Still Searching with Jed Morris

About Still Searching with Jed Morris

Still Searching is an exploration of entrepreneurship through acquisition, examining the gap between theory and practice in lower middle-market business transactions. Host Jed Morris conducts in-depth interviews with practitioners across the acquisition ecosystem: SBA lenders, M&A attorneys, business brokers, search fund investors, independent sponsors, CPAs, and searchers at every stage of the process. Each conversation unpacks the structural, financial, and operational realities that determine transaction outcomes. jedmorris.substack.com (https://jedmorris.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Jed Morris

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Aug 2024

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

15 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   What’s the Quality of Your Earnings? (LIVE with Caleb Basile)

   Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   16 Mar 2026

   Andrew Engram: Independent Sponsor Lessons from a Deal That Fell Apart

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, independent sponsor Andrew Engram of Lightning Rod Capital breaks down what it actually takes to buy lower middle market companies when you raise capital deal by deal. Andrew's road runs from walking on to the Texas A&M football team to managing offshore drilling projects in Scotland, Rotterdam, and Korea, to getting laid off in the oil crash and rebuilding through an MBA, a stack of VC rejections, and a co-founded boutique investment bank. Then he left to build his own firm. His first deal as a sponsor was a natural gas measurement company in West Texas. He spent eight months on it, talked to over 400 capital providers, found exactly one family office willing to move, and then watched performance fall off a cliff. He walked away carrying the diligence bill and the lessons. Those lessons are the meat of this one. Do not try to win a banked auction as an independent sponsor. Do not underwrite peak EBITDA and call it normal. Know who runs the company post close before you fall in love with the deal. And remember the line Jed gives every buyer: you have a buy box, but lenders have a lend box. A buyer walks away with: how the independent sponsor model really works, how to pressure test a deal with a personal board of advisors before going to market, and why capital raising is won in person, not over Zoom. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/independent-sponsor-lessons-andrew-engram Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ7giA19G_E Connect with Andrew Engram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewengram19/ Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   16 Nov 2025

   Renan Cortez: $8M Restoration Business, 100% Seller Financing, Zero Down

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, Army veteran Renan Cortez explains how he bought an $8 million restoration business with 100% seller financing and zero money down, and what happened when it all came apart two years later. The deal itself is a masterclass. An off-market find, a QoE before terms, and a negotiation at a diner where buyer and seller worked one calculator together until they landed on 7% over 12 years. No bank. No broker. A page and a half with ketchup stains that a lawyer turned into a 74-page APA. Then the part the highlight reels skip. Revenue slid from six million to two, and it was not organic. A $600,000 MCA loan demanded 12 grand a week. Payroll came out of his own pocket until it could not. And at the lowest point of his life, a phone call from an old military buddy arrived at the right moment. Renan handed the business back for a dollar, went back to corporate, and started rebuilding. His verdict is not what you expect: the seller financing is not what failed him. The structure that saved him from the bank also gave the sellers a reason to want the business back. A buyer walks away with: how to negotiate seller terms side by side instead of across the table, why 100% seller financing can tempt a seller to default you, the MCA trap to avoid, and the community rule that saves more than deals. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/8m-seller-financing-renan-cortez Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29H-f9Yr58I Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

4. 

   5 Nov 2025

   Six Real Stories of Small Business Failure with Andrew Hoffman | Halloween

   For Halloween, Still Searching with Jed Morris joins Andrew Hoffman of the Search Fund Coalition for Tales from the Search Crypt: six real stories of small business acquisitions that ended in the graveyard. A $20 million healthcare deal that lost most of its EBITDA nine months after close. A 100% seller-financed plumbing buy that turned into a fight over $600,000 in receivables. A star salesman who turned out to be the most toxic person in the building, holding half the revenue hostage. A parts manufacturer that tripled capacity on cheap money right before the market normalized. A searcher so deal fatigued he hoped his own QoE would come back bad. And a seller who built a copycat business across town before the ink dried. Names changed, industries pivoted. The settlements and NDAs are exactly why you never hear these stories. This is not scare content. It is preparation. Do not overlever, because a 1.5 DSCR feels comfortable and is not. Know the incentives of everyone on your deal team. And never close with a seller you do not trust. Jed ends where most people will not go: what insolvency does to the person holding the personal guarantee, and why losing money is not losing everything. A buyer walks away with: the failure patterns that repeat across deals, the leverage and trust rules that keep you out of the graveyard, and the reminder that in year one your only job is to not fail. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/small-business-failure-stories-halloween Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIzF_b7xmGg Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

5. 

   25 May 2025

   Sergeant to CEO: Marine Michael Johnson Buys a Sign Shop with an SBA Loan

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, Marine Corps veteran Michael Johnson breaks down how he bought SpeedPro, a wide-format print and sign shop near Raleigh, with an SBA loan, then bolted on a second shop with 100% seller financing. Michael's path was not a weekend course. It was Fallujah as an infantry NCO, restaurant floors, five years running a metal fab shop, crane and rigging operations, and a stretch as a full-time financial writer. By the time he found SpeedPro on BizBuySell, he knew his numbers cold: two years of expenses banked, not two years of salary, and $50,000 liquid before he let himself look. He wrote a one-page buyer profile, got a banker on the phone, and went from first conversation to a closed deal without a guru in sight. Then the part most first-time buyers never hear. Every employee stayed. Raises and paid holidays on day one. And when the sign shop across the parking lot needed an exit, Michael structured a 100% seller-financed acquisition, a tool that works when you already own the cash flow, not when you are broke. A buyer walks away with: how to size your runway in expenses instead of salary, why a one-page buyer profile opens doors, what day-one retention actually looks like, and when seller financing is a tool instead of a trap. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/sergeant-to-ceo-michael-johnson Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7fg94YqyF8 Connect with Michael Johnson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keeptrading/ Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

6. 

   5 May 2025

   Financial Due Diligence Secrets Behind M&A Deals with Jonathan Hutchins

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, M&A financial due diligence pro Jonathan Hutchins pulls back the curtain on what actually happens between LOI and close. Jonathan is a CPA who cut his teeth in audit at EY before moving to the diligence side, and he now works deals from a $300K enterprise value all the way up to nearly $100M. His take: deal size matters less than you think. Industry drives the complexity, and the same landmines show up at every level. Jed and Jonathan walk the fundamentals a first-time buyer has to command: revenue trend, gross profit against industry benchmarks, costs miscoded between COGS and SG&A, customer concentration, and the key man whose relationships walk out the door with him. Then the sharper edges: owner personal expenses buried across a dozen GL accounts, add-backs that are secretly marketing spend, and the purchase agreement definitions that quietly erase the value your QoE found. About 70 percent of the time the EBITDA checks out. You hire the professional for the other 30. And if you will sign for millions in personally guaranteed debt but balk at paying for a QoE, your whole philosophy of risk is skewed. A buyer walks away with: the pre-LOI financial checks to run yourself, the red flag that ends a deal on the spot (data that contradicts management), and the three-person deal team no buyer should close without. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/ma-financial-secrets-jonathan-hutchins Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLV6wOQdmaw Connect with Jonathan Hutchins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangh Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

7. 

   15 Apr 2025

   Why Skipping Quality of Earnings Could Kill Your Deal with Caleb Basile

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, quality of earnings specialist Caleb Basile breaks down the financial due diligence that kills more deals than anything else in business buying. Caleb is a CPA who left the Baker Tilly audit track to do QoE work full time, and he ran 57 of these reports last year on deals from $1M to $50M in revenue. His estimate: when a deal dies in diligence, roughly eight out of ten times it dies on the financials, not the legal. Jed and Caleb get into the machinery most first-time buyers avoid because it feels uncomfortable: the three sections of a QoE, why reconciliations come first (and why Caleb charges half if the deal dies there), the add-backs that never pass the test, and the concentration risks hiding in QuickBooks. Then the math that ends the debate. If adjusted EBITDA comes back at $700K instead of the $1M the broker claimed, at a 4X multiple that is $1.2M you almost overpaid. A QoE is not a checkbox. It is the cheapest insurance in your deal. A buyer walks away with: the three reconciliations to demand before anything else, the add-back tests that separate real earnings from wishful math, and a working grasp of net working capital, capex, and the cash conversion cycle. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/quality-of-earnings-caleb-basile Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE5zluwZfXk Connect with Caleb Basile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qoeprep Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

8. 

   11 Apr 2025

   Business Purgatory: What They Don't Tell You About Buying a Business

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, Jed goes solo on business purgatory: what nobody tells you about actually owning and operating the small business you buy. Not the dramatic failure stories. The quieter trap. Profitable on paper, stuck in real life. Jed has had this exact conversation 20 times in the last couple of months with buyers who did everything right and still hate the job they bought. He walks through the frustrations searchers never price in: a workforce that cannot relate to you, geography that pins you to one city for years, professional growth that stalls out, and debt service that makes walking away impossible. Then the live Q&A gets tactical: the accidental roll-up Jed stumbled into with his own landscaping company, how to vet gurus, why a business partnership needs a prenup (it is called your operating agreement), and the hard truth that a purchase agreement is not protection, it is a platform to sue. Jed bought a business, it failed, and it wiped him out financially. This is the conversation he wishes someone had with him before he signed. A buyer walks away with: a real test for business buyer fit, one cheap move that de-risks your industry choice (shadow an owner who already bought in it), and a sober read on SBA default risk, settlement NDAs, and what your contract can and cannot do. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-buying-a-business Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLHzj2G8Ln0 Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

9. 

   7 Apr 2025

   Business Broker John Rodriguez on What First-Time Buyers Get Wrong

   On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, Austin business broker John Rodriguez opens the books on how brokers actually size up first-time business buyers. John is not theorizing. He grew up in his family's St. Louis restaurant group, ran it, exited in 2021, then spent 12 months as an SBA-prequalified searcher in Austin and never closed a deal. Now he sits on the other side of the table as managing broker at the Ventura Group. The whole episode is myth demolition. The $55K general manager who runs the business while you keep your day job: John will tell you that math nets out to what dishwashers make, and to budget 150 on that line instead. No money down: reserved for buyers who share DNA with the owner, or businesses two minutes from liquidation. The safe industry: he would rather back a good owner in a tough industry than a mediocre business in a hot one. And the seller who always takes the highest bid: John has watched owners take 2.2 from a searcher they trusted over 3 from a PE group they did not. A buyer walks away with three things: how to be the buyer a seller picks when you cannot be the highest offer, why trust beats every clause in your purchase agreement, and where to hunt when every listed deal is priced past your DSCR. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/business-broker-insights-john-rodriguez Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6yPlFWBtIo Connect with John Rodriguez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-rodriguez-atx/ Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

10. 

    25 Mar 2025

    The Reality of Buying a Franchise: Brandon Beachy on FDDs and Territories

    On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, former Atlanta Braves pitcher Brandon Beachy explains what buying a franchise actually involves, from the FDD to validation calls to the 10-year agreement most buyers never read closely. Brandon blew out his elbow twice, rode minor league buses into his 30s, and walked away terrified of what came next. Then he bought the Nashville territory of Koala Insulation and earned franchisee of the year in his first full year. This is not a franchising commercial. Brandon names the dirty words himself: semi-absentee, executive, hire a GM and keep your day job. His counter is the nanny analogy: you can pay someone to watch your kids nine to five, but they are still your kids. Most franchisees fund the deal through the same SBA 7(a) program as any other buyer, sign the same personal guarantee, and then bolt a 10-year franchise agreement on top of it. The playbook buys you time. It does not buy you out of being the operator. A buyer walks away with three things: how to pressure test an FDD with validation calls to real franchisees, why the franchise fee is a trade of money for time and not a shortcut around work, and how to drop an anchor with a personal mission statement before any broker hands you a menu. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/reality-of-buying-a-franchise-brandon-beachy Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn8kG0-G_vE Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

11. 

    19 Mar 2025

    What I Wish I Knew Before Buying a Laundromat: Keira Hamilton on SBA Loans

    On this episode of Still Searching with Jed Morris, Keira Hamilton breaks down what buying a small business actually demands, from the San Francisco laundromat she bought for $190K in cash to the $300K exit she closed 16 months later without a broker. She has sat in every seat of the deal: buyer, operator, seller, and now SBA loan broker. Most guests can speak to one seat. Keira speaks to all four. She went in expecting a hands-off asset. She got employee churn, surprise shifts behind the machines, and an hour and a half drive every time something leaked on a Saturday. Here's the thing: your business will demand things from you at inconvenient and random times. If a laundromat is not passive, a landscaping or HVAC company certainly is not. Then the table turns. As a seller, Keira asked two questions of every buyer: can you actually close, and can you actually run this business. Most flunked both on the first phone call. A buyer walks away with three things: why post-close liquidity matters more than getting into the deal, how a seller sizes you up before signing an LOI, and why the goal is not avoiding the personal guarantee but finding the deal you are willing to sign for. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/buying-a-laundromat-keira-hamilton Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhDiVohrXOE Connect with Keira Hamilton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keirahamilton/ Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

12. 

    12 Mar 2025

    How Nathan Lindley's HVAC Roll-Up Nearly Failed: The Day Everyone Quit

    On Still Searching with Jed Morris, Nathan Lindley lays out how his HVAC roll-up across Dallas and Austin nearly died before it worked, and what six acquisitions taught him about buying home service companies. Nathan bought his first shop for $850,000 on an SBA 7(a) loan in February 2020, closed a second that November, and spent the next two years listening to technicians who knew how to fix air conditioners but not how to run a company. By March 2022 he was down to $2,000 in the checking account. Then came the worst day of his life. He announced a straight commission pay structure and the entire team quit the same day, leaving one owner covering two locations 220 miles apart. That day was also the turning point. One commission hire started selling three to five thousand dollars a day, and Nathan rebuilt the company around aligned incentives, three calls per tech per day, and his own KPIs. Now he buys traffic, not EBITDA: a customer list for $37,000 out of a bankruptcy, a percentage-of-revenue deal with a widow, a $700,000 SBA expansion loan. Not theory. Deal structures he actually closed. A buyer walks away with: why incentive alignment beats supervision, when to stop buying EBITDA and start buying at bats, and why the team you inherit is rarely the team that grows the company. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/hvac-roll-up-nearly-failed-nathan-lindley Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8zwIdePfRs Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

13. 

    12 Feb 2025

    From West Point to Fueling CEO: Drew Williams' Business Buying Journey

    Still Searching with Jed Morris sits down with Drew Williams, the West Point grad who now runs Harper Fueling Solutions, to map the veteran's path into buying and operating a small service business. Drew did not stumble into the seat. He built toward it: 12 interviews in two days on the way out of the Army, seven years running plant operations at Linde, an executive MBA at Notre Dame with no money out of pocket, and standing up product management at Matheson before the partners who had just bought Harper recruited him as their operator. Then come the operator truths. A profitable family business is not the same thing as a business ready to grow. Paper time cards. Trucks with 200,000 miles on them. Capex the SBA loan never covered. Drew explains why courting a seller is closer to marrying the pastor's only daughter than closing a transaction, why an owner who instantly names a price is a red flag, and why diligence catches sins of commission but misses sins of omission. A buyer walks away with: how to turn a military career into an operator credential, what a real seller relationship looks like before you sign, and the unglamorous first-year changes that make a company founded in 1972 ready to grow again. Full transcript: https://jedmorris.com/podcast/west-point-to-fueling-ceo-drew-williams Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iop4SDc33_s Connect with Drew Williams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewpwilliams/ Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

14. 

    23 Dec 2024

    How a $20M Business Fails: A Conversation with Joe Odell

    In this episode we speak with Joe Odell, the former CEO of Pharmacy Specialists. Joe bought Pharmacy Specialists with his partner after raising a traditional search fund. We discuss how Joe found Pharmacy Specialists, bought the business, and the incredible headwinds he faced during the three years he led the business. This is an incredible behind-the-scenes look at what it's actually like operating a business on the brink of failure. Are you interested in buying a business? Subscribe to the "Still Searching" newsletter here: https://stillsearching.beehiiv.com/subscribe (https://stillsearching.beehiiv.com/subscribe) Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedmorris/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedmorris/) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jedbmorris (https://www.youtube.com/@jedbmorris) Joe Odell's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/odelljoe/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/odelljoe/) Get full access to Still Searching at jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe (https://jedmorris.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

15. 

    28 Aug 2024

    Why You Need a Lawyer | Business Acquisition

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.