13 Jul Acquiring Minds: Escaping the J-Curve in a $700k SDE Ecom Business
Ecommerce was probably the hottest category for entrepreneurial business buyers when I started Acquiring Minds back in 2021. In those peak-Covid days, ecommerce demand was surging, and we all wanted a business we could run remotely. Well ecommerce fell back to earth pretty hard, and there aren’t nearly as many ecom business acquisition stories these days. So I was eager to hear the story of today’s guest, Chris Farkas. Chris bought EmergencyKits.com, a business that seems to defy many of the weaknesses commonly associated with ecommerce — consumer focus, platform risk, lack of differentiation. And with about $700k of SDE and 9 employees, it was the right size for a self-funded SBA searcher. Note, Chris had to figure out that SDE number on his own. Listen for how the seller’s cash accounting made calculating the business’s true profitability a challenge. Also listen for Chris’s brutal J-curve, and how he finally got to the right side of that “J”. Finally listen for Chris’s experience owning a business that requires a 3-hour door-to-door flight to reach. He’s made it work, but not without personal costs. Here he is, Chris Farkas, owner of EmergencyKits.com.
