riskier world of acquisition entrepreneurship. He and his partner created a HoldCo to buy some service businesses. Their first acquisition was a window cleaning company in April 2023, followed quickly by a landscaping business in March 2024. We discuss the pros and cons of buying on the small side, future acquisitions, and their long term goals for the holding company.

Matt Cafrelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcafrelli/ 
Clint Fiore and Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter and Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Marc Hawk joins Inspired Or Acquired to share the journey of selling RevLocal to Hibu. Marc Hawk was the CEO of RevLocal for 14 years and is now part of the Hibu team as EVP. During that 14 year run, RevLocal became one one of the biggest digital marketing agencies for small businesses. Marc explains they didn't have to sell and the 3 reasons why you might sell a company after growing to +$50M revenue. We also cover the details of integration, the company synergies, and how he's feeling a few months post close.

Marc Hawk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marchawk/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

This is a special episode of Inspired Or Acquired to celebrate 10,000 downloads, reflect on learnings from prior episodes, share 2025 goals, and answer listener questions. The shows hosts, Clint Fiore and Patrick Dichter, also give some of their career backstory of how they ended up Mergers & Acquisitions (Clint) and Accounting (Patrick). 

Clint Fiore & Bison Business: bisonbusiness.com
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: appletreebusiness.com

On this episode of Inspired Or Acquired we have the Eversite founders. Joe Benson and Rob Benson have been in digital marketing for +15 years. They're created Eversite, which is a fast growing 'website as a service subscription' that has happy customers, recurring revenue and great margin. As they keep growing it becomes an ideal target for business buyers where Clint Fiore could see it being worth $20M in the future if they continue on this path.  

Visit eversite.com to check out their business model or follow Joe on X at https://twitter.com/joebensonx

'POV Husband' is a genuine, funny follow on TikTok and Instagram. Prior to becoming a content creator he worked in banking and bought a business to escape his 9-5. He ended up buying a fast casual restaurant in 2020. Then they quickly bought a 2nd and 3rd location with real estate. In 2022 they decided to sell 2 of the locations. We discuss how much they made on the sale, why restaurants sell for lower multiples, and what businesses he's debating next. 

POV Husband on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pov_husband
POV on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pov_husband/?hl=en
POV Husband YouTube video on restaurant profitability: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd4wrWpwHdI&t=28s
Clint Fiore, Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter, Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Alan Pentz has grown his government contracting business to $35M in revenue. It hans't been easy and he's stalled out at some previous stages. But he has his sights on a very big exit in a few years and knows what it'll take to get there.

Alan Pentz on X: https://twitter.com/apentz
Small Business Mentor newsletter: https://www.smallbusinessmentor.co/subscribe

Robert Mayer has built an amazing business with Arizona Party Bike. It's a unique tour company based in Arizona specializing in pedal-powered party bikes where guests can enjoy their favorite adult beverages on board. He's been a pioneer in the industry bringing the model to the US, manufacturing the bikes for other locations, franchising, and even getting involved in legislation related to party bikes having alcohol. Clint explains why his current business is worth a high multiple, Robert debates selling, and Robert reveals some big expansion plans. 

Robert Mayer on X: https://x.com/RobertMayer
Arizona Party Bike: https://www.arizonapartybike.com/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Josh Hall successfully sold a web design agency in 2020. Since then he's been creating podcasts, courses and community to help other web designers grow their business. Clint gives a valuation, and we look ahead at a 5 year forecast. We also discuss his pivot in the last year to a paid community model and the decision to create the Web Designer Pro brand.

Jesus started Longhill Contracting 7 years ago doing drywall and paint contracting for home builders and multifamily developers. They've grown organically very quickly due to Jesus' servant leadership, his great team doing great work, and housing growth in Colorado. In 2024 they're on pace for $23M revenue and $2.7M EBITDA. We discuss what his company is worth today and where he wants to take it in the next +5 years. 

Longhill Contracting: longhillcontracting.com
Jesus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesus-montelongo-18960163/
Clint Fiore and Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter and Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

What does a Stanford grad and former investment banking employee employee do when they start their own business? A deck construction company of course. Jameson Haslam has quickly built West Coast Deck to over $1.2M revenue within 2.5 years. He's dialed in content marketing and social media, and built some innovative online tools that he might license to other contractors. We discuss if he would sell today, new products he's launching, and how he's modeling his business after other $7-10M deck builders in other markets. Jameson is funny, scrappy and reflective. Enjoy!

Jameson Haslam on X: https://twitter.com/jamesonhaslam
West Coast Decks: https://www.westcoastdeck.com/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Craig Hausz has grown a fantastic accounting firm and wealth management firm, CMH Advisors, with his wife Michelle. They've recently landed on the Inc5000 list for all their growth the last few years; they've also successfully completed six firm acquisitions. This Inspired Or Acquired episode is a fun discussion of the differences in valuation for accounting firms vs wealth management firms. Plus we estimate the value of CMH Advisors and ask Craig when they might sell the firm.

Craig Hausz on X: https://twitter.com/CPATaxTeam
CMH Advisors: https://www.cpataxteam.com/
Clint Fiore: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Kriss Berg, aka Car Wash Guy on X, has two incredible businesses. His online supplement business drives 7 figures of profit per year, and his car wash businesses eliminate his taxes. Is it too good to sell?

Jeff Toren owns two franchise concepts in Philadelphia - 7 KitchenTuneUp locations and 2 iLoveKickBoxing locations. He's been the #1 franchisee for sales in KitchenTuneUp prior years and in the top performers for iLoveKickBoxing. But the last 2-3 years have been really hard going through massive growth, then not being profitable, and currently back to stable profits. Jeff admits he's debated selling with his wife and we discuss where he wants to be financially before he sells.

Jeff Toren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftoren/
Kitchen Tune Up PA website: https://www.kitchentuneup.com/main-line-pa/

Hayden Slack joined the family foundation repair business at $4M revenue and grew to $30M. He also launched a plumbing business from scratch that's grown to $4M revenue. We discuss what the plumbing business is worth and if he'd sell it; we also cover what it's like navigating family dynamics and the key growth levers in the foundation business.

Hayden Slack on X: https://x.com/Hayden__Slack
Clint Fiore and Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter and Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Mike Botkin is an incredible story of what's possible in the small to mid sized acquisitions space. He left a great job to buy a very small $780k revenue residential landscaping acquisition. Then he completed 6 more acquisitions and focused on commercial maintenance landscaping. They ended up becoming one of the top 100 biggest landscaping companies nationwide and exited - all within 2 years time. We dive into how stressful it was, how he made it happen, and his decision to sell. We also learn what he's up to now in his next venture.

Mike Botkin on X: https://twitter.com/MikeBotkin_
Canvas Outdoors: https://canvasoutdoors.com/
Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Mike Pedro and Danielle Pedro started MD Esthetics med spa in 2018. They've grown quickly to 13 locations and $2.5M EBITDA through acquisitions and brand new locations. They recently signed a Letter of Intent to join forces with a private equity group  - so we dive into how the deal happened, picking their PE partner, and their growth plans. This is a fascinating interview to hear from someone in the middle of an acquisition.

MD Esthetics: https://www.mdestheticsus.com/
Clint Fiore, Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter, Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Ian started InTech Scientific years ago and it's become a very profitable and well respected business. He services lab equipment in universities, hospitals and bioteach startups through New England. Now he's getting inquiries and offers from buyers, and he's wondering what his business is worth and what a sale could look like. We also discuss if he decided to staff up and scale to 2-3x the value in the next few years. 

InTech Scientific: https://www.intechscientificsolutions.com/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Dr. Bob Ledda has built an incredible fishing lodge in Alaska, All Alaska Outdoors. The world class fishing, bear viewing, and remote access has made them famous - as evidenced by a recent viral YouTube video from Wild Fly with +2.2M views. We discuss how the business continues to grow, what it could be worth, and if Dr Bob would sell soon.

The lodge: https://www.allalaska.com/
WildFly YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFf-csP-bro

Johannes Hock left private equity early in his career with the aim to build wealth faster through an exit after buying a business. In 2022 he bought DFW Turf and he's quickly grown the business from $5M to $20M revenue and +3 states through organic growth and additional acquisitions. He sees a path within a few years to $50M revenue and healthy EBITDA before an exit. We discuss whether he enjoys the investor or operator seat more, and what might tempt them to sell.

Johannes Hock on X: https://twitter.com/HockJohannes
Johannes Hock's blog: https://buysmallsellhigh.substack.com/
Clint Fiore, Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter, Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Sam Leslie, @samtleslie on X, bought a plumbing business in Boulder, CO a few years ago. He shares the roller coaster he's been on as operator wanting to sell, then creating the ideal business for him and his team. Plus Sam is a hilarious open book with the audience.

Ryan Bakke has built Tax Strategy 365 very quickly and his profit margins are 20-30% better than most similar tax firms. This also makes it difficult to place a value on and tough to tempt him to want to sell. We dive deep into the marketing tactics and funnel he uses to grow quickly and where his firm is headed before he tries to sell. 

Ryan Bakke on X: https://twitter.com/LearnLikeaCPA
Tax Strategy 365 website: https://taxstrategy365.com/
Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter
Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore

Devin Wanzor has bought and sold more than 10 businesses. He joins the podcast to share his journey from being an SBA lender to being part of a sign manufacturing roll up to buying a high end liquor store and recently buying a business close to his passion for flying planes. We also discuss how he's improved profitability as an operator and his unique perspective helping others with financial due diligence.

Devin Wanzor on X: https://twitter.com/DevinWanzor
Devin Wanzor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devin-wanzor-5459a31/
Clint Fiore & Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter & Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Austin Linney shares a wild, winding journey of buying an HVAC business that involves huge risk, shady characters, and quickly growing it by +300% within 2 years. 

Austin Linney on X: https://twitter.com/AustinLinney
Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Dustin Keller bought a small auto repair business at 19 in Columbus, Ohio. Since then he's grown Alpha Automotive to 9 locations through acquisitions and organic growth. This year he's on pace for over $12M in revenue, and he also owns the real estate at each location. The interview is a great example of compounding, intentional growth, and building wealth through real estate.

Alpha Automotive: https://alphaautomotivellc.com/

Baird Kleinsmith loves to say he bought a few 'crappy little self storage' businesses. The reality is within 3 short years he took massive action and calculated risk to build up a self storage portfolio worth over $28M. He's also started HireLATAM, an offshore staff business that's growing steadily. We discuss if he'd want to sell, what he wants to do next, and trying not to get bored at this stage. 

Baird Kleinsmith on X: https://twitter.com/SultanofStorage
Hire LATAM: https://hirelatam.com/
Bison Business: https://bisonbusiness.com/
Appletree: https://appletreebusiness.com/

Brian Beers joins to breakdown how he's grown to +33 Midas locations and +$5M of EBITDA. Clint Fiore gives a current valuation of the business, and we ask Brian if he'd sell now or wants to keep going. We also look at a forecast in excel to see what the numbers could look like in 5 years based on Brian's projected growth rate and Clint's updated valuation. 

Brian Beers, @brianbeers on X, www.brianbeers.com/ 
Clint Fiore, @clintfiore on X, www.bisonbusiness.com/
Patrick Dichter, @patrickdichter on X, www.appletreebusiness.com/

Nolan Gore runs a landscaping business in Austin that's in the top 25% for top line revenue. We discuss his recent acquisition of another landscaping company, why he probably shouldn't sell now, and what his business could be worth in 5 years. 

Peter Lohmann has built a great property management business in Columbus, Ohio that does nearly $3M in revenue and only takes 15 hours/week of his time these days. We discuss that journey, how much EOS has helped, and what it could sell for. 

Peter Lohmann on X: https://twitter.com/pslohmann
EOS: https://www.eosworldwide.com/
Clint Fiore on X: https://twitter.com/ClintFiore
Patrick Dichter on X: https://twitter.com/patrickdichter

Lauren Coleman is a powerhouse entrepreneur, designer, and mom. She's bought and renovated two motels in Colorado, and has plans for more. Her holding company, The Sursy, is a mix of hospitality brands, retail concepts, and real estate development. We dive into all the adversity and challenges she's overcome to make things happen and the $30M plan she's working on currently.

The Sursy website: https://www.thesursy.com/
The Sursy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesursy

Bryant Suellentrop has quickly built a great recruiting agency, Elevate and Delegate, for US companies to hire team members in the Philippines. Clint Fiore gives a valuation for his company, and Bryant discusses the possibility of selling part of his company. Plus we chat about the recent news of another agency Support Shepherd selling and the future of offshoring.

Companies mentioned:
https://elevateanddelegate.com/
https://www.appletreebusiness.com/
https://bisonbusiness.com/