🎙️Failed startup → $4M business in 10 months | Fred McGill

Hello SMB Deal Hunters!

How many of you have wondered if there was a smarter path to wealth?

Fred McGill spent years finding out the hard way. He was head of sales and marketing at a venture-backed company. He ran a real estate tech startup with nearly 3,000 crowdfunding investors.

But he couldn't exit. Six years later, investors still ask when they'll see a return.

So instead of starting another company, he decided to buy one. He started looking at HVAC and plumbing, but both were way too crowded.

Then, he saw an opportunity other searchers hadn't.

He bought a 20-year-old electrical business doing just under $4M/year.

He's not an electrician. He's never touched a wire in his life.

But in only 10 months, he added $650,000 in revenue to the business, and targeting $5 million this year.

And he did it while STILL running his startup. He grew a trades business using nothing but his sales and marketing background.

You don't need industry experience to grow a business by $650K in year one. If you've ever talked yourself out of a deal because you didn't know the industry, this episode is worth your time.

Here are some of the highlights from the deep dive:

🔥 Fred explains why you’re WASTING your time if you’re building a startup that doesn’t have validated "unicorn potential" and why he thinks buying a business is the smarter bet for everyone else.

🔥 He breaks down why electrical contracting companies have SIGNIFICANT potential compared to other popular businesses like HVAC and plumbing. 

🔥 He had zero experience in the trades and grew the business $650K using a sales and marketing playbook. We walk through exactly what he did and why industry experience didn't matter.

🔥 He kept hiring duds until he rephrased one interview question. It now tells him in 5 minutes if a trades candidate is bluffing or the real deal.

Here's how he did it (without knowing how to do it)...

And for our audio-only listeners, jump in and listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Member Spotlight

For those who missed it, we also did an SMB Deal Hunter Pro alumni interview breaking down Tatiana's acquisition of a $3.1M print and mail business in Rochester, NY.

She runs it from her desk in Manhattan on a second laptop.

Tatiana is a fraud litigation attorney in NYC. Zero business buying experience. 

She'd invested in real estate, could barely break even, and now wanted to buy something that would actually build wealth.

7 months after joining Pro, she closed. 

And she found the deal on her very first day in the program.

Here's what makes this story worth watching:

→ She was the lowest of 12 offers and lost the deal. Six weeks later, the winning buyer's deal fell apart and she got a second shot.

→ She structured a creative seller's note with the retiring owner that cut her down payment in half.

→ She closed a $3.1M deal WITHOUT quitting her job.

→ In her first 3 months, revenue is up 50% year over year and she's already taking cash out of the business.

If you want to watch the full alumni interview, click below:

And when we asked what she valued most about the program:

So, if you want me and my team to work with you to find, finance, and acquire a million-dollar cash-flowing business in the next 6-12 months, you might be interested in the Pro program.

👉️ Learn more and book a call

COMMUNITY PERKS

• Ready to buy and operate a $1M+ business? Get expert help at every step.

• Want to invest passively in SMB acquisitions? Get access to investment opportunities.

• Get a personal introduction to my preferred SBA 7(a) lender, non-SBA lenders, Quality of Earnings providers, or legal counsel

• Raising capital for your deal? I’ll connect you with investors from the SMB Deal Hunter Community.

• Interested in selling your business? I’ll help you connect with buyers from the SMB Deal Hunter Community.

THAT’S A WRAP

Want me to interview you for my podcast? Hit reply.

See you next week with some new deals!

-Helen Guo
Find Me On Twitter
Find Me On LinkedIn 

Disclaimer

This publication is a newsletter only and the information provided herein is the opinion of our editors and writers only. Any transaction or opportunity of any kind is provided for information only; SMB Deal Hunter does not verify nor confirm information. SMB Deal Hunter is not making any offer to readers to participate in any transaction or opportunity described herein.