This week, I sat down with Savannah Rush, Managing Partner at Funded Ventures.

Savannah went from McKinsey consultant to owner-operator of Midway Electric in Columbia, Missouri.

She and her partner Brian Wolf (who I interviewed previously) have closed two home services deals and are laser focused on building a long-term holding company.

She's not aiming to flip or exit. Her goal is to build a compounding machine.

Here are some of the highlights from the deep dive:

🔥 How she went from "ETA skeptic" to running an electrical company in a market where she doesn't exactly look like the typical president

🔥 The state of the business when they bought it (everything was on paper, hourly rates were 40% below market, and the owners were barely holding on)

🔥 How they turned it around in months, including the pricing conversation with the team that actually got buy-in

🔥 Why they're willing to go "super, super small" on acquisitions when everyone else says to go bigger

Here's her must-watch breakdown...

She also shared some things I don't hear enough people admit out loud:

❓ Why she was nervous about stepping into the role

❓ The one thing her McKinsey background didn't prepare her for

❓ Why "being involved in the community" has become one of their biggest unlocks for finding proprietary deals

Michael and his partner, Ashish, only buy businesses that are $5M+ in EBITDA (way above the SBA limit).

He aims to buy a new one every year.

And the last two he bought, were completely off market.

To that point, 90% of his sourcing is off-market.

No BizBuySell. No broker bidding wars. Just relationships built over time at conferences, through colleagues, and by doing a lot of outreach.

But we’ll get to that. First, a little bit of background…

Michael is an Air Force veteran and former private equity analyst.

He and his partner run Skyline Partnership, a holding company with two acquisitions: a cybersecurity software developer and an HVAC company doing $13-15M in revenue.

They’re aiming to build a holding company that they can pass off to their children. One that’s built to last. And they’re just getting started.

And in today’s interview, we dive into a few topics:

🔥 The off-market sourcing playbook that's landed both of their deals (no brokers involved)

🔥 How many companies you actually have to reach to close one deal a year at their scale (the number might surprise you)

🔥 Why they send direct mail to business owners in target geographies (and what actually gets through)

🔥 The CRM habit that keeps cold leads alive until they're ready

Here's his must-watch breakdown...

He also shared some tactical advice I don't hear often:

❓ Why he thinks most searchers are "too agreeable" with brokers (and how to push back)

❓ What to do when a seller says "not interested" (hint: don't delete them)

❓ The industries he's most bullish on right now (they’re not the ones you usually hear)

And moments like this...

— Michael
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You've probably done this…

You found a listing you liked. You sent the NDA. Maybe you even fired off a quick note about your background and the things you’d like to learn.

Then... nothing.

A week later, the deal’s under LOI. No call back, no response to your request.

Here's what you didn't see:

That listing probably got 65 inquiries in the first few days. Of those, 10 of them came in prepared.

The rest never got a serious look. Not because they weren't qualified but because they didn’t understand how to cut through the noise and get the broker’s attention.

This week I sat down with a broker who's going to show you exactly what happens on the other side of a business acquisition.

Alejandra has been doing this for years. She started in Miami, sold her first business in 4 months, got recruited into Deloitte's M&A practice, and recently joined our team as an M&A advisor inside the Pro program.

She's seen hundreds of deals and dealt with countless buyers. Most of them make the same mistakes.

Here’s are some of the highlights from the deep dive:

🔥 Alejandra goes through what the first 48 hours look like from the broker’s perspective when a hot listing goes up

🔥 She shares the three documents she needs before she'll present you to a seller. (Most buyers only send one)

🔥 She shares loads of war stories on deals that went bad and what you can learn form them

🔥 And she pulls back the curtain on why brokers often don’t return calls, why ‘cash offers only’ listings are usually not serious, and how you can stand out from the crowd when competing for a popular business.

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