Acquisition Collective
This Podcast is your go-to hub for buying, building, and scaling businesses—designed for entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors looking to escape the 9-to-5, gain financial freedom, and take control of their future through business acquisition.
Acquisition Collective
How a 29-Year-Old Veteran Bought a 40-Year-Old Cash Machine
Most people think the hardest part of buying a business is finding the deal, but the real test is stepping into ownership and making the business stronger than you found it. In this episode of Acquisition Collective, host Jay Bourgana sits down with James Smith to unpack how a 29 year old active duty soldier used acquisition entrepreneurship to buy a 40 year old cash flowing business before leaving the Army.
James breaks down how he sourced a small business acquisition that matched his buy box, secured an SBA loan, built trust with a retiring owner, and navigated a five month closing process that tested every part of his plan. He shares the operational lessons he learned on day one, from managing designers and installers to rebuilding a sales and marketing engine inside an already successful company.
Whether you dream of buying a business, scaling a cash flowing business, or stepping into acquisition entrepreneurship for the first time, this episode shows what the journey really looks like.
We dive into:
✅ How James identified the right small business acquisition
✅ Why an SBA loan added complexity but unlocked the deal
✅ How he built trust with a 23 year owner and kept the team
✅ What he learned about sales, designers, and lead flow
✅ How he plans to scale the business with simple improvements
✅ Why buying a business is the fastest path to ownership
If you are serious about buying a business the right way, hit play.
00:00 How a veteran bought a cash flowing business at 29
02:10 The path from Army service to buying a business
05:30 Building the buy box for a small business acquisition
09:00 Finding the cabinetry company and meeting the seller
12:20 Structuring the offer and navigating the SBA loan
16:45 The five month closing process and lender challenges
21:00 Understanding the sales engine inside the business
25:00 Why the company had no marketing and still grew
30:00 Hiring designers and building a scalable model
35:00 Lessons learned from acquisition entrepreneurship
40:00 What James plans to improve next year
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