💡 Energy Consulting Firm Netting $652k

Welcome Back to The Corporate Pivot!

If your biggest career milestone is surviving the annual performance review, maybe it's time to set your sights higher. The Corporate Pivot is here to guide you from stale evaluations to real ownership. Keep reading to learn from others who've made the jump and discover businesses for sale.

Confusing Corporate Saying of the Day:

“Return to the Office for the Culture!”

Professional Translation: “This will foster collaboration and strengthen company values.”
Corporate Pivot Translation: “You thought you work life balance was real?! Think again.”

Here’s what we have for you today:

Sam’s Perspective (1st Time Buyer)

🆕 Status Update: A quick follow-up on a few ventures: the construction cleanup business is still going strong, and we have a call set up for next week to discuss further opportunities. On the flower rental business front, our first set of silk flowers is scheduled for pickup by the end of the month. We already have some potential business lined up, and we’re also leveraging contracts from previous rentals to guide our next steps. Of course, we might occasionally use ChatGPT for ideas, but we’ll always consult a professional for anything legal—don’t need AI drafting contracts that end up like pink slips! “Your business for my business.”

We’ve also stumbled upon an event rental business that could be a perfect complement to the flower rental business—or better yet, the event rental becomes the main gig, and the flowers a nice side hustle. The event rental business has revenues close to $400K and profits close to $150K.

Sounds like a solid option, right? We’ll keep you posted as things progress. Who knows—maybe one day you'll be getting married at our venue!

📚 Cool Business Idea: For all the car enthusiasts and eco-conscious folks out there, I’ve got the perfect business idea: Engine Block Coffee Tables. I saw one at auction the other day that sold for $5,500. But before you ask, “Aren’t engine blocks expensive? Isn’t that, like, the whole car?”—here’s the thing: these engine blocks actually get recycled for much less than you’d think.

Let’s break it down: engine blocks from scrap yards can cost anywhere from $50 to $300 depending on the car and condition. With a bit of polish and creativity, you could turn a profit on each table, even after factoring in labor and materials.

Let’s talk numbers:

• Bad Year: You sell 20 tables at an average of $2,000 per table = $40,000 revenue. After materials and labor, you pocket $10K-$15K.

• Medium Year: You sell 50 tables at $2,500 each = $125,000 revenue, with profits around $50K.

• Good Year: You go big, selling 100 tables at $3,000 each = $300,000 revenue, with profits around $150K.

Look, you even have a name: Gearhead Creations. I’ll take my 1% equity when you make it big!

Tyler’s Perspective (Multiple Businesses Owned)

🚨 Tip of the Week: As you know, my service based business recently expanded with more routes. That certainly helped us be more efficient, as it tightened our geographic region. We are now looking to grow and make a vertical acquisition. I recently found a broker (I know what you’re thinking, and there’s a decent chance my next post will be confirming those thoughts, but fingers crossed for now) that only sells brick and mortar suppliers for my service based business. I reached out and am working on setting up a meeting, but when a broker is that specialized, they should (big assumption) have some knowledge of the industry. I plan on trying to get as much information from his as possible (including common concerns/issues from buyers), and seeing if he will work for us as a buyer’s agent, instead of representing the seller’s. 

💰 Deals < $500k

Business Name: Surveying Firm
Revenue: $602,000
Asking Price: $459,000
Profit: $260,000 (Profit Multiple = 1.76x)
Location: Tucson, AZ
Established: 2003

✅ Pros:

• Reputation: Established 21 years with a trusted reputation in the local market.

• Diverse Client Base: Serves a variety of clients, including municipalities, engineering firms, and real estate professionals.

⚠️ Cons:

• Owner-Dependent: Current owner handles administrative tasks and some surveying, creating a transition challenge.

📈 Growth Opportunities:

• Expand Client Portfolio: Target new sectors like construction companies and utilities.

• Increase Staffing: Hiring additional surveyors could reduce owner involvement and scale operations.

💰💰 Deals $500k - $2m

Business Name: Energy Consulting Firm
Revenue: $1,190,055
Asking Price: $1,699,000
Profit: $651,689 (Profit Multiple = 2.61x)
Location: Dallas, TX
Established: Not specified

✅ Pros:

• Strong Market Position: Established relationships with large clients enhance bidding success.

• Scalable Operations: Lean staffing structure offers potential to significantly grow revenues.

⚠️ Cons:

• Limited Workforce: Current partners limit capacity; scaling will require adding personnel.

📈 Growth Opportunities:

• Leverage Partnerships: Retain the sales partner and expand the sales team.

• Explore New Markets: Expand services to new industries or campuses beyond lighting solutions.

💰💰💰Deals $2m-$10m

Business Name: Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Company
Revenue: $3,151,442
Asking Price: $6,495,000
Profit: $1,566,197 (Profit Multiple = 4.15x)
Location: Virginia
Established: Over 25 years

✅ Pros:

• Proprietary Technology: Offers superior and longer-lasting equipment compared to older technologies.

• Diverse Industry Reach: Serves industries including aerospace, automotive, energy, and defense.

⚠️ Cons:

• Transition Dependency: Success depends on the owner's smooth transition due to specialized knowledge.

📈 Growth Opportunities:

• Geographic Expansion: Expand into new international markets.

• Product Line Growth: Develop complementary product lines to meet wider industry needs.

**If today is your first day reading, go to Chapter Recaps to get up to speed!

The Lean Startup: Part 2 Wrap-up & Part 3 Start

WOW. You have made it through 2 parts, and now you’re ready for Part 3 (ACCELERATE). In Part 2 we have look at a startup idea form its initial leaps of faith, tested it with an MVP, used innovation accounting and actionable metrics to evaluate the results, and made the decision to pivot or persevere.

“We have learned to steer when moving slowly. Now we must learn to race. Laying a solid foundation is only the first step toward our real destination: Acceleration.” 

How are you supposed to accelerate if you aren’t even sure what decisions to make! Let’s say you want to release a product, how often should you do it? Releasing incurs overhead, and from an efficiency point of view, leaves less time to devote to building the product. However, waiting too long to release can lead to the ultimate time waster… BUILDING SOMETHING NOBODY WANTS.

Startups need organizational structures that combat the extreme uncertainty that is a startup’s chief enemy. The critical first question to a lean transformation is:

Which activities create value and which are a form of waste?

Once you understand these distinctions you can utilize lean techniques to drive out waste and increase the efficiency of the value-creating activities. 

In Part 3 we will develop techniques that allow Lean Startups to grow without sacrificing the speed and agility that are the lifeblood of every startup. Lean Startups can grow and become Lean Enterprises. In Chapter 9 we will see how Lean Startups take advantage of the counterintuitive power of small batches by practicing just-in-time scalability. In Chapter 10 we will explore the metrics startups should use to understand their growth as they add new customers and discover new markets. In Chapter 11 we will see how to build an adaptive organization by investing in the right amount of process to keep teams nimble as they grow. In Chapter 12 we’ll come full circle. As startups grow into established companies, they face the same pressures that make it necessary for today’s enterprises to find new ways to invest in disruptive innovation. 

I’m excited and I hope you are too!

As always, if you want to discuss topics of this chapter (or any previous or future chapters) join our Discord channel.

Read more at corppivot.com!

Hope you enjoy this week's insights and happy deal hunting! Remember, if you find these updates helpful, share this newsletter with a friend!

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