21 Oct Small SDE, Big Upside: Buying a Business with 5 Employees
Today’s interview with Kristiana Laugen is another story of buying small. The pool cleaning business she acquired in southern California was just 5 people. $300k in SDE. There are a few angles to listen for today as we unpack Kristiana’s comfort in buying a business well below the SDE threshold that the conventional wisdom would advise: age of the business; growing the business, and how it should be faster to grow a low-SDE business than an already-high SDE business; and finally, vision. We might see a tiny, 5-person pool business. Kristiana sees the raw ingredients for a much larger enterprise. As it happens, she has a track record of diving into a challenging, unglamorous project that others wouldn’t touch — and making it a head-turning success. So now, when people scratch their heads about her decision to leave her career and buy this blue-collar business, she refers to the same pattern: “Yeah, it might come off a bit odd,” she says, “but I just have a lot of confidence in myself and in the business and where I think I can take it, so I think it’ll hit a lot different in a few years.” Please enjoy this interview with Kristiana Laugen, owner of RD Pools, Spas & Fountains.
