💰 Micro Private Equity

Hey there, Welcome to the 1,875 new entrepreneurs who joined last week. Thanks to[David Horne]( (Calm Capital),[Ross Kinkade]( (Trash Panda Capital),[Stefan Von Imhof]( (Alternative Assets),[Rick Segal]( (CRAAG Angel Group),[Nile Frater]( (Concrete Capital),[Natwar Maheshwari]( (Engineering Brew),[Mushfiq Sarker]( (The Website Flipping Newsletter),[Jeremy Abraham]( (Spiffy),[Ray Deck]( (Sustained Ventures),[Lu Doan]( (OSBundle),[Abhishek Verma]( (Samkhya) and[Thomas Smale]( (FE International). We had a great time jamming on this report. Let’s talk about Micro Private Equity. What you'll learn: - How to force appreciation? - Why are multiples increasing? - How to find off-market deals? - What’s deal flow as a service? - How to avoid risk of ruin? - What’s acquisition entrepreneurship? - Why are skills scarcer than capital? - (📈 Pro) What are the benefits of niching? - (📈 Pro) What are search funds? - (📈 Pro) How to avoid key-person risk? - (📈 Pro) How to sell your business? - (📈 Pro) How to build habits as an investor? - (📈 Pro) Why do relationships matter? - (📈 Pro) How to use 3rd-party tools for due diligence? Unlock Trends Pro ✅ Access All Trends Pro Reports ✅ Stay Accountable with Daily Standups ✅ Meet Curious Entrepreneurs in Weekly Meetups ✅ Discuss Reports with Domain Experts ✅ Collaborate on Upcoming Reports [Become a Trends Pro Member]( [Micro Private Equity]( “Time is not money." 💎 Why It Matters You can make more money. You can’t make more time. 🔍 Problem Starting a business from scratch takes time. 💡 Solution Buy a business. Fast-forward to product-market fit. Then scale. ​​🏁 Players Micro Private Equity Funds - [Calm Capital]( • Profitable technology businesses - [SureSwift Capital]( • SaaS - [XOXO Capital]( • SaaS - [The Website Flip]( • Content-based websites - [Calm + Capital]( • SaaS - [Concrete Capital]( • Small internet companies - [MicroAngel]( • Micro-SaaS - [Thrasio]( • FBA businesses - [Karta Ventures]( • eCommerce - [Verne]( • SaaS Marketplaces - [MicroAcquire]( • SaaS - [IndieMaker]( • SaaS, domains and social media accounts - [Flippa]( • Content-based websites, apps and domains - [Fameswap]( • Social media accounts Brokers - [FE International]( • SaaS, eCommerce, content-based websites - [Quiet Light]( • eCommerce and content-based websites - [PrivSource]( • Lower middle market businesses - [Empire Flippers]( • eCommerce, content-based websites and digital products 🔮 Predictions - Financing options will increase. Online businesses are becoming more understood. 3rd-party tools such as[Stripe](,[Google Analytics]( and[Jungle Scout]( bring transparency and trust to transactions. - Multiples will increase. Transparency reduces risk. Online businesses are becoming easier to value, model and finance. Premiums earned from navigating uncertainty are fading. Technological progress will remain. Even as[credit dries up](. - Deal velocity will increase. Especially for platform players like[FBA]( and[Shopify stores](. Operations are standardized and 3rd-party tools help buyers trust by proxy. ☁️ Opportunities - Use a playbook to force appreciation.[SureSwift]( works through a checklist to add value post-acquisition. How will you boost revenue? How will you cut costs? - Raise prices - Use paid ads - Improve SEO - Automate workflows - Negotiate vendor fees - Optimize conversion rates - Negotiate affiliate commissions - Consolidate non-core competencies like accounting - Find off-market deals. David cold emailed the[Wavve]( team long before acquisition talks began. Yaro bought[Playgroup]( off of Twitter. You can browse[Product Hunt]( for popular, inactive projects. Contact the makers to make offers. - Build a[data as a service]( company to help others find deals. See[Deal Feed](. - Build a[productized service]( to help others find deals. See[Deal Flow as a Service](. - Buy businesses with a similar customer base. Spread your[CAC]( and boost[LTV](. See[Conversion Bear]( (Shopify),[Awesome Motive]( (WordPress) and[Elfsight]( (Webflow). 🔑 Key Lessons - Buy instead of building to save time. Practice acquisition entrepreneurship. - Start small and level up. Prioritize learning over earning at first. Avoid the risk of ruin. - Know your risks: - Competitor Risk • How much competition do you have? - Execution Risk • How hard is it to operate this business? - Platform Risk • How easy is it for a platform to harm your company? - Key-Person Risk • How much does the business depend on one person? - Market Risk • Does the business have revenue? Or are you buying distribution? - Customer Concentration Risk • Are a few customers responsible for most of your revenue? 😠Haters “Multiples are only high because credit is widely available.” Credit[ebbs and flows](. Transparency and friction reduction from technological progress is here to stay. This lowers risk and returns. “More sellers will enter the market. Lowering multiples.” The skillset to go 0 to 1 is scarcer than capital. More sellers will enter the market. This will not keep pace with capital. “Multiples are not increasing. Prices are becoming more accurate.” Both can be true. Accurate prices can mean higher prices. In fact, that’s what’s happening. Inefficiencies are evaporating. All arbitrages eventually fade. 🔗 Links - [6 Months In - A Few Lessons Learned]( • The ups and downs of micro private equity. - [Buying Not Boring Businesses]( • On post-acquisition playbooks. - [The Rise of the Aggregator]( • The power of niches. Buying assets with similar KPIs and operations. What else? [Trends PRO #0068 — Micro Private Equity]( has more insights. What you’ll get: - 35 Micro Private Equity Funds (250% more) - 14 Marketplaces (250% more) - 11 Brokers (175% More) - 7 Predictions (133% More) - 9 Opportunities (80% More) - 8 Key Lessons (166% More) - 10 Links (233% More) - 13-minute audio episode with exclusive Micro Private Equity stories, insights and opportunities With Trends Pro you'll learn: - (📈 Pro) How to evaluate deals? - (📈 Pro) What are the benefits of niching? - (📈 Pro) What are search funds? - (📈 Pro) How to avoid key-person risk? - (📈 Pro) How to sell your business? - (📈 Pro) How to build habits as an investor? - (📈 Pro) How to index into existing markets? - (📈 Pro) Why do relationships matter? - (📈 Pro) How to use 3rd-party tools for due diligence? Unlock Trends Pro ✅ Access All Trends Pro Reports ✅ Stay Accountable with Daily Standups ✅ Meet Curious Entrepreneurs in Weekly Meetups ✅ Discuss Reports with Domain Experts ✅ Collaborate on Upcoming Reports [Become a Trends Pro Member]( Thanks, Dru Riley Founder, Trends.vc Trends.vc 101 Marietta Street Northwest, Atlanta Georgia 30303 United States You signed up on [our website]( to discover new markets and ideas. [Unsubscribe](