01The broker
Lists it and shops it around town.
There is no listing. No sign, no teaser sheet, no email blast to a hundred buyers. Nobody finds out unless you tell them.
Tyler, Texas
I am not afund.
I buy businesses people spent their whole life building. I keep the name, I keep the people, and I keep the phone number.
I own three companies in East Texas. One of them my mom started in a thousand square feet in 1996. I came in twenty years later and we grew it about six times over without changing the sign.
Keep the name✦Keep the people✦Keep the phone number✦Nobody finds out✦
Who is calling you
Most buyers are one of four things. I am none of them.
If you have thought about selling, you have already run into these. Here is where I am different, and you can hold me to all four.
02The fund
Buys it and cuts to hit a model.
I run three companies with real people in them. I am not raising money on a spreadsheet, and I do not fire people to make a return work.
03The searcher
Has a plan but not the money.
The money is lined up before I ever call you. You get to see where it comes from, in writing, before you decide anything.
04The competitor
Wants your customer list.
I am not in your industry, which means I have nothing to gain from taking it apart. I buy it to run it.
Why I am the one asking
I already did this once, and it was my mother's business.
She started Stitchin' Heaven in 1996 in a thousand square feet, in a town of about eighteen hundred people. Everybody thought she was crazy.
I came in in 2016 and answered the phone for a while. Then we built a building, then a retreat center. The business went from around two million to around twelve.
Same name. Same ladies in the same departments. That is the part nobody asks about and the only part that actually matters when it is your business.
Three ways to start
You do not have to decide anything to take the first step.
Each one costs you less than the next. Most people stop after the first one, and that is fine.
- 01
Find out what it is worth
A written range, free. Send a few numbers or last year's P&L. You get a real figure back with the math shown, and you can put it in a drawer.
- 02
Have a conversation nobody hears about
Thirty minutes. An NDA before it starts. No employees know, no customers know, and you can stop at any point.
- 03
Get a straight answer in ten days
A yes is a written offer: price, structure, where the money comes from, what happens to your people, what happens to the name, and what you do after. On paper, so you can hand it to your CPA. A no is a phone call with the real reason. Either one beats six months of not knowing.
Receipts
Three businesses. You can go look at all of them.
Quitman, TX
Stitchin' Heaven
A quilt shop, a retreat center, and fifteen cruises a year. Started by my mom in 1996. About two million in revenue when I came in, about twelve now.
Tyler, TX
Thunder Laser USA
I started buying machines from a factory in China, then became their US distributor. By 2023 we were about forty percent of the US CO2 laser market.
Tyler, TX
BuildHaus
Factory-direct cabinets, windows, doors, and furniture, with a showroom in Tyler. The newest one, and the one still being built.
Start here
Start with the number. Everything else can wait.
Most owners have never had anyone put a real figure on the thing they built. The number by itself is useful whether you ever sell or not.