Emanuel Ruiz listed his business for $2.2 million expecting traditional investors. Instead, nearly all 20 callers were corporate employees from Amazon and Uber with 401(k)s who wanted to quit their jobs and buy it with an SBA loan, despite having no experience running a business.
This year I listed one of my businesses for sale for $2.2 million, and I thought before I listed this business, I was going to get a bunch of mom-and-pop investors, maybe some private equity, maybe some investment banking. But the people that were interested in wanting to buy my business will actually surprise you. And this business I was selling is SBA eligible, meaning for the last 3 years we have consistent tax returns, underwriting standards, For somebody to walk into this business with 10 to 20% down and get the rest with federal funding. And I kid you not, 90% of these people— and I had around 20 phone calls that I went through— were just regular 9-to-5 corporate employees with $300,000, $400,000 in their 401 that they hated their jobs so much That they're willing to literally put their 401 to zero, and on top of that, have a personal guarantee that they'll be able to pay back this loan in 10 years. And it's funny because I would ask them like, hey, do you have any operational experience in this line of business? Or are you in a type of mentorship where someone's going to be able to help you out? Or do you know of any agencies that can take over to help you? With this actual business? And all of them said no. They stated like, hey, I've been working for Amazon my entire life, or hey, I've been working for Uber my entire life. And they hate their job so much that they're willing to bet the house on leaving it.
