Accelerate Your Midmarket Deals - Insider Tips with Tom Ellis, Pebble Ventures

Foreign. Well, thanks again everybody for joining. Today we're going to be talking about how to accelerate your mid market deals and I have a very special guest with me today. His name is Tom Ellis. I'll be introducing him in just a second and really to kick things off, I'm going to go over a quick agenda. So I'll be introducing myself the company for those of you that aren't familiar with acquire.com and then really going through, you know, Tom's challenges and insights when using acquire.com and how acquire.com helped him help a startup get acquired. And really the benefits for investment banks and M and A firms, M and A advisors to use acquire.com to help their middle market deals close. And with that being said, I'm going to do just a brief introduction of myself. My name is Andrew Gazdecki. I am the CEO and founder of acquire.com and then pretty much previously before this company, I had founded two different companies. One was a bootstrap SAS company called Business Apps. You can think of that as a do yourself drag and drop mobile app builder. Scaled that to about 10 million in recurring revenue and then sold it to a private equity firm. And then after that built a crypto company for some reason but also had that company acquired. Then below that are some awards that make my mom proud. And then with me today, like I said, is Tom Ellis, managing director of Pebble Ventures, who has a wealth of experience in the M and A market helping businesses big and small get acquired, working with banks, family offices and advisories. So I'm really excited to bring Tom up in a minute. But a brief introduction of acquired.com. so what we're doing at acquire.com is we're building the world's most founder friendly startup acquisition marketplace. And as a company we've been in business for about four years now and we've helped over a thousand startups get acquired. We've done over half a billion in closed transactions. We've seen about half a million registered buyers on our platform and currently today we have over a billion in combined revenue of the total listings. And we've served over a hundred different countries. So the one continent we haven't closed a deal on is Antarctica. So still working on that one. But we are a global company that is helping businesses get acquired all across the globe. And with that being said, we're going to be kicking this off. So Tom's challenges and insights and we're back over to you, Tom. So with that, do you want to give a brief introduction for Those that may not know you.

Yeah, thanks guys. My background started a little while ago, nearly coming on sort of 14 plus years now in corporate banking. So I started working in the back end of the GFC working on structured leverage buyouts and highly distressed private equity things. So it was, you know, great entree into trying to understand what does and doesn't work. And, and you know, it's sort of my early 20s I was co managing over a billion dollars worth of debt and a lot of that was, you know, looking at different structures of how to get out of things when stuff goes bad. I then worked for a software startup that we took from sheet of paper to buy out in 18 months and then worked for a family office for, for a number of years in sort of a worldwide remit but mainly spending time in China and then coming on six years I've been running a corporate advisory business and investment bank which sort of is an amalgam of all of those sorts of things and do a bit of investing across venture and private equity and sort of, I guess looking at those accolades we, we try to look at transaction volumes in the sort of 10 to 200 mil of turnover. We've done bigger, we've done smaller and you know, that's what in, in my language we call mid market. I've got five people that work for me in my business. They're all over the world. We've got representation in North America and in Europe and just gives us a global sort of landscape to support mid market businesses through the sort of the journey from hey, what are we going to do through the financial close in terms of M and a nice.

You have a, a vast amount of experience. So I want to focus on a couple ventures. So as you know we've been working together and I want to kind of zoom back to when we first started working on a transaction together and really just starting from the top, what was your reason for using acquire.com what problem are you trying to solve?

It's a great question. So I think the main thing for me as a practitioner is velocity. Like how do I get more interactions that lead to more outcomes? So if there's something that I can drive quickly to get a benefit for, you know, a founding team, shareholders and management, that's a better, you know, a better use of there in my time and I think I've been following you on Twitter and sort of the micro acquire story for some time and, and I was just sort of really interested in what that could do for businesses that wouldn't normally Take on through my, you know, my main M and A. You know, we've kind of got a team that has to, has to be fed out of those deal fees. So the small stuff doesn't really make sense for us to take. But in saying that there's a huge problem of sort of smaller, smaller businesses and mid market businesses not getting the right representation and I bizarrely saw you post on X or Twitter about opening a new office in San Diego and I was there for work and I ended up in La Jolla and was sitting at a restaurant and, and met one of your team being Rosa.

I remember, yeah, Rosa told me that.

Story and we just kicked off chatting. We, we knew a number of people in common. It's sort of amazing how small the world is. And I think probably for me, as you would have seen, it's about hey, let's find a way to do something together, not let's talk about it. And that's probably a difference for me and my firm is like we'd been talking about potentially doing this podcast a while ago, but I said, you know, we agreed, let's, let's get some, some work done then talk about, talk about that from that lens. And I think that that's what drew me into the acquire platform around how do we support, I think also like price discovery. Right. Like people, you know, we talk about okay, good and great in my firm around outcomes, you know, like, and equally like if people want to engage with us, we, we typically look at the business and go is the expectation real? Like if you want 50 million in your business doing 200 grand of revenue, unless there's some really strong IP or massive user base, I'm not going to take that on because we're not going to get there and that's going to be disappointing. So you know, part of this process is well we've got a feel for where the market will price is and you know, often we get an anchor, you know, or a floor price and then we can, we came to acquire and said well like let's, let's give it a shot and see what we can do. And we drove a far, far, far more competitive process for a couple of the assets we worked on than you know, we can do without it.

What would you say your. And you touched on this, but what would you say your biggest challenge is when helping mid market deals, helping them close?

Yeah, closing's a really different skill. Right. Like, so I think the, the thing that's I'd impress upon people is having the right people on your bench to get from your ILO through to close. Like, it's almost a whole different game. Right. And I think the, the piece of the bench depth of the acquire team, you know, James, Rosa, Roger, yourself. Like that to me is empowering to be able to go, hey, I'm not sure. Put your hand up for help. Like, the biggest thing is asking when you're not sure. Like, so many, so many deals that go bad is because someone hasn't asked a question and they sort of nod along. Even something like ebitda, you know, it can be a. Oh, yeah, that's a defined term, but you can define it however you like. You know, the transaction documents are really important and the understanding of each of the conditions and those sorts of things. I think that's. That's usually where stuff comes undone around like, hey, we think we're going to get there.

I like that. Okay, let's talk more about, you know, the, the transactions that you did on acquire.com so in terms of overcoming those challenges, how specifically did the Quadcom team help or the platform help? You mentioned buyer discovery, getting in front of different types of buyers quickly. The team itself was super helpful. What was maybe the thing that, you know, stood out the most?

Yeah, I think I remember sitting with Rose and James and we kind of did a scorecard on a deal I was working on, and they came back and said, hey, here's, you know, where your deal is going to fail. I was like, oh, that's super helpful. Like, here's three or four things that I can easily tilt for your audience. And I think, you know, in mid and large market, there's a certain language, you know, it's kind of, you know, making sure that you're hitting those right talking points. And in the kind of the. Your buyer network has some different things they're looking at. You know, they're scanning through a whole range of things. They're interested. But how do you hit them in the. Hit them in the eyes with the stuff that's important. And I think that, that your platform and team's intelligence around what's going on for your buyer network, that's a superpower like that to me was like instantly validated our decision to, to partner with you guys.

Nice. And then let's talk about, you know, things that might have surprised you. Were you surprised at the amount of buyers that you saw show interest in some of the transactions you were doing or.

Yeah, 100%. And I think, I think there's two things to consider. One is that getting Interest is easy. Getting deals closed is hard. I mean you and I talk about that a bit and, and I think that you only get to closing deals with interest. You know, it's like a sales funnel. So I think what was super impressive about the platform was you'd get a world of different offers and that's where you know, having a practitioner or the support is important is to go, well, what does an offer mean? What's vendor finance? Can I get an SBA loan for this? You know there's, there's sort of a, a whole world of different structures and offers and that's, that's where the acquire platform is amazing is to look at, you know, all the different permutations of what a deal can be. You know, at one point we're looking at 30 different, you know, inbound offers and what that kind of ended up looking like. We took a number through diligence, you know, got great outcomes and it was able to kind of build tension around that pricing and also conditions, you know, it's not all price driven, right? It's, it's time, it's control, it's conditions and dollars. There's kind of a few variables there and I think the buy network you have allows you to kind of filter for what's important to each seller.

Yeah, I, I love hearing that. Just you know, selfishly, just because you know, we do. A lot of people don't know this. You mentioned, you know, Microquire, but you know, we dropped the micro for a reason because we really can't help, you know, let's call it a million dollar transaction, a 5 million dollar transaction or even upwards and do 10 million plus in the mid market. So I love to hear that, you know, thinking of other, you know, firms that might be similar to yours, you know, what ways do you think, you know, other investment banks or M and A advisory firms, you know, how do you think they can best leverage based on your experience, leverage.com to close more deals?

Yeah, I think it's about having an open mind, right. So many practitioners and bankers just sit there and go, oh no, I'm going to go to these six buyers. Like for me looking after our clients interest is, let's open the, the world of buyers as wide as humanly possible. Like that's our superpower as a firm. We typically go out to north of 200 potential buyers. You know, in order to really discover where that pricing needs to sit. You know, we sold a business to a Utah private equity fund. I'm in Australia, you know, like it was a mid sized peer fund that we would never have heard of in any of our research without a quad accom. You know, I think it's, it's widening the net and also giving your clients the best opportunity to get to the finish line. You know, it's much easier to sort of filter for what the right outcome is if you've got multiple outcomes. You know, two years ago was in a position where we might get one bid on a, on a difficult asset. And that's really hard to say to a founder. It's like this or nothing. Whereas, you know, partnering with you guys is like, well, hey, here's a few different ways to get to Rome. Like let's, let's kind of explore the, the, the benefits of each. I think from, it's about just giving it a shot. Like it's really easy to sit in the kind of the, the IV tower and go, oh no, we're not going to do it. But you know, I think being really clear in your communication, reviewing what you need to put through and not overcooking the goose, like just getting in there and providing information, chatting with the team and having a look at the different ways to get there. I'm a massive, massive supporter of you guys.

Nice. And I'm curious, you know, when you were, you know, using the platform, were you using us as kind of a silent partner? Were you, you know, openly sharing or how are you communicating that?

You know, I've done it both ways. Right. Like for us, it's kind of now become part of the arsenal where we go, hey, like this is part of what we do. And you know, it sort of sits there as here's a way to open the world up of potential buyers. We also, we look at every business and opportunity and look at what's appropriate. Sometimes they're anonymous, you know, sometimes we're selling really sensitive businesses where people don't want to sort of put a sign up to the market that they're for sale. So we're quite careful and considered around what we're working on. And you know, I think you probably also know that the volume of deals you do and what you can and can't talk about, it's a hard game sometimes. Like I did $100 million of transactions last year and can only talk about 45 of it. You know, we work with family officers and private equity and you know, on the bigger end and that's awesome and pays well. But it's also like, you know, as far as the market's concerned, we've got to kind of, you know, only disclose what we can. I think, for, for a firm, you know, you've got to work out with your clients what the best, what the best fit is. And whether it's, you know, you running it as an advisor or in tandem with management, it depends on what the outcome you're looking for is, what the time horizon and what, you know, what the right sort of metrics are for you guys.

Awesome. So I'm just gonna throw some questions at you. Is that cool, Tom?

Absolutely.

All right, I'm gonna just pull one out of the hat. Okay. So what's the toughest challenge when selling multi million dollar businesses? Is it finding a buyer? Is it negotiating price, or is it something else?

I think it's alignment. Right. Like, we, we're often finding that people are not sure on why they're selling. It's like, because Brian down the street got 50 mil doesn't mean you will. You know, I, I think the hardest thing is what's the motivation like, until people truly get to why they want to, you know, part with their business. It's a hard thing. You know, it's, it's almost like having been a buyer, it's, why am I so lucky? Why am I the person that's the right buyer for this? So solving for that kind of mismatch, I think, is the hardest thing around. It's not necessarily price. It's. It's alignment of who the next custodian is. Once you find that fit, price sort of takes care of itself.

Yeah, I like that. Yeah, we, we run into a lot of the same, you know, situations where, you know, as a owner of a business, you just have no idea what the process is and so you don't know how to properly value your business. And we hear all sorts of reasons for, you know, why you're going to sell your business. How do you get around that, though?

I mean, the flippant answer is, you know, 14 years of experience. But it's, it's corporate psychology. Right. We sit down and we don't start anything until we spend time with, with our clients. Like, we don't take on 100 deals at a time. We work really closely in a personal way to make sure that the people we work with understand how we work, what the process is. You, the expectations around, what information and energy they need to put into it. You know, and that's probably a learning from having run a family office and dealt with, you know, big four and, you know, other IBS and things and struggled with the lack of connectivity, you know, the, the prep phase is the most important thing. As a, as an IB person, corporate advisor, make sure that your data is tight, that you understand where the problems are, what questions are going to come up. And do not take something to market until you're across, you know, every potential issue because you've got to represent that and understand, you know, when someone asks why earnings dropped 30% that you have an answer. Because as soon as someone loses confidence as a buyer, it's really hard to get it back.

30% drop during a sale sales process. That, that can be tough for I think anybody.

Yeah, it's hard. I've had a, I had a. I've had bigger. It's. And that's probably, you know, the important thing of using a good practitioner or acquire.com and having that support in there is you got to keep the main thing. The main thing. When you're selling the company, you've got to run the business. You have deterioration. It's harder to sell. You know, if you keep having green shoots of growth, people get excited and it's easier to get to the finish line. You know, it's a big job. And, you know, we, we talk a bit about making sure that your bench is, is, is strong enough, you know, have the right lawyers, the right accountants. You know, we haven't sort of spoken about it, but a bad lawyer will break a deal. I mean, I've heard you speak about it on your podcast, but, you know, time and, and terms are usually things that become really challenging. So there's working with people that are commercial and can help you and make sure that your needs as a business are met. That's, that's the biggest thing that sets you up for success.

Yeah, I agree. I liked your last point too. On. And it is true, you know, a lot of people don't know this, but yeah, law firm scan, you know, if you don't work with an experienced M and a law firm, they can, you know, definitely derail a transaction and it ends up not closing, unfortunately.

And I think probably, you know, Adam's just asked a question. I think this is kind of an interesting point as well. It's like, you know, I was a banker, Capital B, not, not the other letter. But, you know, it's, it's when you start introducing debt into a deal, you have to provide a different set of information to a different audience. So, you know, using an SBA loan, using other, you know, other bank finance, vendor finances. Who. What is the audience for the message that you're providing. You know, I think that's a really important piece because it might make sense to the buyer, but then they've got to go get finance. And the finance is like, hey, man, like, or, ma', am, you know, here's the hole in the data. What are you doing about that? So, you know, really having that buttoned up and being able to be responsive is super important.

I completely agree. All right, so if you're listening, we. We do have a very experienced MA Advisor with. How would you like title yourself personally?

Tom Problem solver.

All right, we got a very experienced problem solver on here. So if you have questions, feel free to put them in the chat and we'll get those answered. But I got a few more for you tomorrow.

Yeah, that's good.

Okay, so next one. What aspects of the acquire.comm and a process were you most impressed with and found the most useful?

I think the workflow. Right. Like to be able to, you know, I buy and sell companies all day, so for me, it's like innate. I know how to take something from diligence or like, hey, we've met through to data room, through to completion. Because I've been doing it for a long time. If you haven't done that, the acquire platform steps you through the process. Here's what you need at the next phase. Here's what's coming up. You know, here's the buyers. Have you got back to this person? You know, the, the workflow management for deals is incredible. Like, I run half a dozen different CRM and email tools and, you know, different workflows for my business. And to have it all in one spot, to be like, that deal is linked to these people. And this is where it goes. Here's the diligence. This is where it's up to. Just made it so seamless. You know, we could filter, jump between conversations. That. That's like, as I said earlier, that's superpower. And probably the other component is if something hits a wall or you need some support, there's literally a help button. You know, I gave it a. Gave it a rattle a few times with your team just to sort of see how it went. And they're phenomenal, you know, and I think to have that kind of expertise of like, hey, we need to get some more interest. What are we going to do? Like, what does it need to look like for acquire.com to push it out to their network to get more eyeballs on it? Well, why don't you do this or tweak this or Talk to management about your price. All of that is super, super insightful and just speeds the process up. And, and I think that if you're a firm or a company that, that that tempo is, is everything.

I agree. I love what you said about, you know, the importance of building out your bench during an acquisition. And I think, you know, one way that we try to support and I'd love just your thoughts on this, Tom, but you know, we do try to be that partner. We do try to be, you know, in the background if you have questions or if you can't find something or if you need to just hop on a call or if you need to, if you need someone to, you know, give you a grade on your listing or something like that, or even find a loan, you know, partner something like that, 100%.

And I think that there's probably a really important thing for practitioners, firms, investment bankers and advisors, you know, in that how a lot of people wouldn't know what we do. Right. And I had to explain to my, my in laws which was super fun and the way we think about 100% and I think that there's probably a really important thing for practitioners, firms, investors is being a conductor. You know, you're conducting all the different parts of a deal. You're conducting, you know, keeping the music harmonized, you're making sure that the lawyers are at the right speed, the accounts are doing their work, the company's still moving, the buyer's moving, you know, that, that tempo and holding space that like that's the art form to it. And I think, you know, I think that that's where it kind of leads to making sure you've got the right people around you. And whether that's with a, an advisory firm like us, which is usually probably when it's more complicated or going direct through the platform and probably something that's, that's worth framing is when to use a bank or advisor versus you know, just going direct. And I would say it's about complexity. You know, we, we tend to work on things that are difficult or big or you know, multi jurisdictional. If it's, you know, a B2B SaaS business and you know, the metrics are really clear and you've got all your data plugins. I would recommend just going direct. I mean not, not to do myself out of the work but like we would rather see founders exiting and recycling cash into other things because you know, sellers become buyers.

That's true. I actually see that quite a bit in terms of if you sell A business you're typically almost immediately acquired.com customer. I. I haven't been able to figure it out, but I love that. That point. Another question. So approximately how much time did you save by using acquire.com to find a buyer?

Yeah, it's. It's an interesting point. Right? Like. Like time is kind of got elasticity to it. I would say the time spent was more direct. Like, we were very clear that everybody on platform was either trying to qualify to buy or a buyer. So in terms of hours, another question.

So approximately how much time did you save by using acquire.com to find a buyer?

Yeah, it's. It's an interesting point. Right? Like. Like time is kind of got elasticity to it. I would say the time spent was more direct. Like, we were very clear that everybody on platform was either trying to qualify to buy or a buyer. So in terms of hours, like hundreds of hours, it saved us. But I think the more important thing is that we got to people we wouldn't necessarily have gotten to. Price was, you know, was relative to where we were getting elsewhere in the market. But the people that we met through the platform were serious buyers asking good questions and filtering quickly.

Nice. And then let's go with what was. Oh, this is a fun one.

Like hundreds of hours it saved us. But I think the more important thing is that we got to people we wouldn't necessarily have gotten to. Price was, you know, was relative to where we were getting elsewhere in the market. But the people that we met through the platform were serious buyers asking good questions and filtering quickly.

Nice. And then let's go with what was. Oh, this is a fun one. What was the financial benefit specifically to you or would you say to other M and A firms if they use.

Yeah, I mean, so like, depending on what you negotiate with your client and what your fee band is, you know, you. You've got to work out what the economics look like. And you know, I tend to have a.

What was the financial benefit specifically to you? Or would you say to other M and A firms if they use.

Yeah, I mean, so like, depending on what you negotiate with your client and what your fee band is, you know, you. You've got to work out what the economics look like. And you know, I tend to have a view that bigger fees have more opportunity to carve it up. I work with a number of practitioners the view that bigger fees have more opportunity to carve it up. I work with a number of practitioners and banks outside of my firm. And we go, hey, it's this percent, how much do you need? How much do I need? Practitioners and banks outside of my firm. And we go, hey, it's this percent. How much do you need? How much do I need? Who's working on what? We're fairly commercial, you know, and that's having worked with investment banks, private equity, family offices. For me it's about how do we get more things closed and make more people more money. Because then, you know, the deal flow takes care of itself. And I think, you know, it's. For me, if I can do three times as many deals on stuff that I wouldn't necessarily take on and support great people to great outcomes, that's sort of fulfilling a personal goal of mine, you know, as well as, you know, the capital component. But, but it's got to be that you enjoy doing this stuff. If you don't, you're just in it for a fee, you know, sit on the bench and try and do a big deal once every couple of years.

I agree. I think what you said one thing that I really like and let me know if it's nice.

There's one thing I said that you like.

Guess there's a few. But there's one that stood out in particular, and that was, do you feel that acquire.com can help you open up new markets? For example, maybe it's working with clients you normally wouldn't have, or it's taking on a type of asset you wouldn't have or meeting buyers that you normally wouldn't have. And that directly helps close a transaction 100%.

I think, you know, it's all about credibility and, and, and deliverability. You know, if you're sort of that guy, you know, you and I grew up a little while ago, sort of pre, pre huge amounts of technology where, you know, if you threw a party, you need to know people now it's kind of like, oh, we couldn't put a, you know, a targeted ad up and whatever. I think the same with buying and selling businesses. You've got to build a reputation as someone that gets things done at the right level. And, you know, a quadcom should be in your arsenal to help you get more eyeballs on it, more opportunity and, you know, just, just do the right thing for your clients. That's, that's how I think of it. There's a question here around how do investors find more sort of advisory only or, you know, lighter touch things? I think that's about your filtering process. Like there is a huge number of things on the acquired.com platform that are, you know, barely managed by management. I've looked at it as a buyer, you know, and, and I think you've just got to be really aware of where your skills are or are not and how to like, how to hire management or, you know, bring in people to support you, you know, to sort of run a micro private equity model. There's also vendor sort of structures there where people are going, hey, I'll stick around for a while and transition it. And you can use that time to platform that are, you know, barely managed by management. I've looked at it as a buyer, you know, and, and I think you've just got to be really aware of where your skills are or are not and how to like, how to hire management or, you know, bring in people to support you, you know, to sort of run a micro private equity model. There's also vendor finding management. So, you know, I think that was a. There was a question in the chat there from, from Ed.

Awesome. Let's, let's go over to the audience and see if we can pull a question. So I think you may have covered these, but let's go with a question from Adam. Do you assist buyers with financing acquisitions or do most buyers already have this sorted?

I, I do both. Like, we partner with a number of funders, so it depends on what it looks like. But we've done a deal together, guys, where they use an SBA loan. Super cool. Selling an Australian asset into a sort of structures there where people are going, hey, I'll stick around for a while and transition it. And you can use that time to find new management. So, you know, I think that was a. There was a question in the chat there from. From Ed.

Awesome. Let's, let's go over to the audience and see if we can pull a question.

So North American market using a North American bank for something that in Australia would never happen.

Then you may have cover these. But let's go with a question from Adam. Do you.

To me, that was a superpower. Again, got to stop saying superpower. But like, for, for me to be able to sell a business that was a great business with worldwide revenue from Australia using North American bank funding, like that's a dream come true, right? Like, I can get a better market price than someone here who's going, I've got to use all equity. Yeah. And a better outcome for the buyer who's going, hey, this is. I can lever this up, get a, you know, a far better return and you know, it just, just harmonizes it.

So buyers with financing, acquisitions or do most buyers already have this sorted?

I. I do both. Like, we partner with a number of funders, so it depends on what it looks like, but we've done a deal together, guys, where they use an SBA loan. Super cool. Selling an Australian asset into it. Yeah. I mean, my firm does partner with a number of different. Different groups. Private debt, private credit banks. But again, you should engage with your North American market using a North American bank for something that in Australia would never happen. Your sort of select bench of people. And also work out what you're prepared to work with. You know, if you don't like using external debt, that's fine too.

Nice. How would you. Okay, so maybe we'll. We'll round this out with three more questions and we'll. We'll kind of get right to the point here. So if, you know, a buddy called you up. He's also, you know, an M and A advisor. And, you know, he was. He heard that you used acquire.com.

Would you like to me, that was a superpower. Again, got to stop saying superpower. But like, for. For me to be able to sell a business that was a great business with worldwide revenue from Australia using North.

America recommend us or what would you say?

I just put my hat on. I'd be like, yeah, you know, absolutely. Bank funding, like, that's a dream come true. Right. Like, I can get a better market price than someone here who's going, I've got to use all equity. Yeah. And a better outcome for the buyer who's going, hey, this is. I can lever this. Absolutely. And that's why I'm here, I guess, is that pragmatically, it's probably not as great for my business to say, hey, guys, go to acquire.com. like, come to me. But for me, I've got that abundance mindset of the more we do, the more awareness we have, the easier we make it for people, the more gets done. So for me, it's like, absolutely. Get involved. Get a far better return, and it just harmonizes it. So, yeah, I mean, my firm does partner with a number of different groups. Private debt. Do the right thing by the companies you're representing. Give it a shot. It was really, really impressive for me. I've got a huge pipeline of stuff that I will take on that I wouldn't have previously because it means that I can support those people with like, less direct impact, less outreach, but still help them get a great outcome. Don't be wrong. I'll make money, but you know, it's. It's an easier path to stuff that is, you know, probably not, not necessarily having that like, you know, eight to nine figure stuff that we, we love working on, but takes a lot longer.

And then moving on to this question. So in terms of, you know, probably the biggest impact Aquaticom has on your business, you mentioned it earlier, but I want to hear it again. In terms of, you know, our ability to help you, you know, grow your business, what does that look like? Is it the ability to expand into new markets? Is it bringing on different types of businesses? How. If you had to just answer that with like a couple words, what would it be?

I think the probably just to zoom back from that, like, I had to build my firm through Covid, having worked with investment banks that were hyper localized. And for me, I saw the opportunity to go global, not have the huge boardroom all the time. I have access to all those things and build a model that has international people that interface with our team. So I'd built it global first. But if you're sitting in Montana and you reach is not into Switzerland or you wouldn't even think about it, you've got to do something to open that network for your clients. And I think the acquire.com platform provides optionality global presence and velocity so that you, you know, you're really like on the clock, but equally I just pause there and say the deal's got to be of a quality that has interest. Like an ordinary deal is going to get an ordinary price and be hard to close. Yeah, yeah. And I think that part of your job as a M and a advisor, investment banker is to manage your clients and do the prep. And if it's not a fit, don't take it to market. You know, like, I've turned away huge numbers of things where I've gone, hey, look, it's an interesting business, but we're not the ones to sell this. Like, your expectation is way outside of what the market will pay. You know, if you grow revenue to here or you, you know, stop ripping money out and look at it this way. Yeah, there's appetite, but if you, you know, just because you've spent 7 million doesn't mean the market's going to pay a multiple of what you've spent.

Nope, I haven't seen that. I think a lot of founders wish that, but unfortunately, no. All right, Tom. Well, it's been a pleasure just hearing your story and I'm super excited to continue this partnership. And I always say our success is your success. So I'm glad everything worked out and looking Credit banks.

But again, you should engage with your. With your sort of select bench of people and, and also work out what you're prepared to work with. You know, if you don't like using external debt, that's fine too.

Nice. How would you. Okay, so maybe we'll. We'll round this out with three more questions and we'll. We'll kind of get right to the point here. So if, you know, a buddy called you up, he's also, you know, an M and a advisor. And, you know, he was. He heard that used acquire.com. would you recommend us or what would you say?

I'll just put my hat on. I'll be like, yeah, you know, absolutely. And that's why I'm here, I guess. Is that pragmatically, it's probably not as great for my business to say, hey, guys, go to. Go to acquire.com. like, come to me. But for me, I've got that abundance mindset of the more we do, the more awareness we have, the easier forward.

To more transactions with you. But last question for you. So if people want to learn more.

About you, we make it for people, the more gets done. So for me, it's like, absolutely. Get involved.

Your story, your firm, where can they find you?

Yeah, great question. So I'm on LinkedIn.

This is your opportunity to. Your opportunity to plug yourself.

Yeah, yeah.

So.

So you can get me@pebbleventures.com you can find me on LinkedIn. Tom Ellis. It's a. It's a great headshot there that Gaz has used. Tombleventures.com reach out, ask questions. We don't bite. And we'd love to connect with anyone on here and just see. See where else we can improve that velocity.

Right on. Well, Tom, thanks again for, for everything and congrats.

Do the right thing by, you know, the companies you're representing. Give it a shot, you know, like, it was. It was. It was really, really impressive for me. You know, I've got a huge pipeline of stuff that I will take on that I wouldn't have previously because it means that I can support those people with, like, less direct impact, less outreach, but still help them get a great outcome. Don't get me wrong, I'll make money, but, you know, that's on all the.

Success and acquisitions and looking forward to many more.

Yeah. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you and your team. Thanks so much, guys.

Yep. And then also, before we close this out, just a CTA call to action for anyone that might be listening to this and thinking, you know, I have an M and A firm, I'm working with a number of different businesses. How can I leverage acquire.com Short answer is, you know, reach out, talk to us. You can book a call with our team.

It's, it's an easier path to stuff that is, you know, probably not and.

We'D be happy to go over this. Or you can just go to our website, just go to acquire.com, scroll to the bottom and we not necessarily having.

That like, you know, eight to nine figure stuff that we, we love working.

On, but now launched a partner program specifically for investment banks, M and A advisors, business brokers.

Takes a lot longer.

And then moving on to this question. So in terms of, you know, all right. And again, really our goal is to be the partner that helps you and your clients find transactions, see a close faster than you would without us. And again, if this is the biggest impact aquaticom has on your business, you mentioned it earlier, but I want to hear it again in terms of you and you have a firm where we think that we could help, we're around and we'd love to chat. So that's of, you know, our ability to help you, you know, grow your business. What does that look like? Is it the ability to instead hope you enjoy the rest of your evening and thanks for listening. Cheers everybody.

Thanks guys.

Expanding new markets. Is it bringing on different types of businesses? How if you had to just answer that with like a couple words, what would it be?

I think the probably just to zoom back from that. Like I had to build my firm through Covid having worked with investment banks that were hyper localized. And for me, I saw the opportunity to go global, you know, not have the huge boardroom all the time. You know, I have access to all those things and build a model that has international people that interface with our team. So I sort of built it global first. But if you're, you know, sitting in Montana and you reach is not into Switzerland or you wouldn't even think about it, you've got to do something to open that network for your clients. And I think the acquire.com platform provides optionality global presence and velocity so that you, you know, you're really like on the clock but equally I just pause there and say the deal's got to be of a quality that has interest. Like an ordinary deal is going to get an ordinary price and be hard to close. You know, it's. Yeah. And I think that part of your job as a M and a advisor, investment banker is to manage your clients and do the prep and if it's not a fit, don't take it to market. You know, like, I've turned away huge numbers of things where I've gone, hey, look, it's an interesting business, but we're not the ones to sell this. Like, your expectation is way outside of what the market will pay, you know, if you grow revenue to here or you, you know, stop ripping money out. And look at it this way. Yeah, there's appetite, but if you, you know, just because you've spent 7 million doesn't mean the market's going to pay a multiple of what you've spent.

Nope, I haven't seen that. I think a lot of founders wish that, but unfortunately, no. All right, Tom. Well, it's been a pleasure just hearing your story, and I'm super excited to continue this partnership. And I always say our success is your success. So I'm glad everything worked out and looking forward to more transactions with you. But last question for you. So if people want to learn more about you or your story, your firm, where can they find you?

Yeah, great question. So I'm on LinkedIn.

This is your opportunity to. Your opportunity to plug yourself.

Yeah, yeah.

So.

So you can get me@pebble ventures.com. you can find me on LinkedIn. Tom Ellis. It's a. It's a great headshot there that Gaz has used. Tom.pebble ventures.com. reach out, ask questions. We don't bite. And we'd love to connect with anyone on here and just see. See where else we can improve that velocity.

Right on. Well, Tom, thanks again for. For everything, and congrats on all the success and acquisitions and looking forward to many more.

Yeah, thanks, guys. Appreciate you and your team. Thanks so much, guys.

Yep. And then also, before we close this out, just a CTA call to action.