Ep. 176 Bart Rupert talks about how entrepreneurs can buy their competitors as part of their growth strategy, without investing their own money!
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Bart Rupert has a strong Mergers & Acquisitions background across Fortune 500\\u2019s and startups within industries such as technology, software, energy (oil, gas, and solar), healthcare, real estate, managed services, and construction.
He founded nearly 30 companies, negotiated over $500M in contracts & business deals, grew a corporate start-up from inception to $10M, grew a healthcare company from $8M to $75M, and grew an energy company from $22M to $115M+.
He has made a career buying & selling companies for a living, facilitated the sale of luxury, premium real estate, and taken ownership of companies across three different countries using none of his own money.
Most passionate about
- Today I help entrepreneurs learn how to buy and sell companies for a living. The reason we do that is because, statistically, 88% of all new wealth in the world is created by selling small medium-size businesses and real estate.
- I started off extremely poor. We couldn\\u2019t make rent or pay bills. I figured out that I should become an executive to achieve a true level of financial freedom. I stepped into that role and had some degree of success.
- However, I then met a guy who was paying himself $365,000 so that he could tell everyone he was making more than a thousand dollars a day. At that moment, I discovered that I should be an entrepreneur and not an executive, to achieve the level of wealth I dreamt of. I looked at this guy and thought, \\u2018I need to start some businesses.\\u2019
- The organization I was working in asked me to work on a special deal and I found out that this entrepreneur was looking to sell the company. I was a major part of these negotiations. We made the deal and I really loved it.
- This entrepreneur ended up making $20 million on that one transaction. Then I realized that selling businesses was what could enable me to reach the wealth I wanted.
Bart\\u2019s career and story
- I\\u2019m the classic immigrant type of achiever. Money is very important. However, what I really love is the achievement. When you help someone sell their business and you can help them change their lives in a way that most people can\\u2019t, that feels fantastic.
- Everybody says that when you make your first million dollars, it feels phenomenal, and it does. But a lot of people also say you\\u2019ll never feel better than that and I would disagree; I think you can recapture that feeling each and every time you achieve an accomplishment, but it\\u2019s got to be something you really love.
- For me, doing that for myself is great and I like that, but I really have fun being able to do it for other people.
Bart\\u2019s best advice for entrepreneurs
- Almost all the entrepreneurs I talk with are focused on growth. And that\\u2019s the right thing to focus on. The issue is that 99% of them focus on organic growth. What we are offering is taking the elevator to reach the same goals instead of using the stairs. Entrepreneurs should consider inorganic growth as part of their strategy.
- You can buy your competitor, their products, their customers, and find a way to merge them into your organization. Through that strategy, you can double or triple your revenue instantly - just by going through the path of an acquisition instead of trying for five or ten years to double or triple your revenue organically.
- Today, it\\u2019s much easier for entrepreneurs to buy their competitors as part of their growth strategy. The best part is that they can do it without their own money.
Biggest failure with customers
- The biggest failure I had with customers over the course of time is communication. And it\\u2019s a big lesson learned. If you are not open and transparent with your customers and if you don\\u2019t communicate with them regularly, you will lose them.
- You should set...'