The Bootstrap Difference

“We are owner-operators who honor the legacies of bootstrapping entrepreneurs by unlocking the potential of the companies they built.”

Investment Approach

  • We are experienced, successful entrepreneurs
  • We have a long-term horizon
  • We provide day-to-day leadership
  • We will partner with entrepreneurs to implement a succession plan

Investment Approach

Size:

  • Revenue from $5 to $10 million
  • EBITDA from $750,000 to $1.5 million

Ownership:

  • Control Preferred

Sectors:

  • Business services, distribution and light manufacturing / assembly
  • Defensible, measurable differentiation or niche market position

Stages:

  • Mature and growth stage companies

Location:

  • Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Colorado

Bootstrap Blog

Bootstrap Capital is Now in Denver

By admin
August 30, 2019 7:22 pm
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John Honney, managing partner of Bootstrap Capital, has moved to the Denver area and is actively working on investment opportunities along the front range of Colorado.

The decision to leave Chicago after more than 20 years was a difficult one. The people of Chicago and throughout Illinois are among the best in the world and the city is the most livable major city in the country.

But, there are certainly issues that are causing a net loss of 161 people per day, according to this Bloomberg article. And, as Bootstrap Capital became involved in more and more opportunities in the Denver metro area, relocating to the area became an imperative.

John’s phone number remains the same, but please note his new address:

7742 S. Eudora Ct. / Centennial, CO 80122

Please let us know when you are in town.

O&W Communications, LLC
Kevin Sander
2040 North Avenue
Sheboygan, WI 53083
(920) 457-8640
www.owcommunications.com
Bootstrap Capital, LLC
John Honney
7742 S. Eudora Ct.
Centennial, CO  80122
(312) 735-7534
www.bootstrap-capital.com

John Honney, managing partner of Bootstrap Capital and individual investors have partnered with the management team of O&W Communications (OWCommunications.com) to acquire the business from its second generation owner-operators.  O&W is a full service dealer of safety, security and communications systems with a loyal customer base throughout much of Wisconsin.

The company traces its roots to a TV antenna installation business founded in 1949 by Phil Oostdyke and Roger Wilke.  Over the years, the company’s service offerings and products have changed substantially, but its focus on customer service has never wavered.  Today, the company takes pride in being the state’s preferred provider of low voltage systems, such as fire alarm, telephone, public address, nurse call, door access and video surveillance systems.

Kevin Sander, President of O&W, stated that the company is extremely well-positioned for growth throughout Wisconsin.  “We have tremendous employees.  Our technicians are extremely competent, and the other team members are all incredibly talented.  Everyone is laser focused on customer service.  With these people and the outstanding products and brands we represent, there are few limitations on what we can do.”

Tim Arnoldi, VP of Safety and Security, added, “I’ve been here for more than 20 years and have never seen the team so energized.  The new ideas and investment brought in by Bootstrap are right on target.  We are all excited about the future.”

“The transition to the new ownership group has been smooth,” said Todd Kuehl, VP of Telecommunications.  “The new owners have partnered with us, just as we partner with our customers.  Given their approach, I am confident we will deliver an even better level of service for years to come.”

About O&W Communications

Based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, O&W Communications traces its roots to 1949, when Peter Oostdyke and Roger Wilke founded a TV antenna installation business.  As the market opportunities changed, so did the company, first adding sound systems and later business telephone systems to its offerings.  Today, the company takes pride in being the state’s preferred provider of low voltage systems, such as fire alarm, telephone, public address, nurse call, door access and video surveillance systems.

The company represents best-in-class products from the industry’s leading OEMs, including Notifier by Honeywell, Valcom, NEC, biamp., Rcare and Open Options, as well as many others.

About Bootstrap Capital

Bootstrap Capital is a Denver-based private equity firm that respects the accomplishments of bootstrapping entrepreneurs and seeks to honor their legacies. The firm grows the companies they built and celebrates the legend of how they built them.  It acquires and operates small business services and distribution companies at a time in their evolution when they could benefit from a change in ownership. Bootstrap Capital’s approach is to build its portfolio deliberately, providing day-to-day leadership for an extended period of time after making an acquisition, thereby providing turnkey succession plans for owners seeking to retire.

Bootstrap Capital Acquires VeriLogic Solutions

By admin
January 2, 2018 4:06 pm
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VeriLogic Solutions, LLC

Matthew Wezner
999 Remington Boulevard, Suite B
Bolingbrook, Illinois  60440
(630) 759-8400
www.veri-logic.com

Bootstrap Capital, LLC

John Honney
1523 W Wolfram Street
Chicago, Illinois  60657
(312) 735-7534
www.old.bootstrap-capital.com

Chicago, IL – January 2, 2018

Bootstrap Capital, a private investment company, and Matthew Wezner have acquired the assets of Veri-Logic, LLC from its founder Bob Hanson.  Now operating as VeriLogic Solutions, LLC, the company is an automation technology integrator that specializes in designing and implementing product genealogy tracking solutions for manufacturers.

Founded in 1989, the company has a long history of providing integrated hardware and software solutions that improve product tracking, quality assurance and product recall efforts in a broad range of industries, including the food, beverage and other packaged goods sectors.

Matt Wezner, president of VeriLogic Solutions, commented, “Bob built a terrific company with fantastic people who work with some of the most sophisticated companies in the world.  I look forward to building on this great legacy and introducing the company to many new customers.”

“After working with Matt Wezner and the Bootstrap team, I am excited about the new business opportunities and growth potential we have,” said Tim Mathieu, VeriLogic Solution’s senior engineer.  “It’s great to know that the company’s values, especially its dedication to the success of customers and employees alike, will continue in the tradition that Bob created.”

“I’m excited to be working with Matt to build VeriLogic into an even greater company.  Matt and I have worked together in other business ventures and I have a lot of confidence in him as an entrepreneur and business leader,” said John DeBlasio, Managing Director of Bootstrap Capital.  “The team at VeriLogic does great work for its customers and we want to make sure they have everything they need to keep doing just that.”

About VeriLogic Solutions

Since 1989, VeriLogic has been on the forefront of industrial identification and product tracking solutions.  Since its inception, the company has provided a completely customized product identification solution that seamlessly integrates and interfaces with existing warehouse management and enterprise systems.  The company’s ability to integrate hardware and software into comprehensive, yet affordable, solutions distinguishes VeriLogic Solutions from the competition and is the reason that it continues to be a valuable supplier to both Fortune 500 and middle market companies.

About Bootstrap Capital

Bootstrap Capital is a Chicago-based private equity firm that respects the accomplishments of bootstrapping entrepreneurs and seeks to honor their legacies. The firm grows the companies they built and celebrates the legend of how they built them.  It acquires and operates small business services and distribution companies at a time in their evolution when they could benefit from a change in ownership.

Bootstrap Capital’s approach is to build its portfolio deliberately, providing day-to-day leadership for an extended period of time after making an acquisition, thereby providing turnkey succession plans for owners seeking to retire.  The firm works with founders who are striving for the next wave of growth and can help right the ship when a company has gotten off course.

Friday After Thanksgiving

By admin
November 27, 2017 10:20 pm
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Friday After Thanksgiving

A nonprofit with which I occasionally volunteer is organizing a trip to Houston in February to help Hurricane Harvey victims.  By then, the headlines will have faded, but the building inspectors will finally be making significant headway in determining which homes are habitable and which ones will need to be torn down.  Only after this critical step can homeowners begin the hard work of rebuilding their houses.

I love how the organization is referring to this service initiative.  It’s calling this effort Friday After Thanksgiving to capture the notion that the hard work of serving communities continues unabated the day after all the organized and well publicized volunteer events on our nation’s official day for gratitude.

What’s this have to do with M&A?

The idea that the hard work continues after the special events and photo ops are over is amazingly applicable to Bootstrap Capital’s investment approach.  We take a Friday After Thanksgiving approach with our portfolio companies insofar as our work to develop and grow them begins the day after closing.  This approach is fundamental to how we honor the legacies of the entrepreneurs who founded our companies and how we build the foundations for their continued success.

The acquisition is not our endgame; the press release is not our goal; the canned kudos from our LinkedIn colleagues are not our objective.  Only when we focus on the blocking and tackling of developing our companies do we eventually achieve our targeted results.  Our experience is that, given the limited resources of the small companies that we buy, there is simply more work to do than our CEOs can accomplish on their own.  As a result, it is imperative that we roll up our sleeves and collaborate with them.

Real Life Examples

It’s been several months since we released one of these email blogs, as marketing took a back seat to working with the companies we own.  During the summer and fall, we were busy closing the acquisition of our second portfolio company, VeriLogic Solutions (www.veri-logic.com) and tackling several Friday After Thanksgiving initiatives at our first portfolio company, Clear Automation (www.clearautomation.com).

Since we acquired Clear Automation almost a year and a half ago, the business has grown more than 50%, undertaken an ERP installation, forged a strategic alliance with an innovative robotic equipment design firm in Europe, purchased the real estate where it operates and added incremental debt financing.  In order to get all of these initiatives done, the principals of Bootstrap Capital have had to provide day-to-day leadership for several of them.

​We understand the importance of a Friday After Thanksgiving mentality and are committed to supporting the management teams at our portfolio companies.  In fact, we view the “lunch bucket” operational assistance we provide as an integral element of our lower middle market investment strategy.

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital.  We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, as well as many other nuances of transacting in the lower middle market.  Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty that can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process.  And, after the sale, we actively participate in the work required to honor the legacies of our companies’ former owners and to build the companies we acquire.

Bubbles Everywhere

By admin
June 14, 2017 1:14 pm
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Bubbles Everywhere

It seems that bubbles are everywhere.  First it was the dotcom bubble in the late 1990s.  Then it was the housing bubble that led to the Great Recession.  Now we hear of bubbles in student loans, government debt and Bitcoin.  Is it possible that the federal government is also causing a bubble in small company valuations?  This question occurred to us when a very capable broker recently explained that he expects to get 1.5x sales for a metal fabrication company with less than $5 million in revenue and significant exposure to the retail sector.

What’s Going On? 

There are various theories on why small company valuations are higher than their historical norms.  According to some people, a slowly growing economy is causing relatively large strategic buyers to acquire even the smallest companies.  The theory is that, because valuation multiples for these companies are so much higher than those of their competitors in the lower middle market, absent other growth opportunities, they are willing to buy small companies and outbid individual and financial buyers in the process.

Others claim that a rising tide is lifting all boats and that higher valuations for large companies are having a sympathetic effect on all company valuations.  As a result, even individual and financial buyers are raising their bids for small companies.  Still another theory is that the market is simply becoming more efficient and the increase in multiples simply reflects a movement toward intrinsic value.

But what if the real reason is that the SBA’s loan programs are so generous that they are artificially inflating small company valuations?  As buyers, we love the SBA’s programs and use them whenever we can.  The extra leverage they provide, as well as their manageable interest rates and amortization schedules, make it easier to stretch on valuation.  But when, for instance, a company’s idiosyncrasies or the dynamics of the sale process preclude us from using an SBA program, we are frequently unable to meet the seller’s expectations.  In these cases, we wonder whether our equity return expectations are too high or whether the SBA really is inflating small company valuations.

Recommendations

Regardless of whether the SBA has caused a bubble, its loan programs are a key reason why many small business owners are able to sell their companies, retire comfortably and ensure the ongoing job security of their employees.  In many situations, especially when a company is not able to attract the interest of strategic buyers, the outcome for sellers will be much improved when they can accommodate a buyer’s occasionally cumbersome use of a government loan program to help finance the acquisition.

The more that sellers appreciate the impact that the availability of debt, regardless of its source, has on a buyer’s valuation, the more willing they may be to work with potential buyers to support their fundraising processes, and ultimately the higher the price their companies may fetch.  During the debt raising process, we encourage all business owners to view buyers less as counterparties and more as partners working to maximize the amount of total capital available for their transactions.

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital.  We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, as well as many other nuances of transacting in the lower middle market.  We work with a number of lenders who offer several different types of financing and endeavor to utilize the capital that best matches both the company and the business owner’s goals.  Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty and can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process.

Patient Persistence

By admin
May 18, 2017 7:54 am
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Patient Persistence

We were recently reminded how easy it is for a buyer to get overlooked in a sale process. We readily admit to having been frustrated on occasion with the responsiveness of sellers or their brokers. But we cannot recall an instance when we were not rewarded for our patient persistence.  Nor are we aware of an instance when we were purposefully ignored. We must keep in mind that the very nature of the marketing efforts for small businesses can trigger responses that overwhelm even the most organized brokers. When we are able to do just that, it is easy to remain persistent, patient and respectful.

What’s Happening Behind the Scenes?

At a recent industry association event, two former business owners each described their experiences during the sale process.  Despite the companies having similar enterprise values, their processes could not have been more different.  One of the owners described a targeted process whereby his agent personally called about 40 potential buyers; and the other owner described a much broader approach with emails going to more than 700 buyers, as well as a post hitting the deal listing services.

Similarly, a broker recently told us about a deal for which he had just gone to market.  In less than 24 hours, his firm had received more than 50 signed non-disclosure agreements from prospective buyers and sent out the company’s confidential information memorandum to every single one of them.

He offered that, in the midst of this near-chaos, the buyers who demonstrate “patient persistence” are frequently rewarded.  It seems gratuitous to add that, given this level of competition, the buyers who fail to follow up, or worse, follow up with “nastygram” emails rarely get a positive response from the broker.

Responsibilities

When we take the time to understand the nature of the process a broker is running and how fully time consuming it can be, it is easy for us to persist calmly and patiently.  We also become keenly aware of our responsibility to screen businesses thoroughly and thoughtfully, pursuing only those which are in keeping with our investment theses and we absolutely want to own.​

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital.  We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, as well as many other nuances of transacting in the lower middle market.  We endeavor to demonstrate patient persistence at all times and commit to pursuing only those companies we honestly want to acquire.  Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty and can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process.

Ideas, Opportunities & Futures

By admin
April 27, 2017 7:36 am
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Ideas, Opportunities & Futures

Almost every company that is for sale seems to have near limitless potential that the current owners just can’t bring themselves to take advantage of.  We routinely review offering documents that list countless opportunities to grow businesses or make them more profitable that, if not for the implied neglect of the current owners, could make the businesses much more valuable. The implication is that we buyers should pay more for these companies, because their futures are brighter than their pasts.

What’s Worth Paying For?

Clearly, there are some projected improvements that have significant value, but others are downright worthless.  What separates a bona fide opportunity from a crack pot scheme?  Generally, the bona fides require skills or resources that the company already possesses and for which the management team has either developed a credible business plan or has already made considerable progress in executing. While there are no specific definitions, we try to characterize future value-adding initiatives as ideas, opportunities and futures.

Ideas:  The most common idea put forth in offering materials is that the new owner could increase sales simply by reaching out to customers in a new market.  The implication is that sales would materialize almost immediately, with little cost, risk or investment.  No matter that these customers are either unswayed by the company’s value proposition or are content with their current suppliers.  For us, an idea has little value and is rarely worth considering in the pricing discussion.

Opportunities:  Opportunities have a little more value, but usually do not have a huge impact on our proposed purchase price at closing.  Rather, we may use a risk-sharing arrangement, such as an earnout, to address a particular opportunity.  Examples include the recent development of a new product or the expectation that, after months of ongoing negotiations, a new customer will sign a multi-year purchase agreement.  In these cases, the company has made significant and credible progress in converting an idea into cash flow, but significant execution risk remains.

Futures:  Futures are almost certain to happen.  When opportunities turn into successes, they also turn into futures.  When a new product successfully completes field trials at a customer’s facility, the future improvement in financial performance is more easily forecasted and infinitely more credible.  For these reasons, we are willing to factor these “futures” into our valuations.

Recommendations

We recommend that advisors help business owners understand the difference between, on the one hand, ideas and opportunities that may make their companies more attractive to buyers, but not necessarily more valuable, and on the other hand, futures that actually increase the value of their businesses.  When business owners can make informed decisions about whether to bring their companies to market now or instead wait until their ideas become opportunities and their opportunities become futures, they are likely to be much happier with the outcomes of their sale processes.

According to Pepperdine University’s 2017 Private Capital Markets Report, 27% of investment bankers’ clients were unable to sell their companies and, in 30% of those instances, the sellers wanted more for their businesses than the buyers were willing to pay.  It is unclear how often these unbridgeable bid-ask spreads resulted from owners ascribing too much value to their ideas and opportunities, but our experience is that it is a common factor when deals fall apart.

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital. We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, as well as many other nuances of transacting in the lower middle market. Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty and can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process.

Even Buyers Get Value from the Broker

By admin
March 29, 2017 7:33 am
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Even Buyers Get Value from the Broker

Small business buyers, and even many sellers, love to complain about brokers and investment bankers. In the midst of a contentious deal, we have heard some epic rants and may have even indulged from time to time ourselves. But the truth is that these advisors bring significant value to the deal process that benefits both buyers and sellers.

How do Brokers Add Value?

Accelerator:  Brokers add credibility to business owners’ processes which causes buyers to act with a sense of urgency and the deals to move more quickly.  Similarly, a broker’s involvement signals to buyers that owners are committed to selling their companies and that they have reasonable valuation (and other) expectations.  Through these signals and by formalizing the sale process, brokers reduce the number of broken deals and make the deal processes more efficient.

Auctioneer:  Brokers are able to bring many potential buyers into a process and have the resources to keep the process moving with several of them at a time, especially early in a process prior to the execution of a letter of intent.  While buyers would prefer not to have to compete for deals, the resulting increase in price may be a fair trade-off for the deal process efficiencies brokers provide.

Diplomat:  It may be counterintuitive that an aggressive broker can keep the peace.  By leading the negotiations, however, a broker can preserve the seller’s role as “good cop” and protect the relationship between the buyer and seller, who frequently must work together following deals in the lower middle market.

Detective:  The smaller the deal the more likely a seller’s advisor will be aware of, and may have relationships with, more potential buyers than the business owners previously knew.  But even in larger deals, it is rare that an M&A advisor cannot materially expand the list of serious buyer candidates.  It is their job to understand the acquisition strategies of as many buyers as possible.  The good ones do this well and help both buyers and sellers find each other.

Recommendations

Despite our endless search for the unshopped deal, we do recommend that all business owners who intend to sell their companies should retain an M&A advisor or a broker. We reluctantly admit that, while the sellers reap the most benefit from a broker’s involvement, we buyers also benefit. It is important, though, that business owners run a fulsome evaluation process so that they identify and ultimately retain the advisor who is most qualified and experienced in selling businesses similar to theirs. An unqualified or inexperienced broker can destroy as much value as a good one can create.

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital. We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, as well as many other nuances of transacting in the lower middle market. Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty and can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process. We also understand the roles that brokers play in sale process and appreciate each and every deal they bring to our attention.​

Working Capital Confusion

By admin
March 8, 2017 7:28 am
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Working Capital Confusion

In the transactions we pursue, the negotiations concerning working capital are often the most difficult. It can be easier to settle on the overall purchase price than to agree on how to treat working capital. We can spend weeks working through the theory of why a going concern needs working capital to operate, agreeing on how to calculate it and setting a net working capital target. More than once, we have had to bid for only the hard and intangible assets of a business in order to avoid the discussions around working capital altogether.

Why is Working Capital so Troublesome?

It is unclear exactly why working capital is such a troublesome topic in the lower middle market, but there seem to be a confluence of factors all playing a role.

  1. Working capital is not something an entrepreneur actively seeks to create.  Rather, it’s something that naturally develops in the business and may not get much attention along the way;
  2. Working capital is not reflected as a single line item on the financial statements, nor is it a fixed investment number.  Rather it is comprised of many accounts which can be volatile, especially in project-based or seasonal industries. As a result, it is hard to think about it in summarized and static terms;
  3. Sellers feel like they have “earned” the net investment in working capital and do not think of that investment in the same terms as the investment they made in equipment;
  4. Business education tends to focus much more heavily on how to value companies than the composition of the balance sheets needed to operate their underlying businesses; and
  5. Some brokers representing the smallest businesses began their careers as, or may primarily still be, real estate agents who have limited experience with the operating businesses.

Why Not Buy the Business Without Working Capital?

The simplest solution can be to bid for just the fixed and intangible assets and let the sellers keep the working capital.  We have done that, for instance, by offering a price for the “base businesses” and also to buy the inventory balance at closing for book value.  This can help avoid the confusion around working capital, but it is not ideal.

One problem is that it can make our bids look lower than other offers.  When we bid for the base business, we simply subtract the working capital target amount from our enterprise value.  If other bidders are bidding for all the assets, their bids may appear more attractive.  And, if we get a chance to explain why our bid is lower, it may open up the whole working capital discussion we were hoping to avoid.

The other problem is more operational in nature.  After we purchase a company, we want to control the interactions with customers.  In asset deals, when we are opening new bank accounts, we also want to minimize the confusion about where to send payments.  When we do not purchase the working capital, the sellers sometimes feel entitled to receiving customer payments and are less willing to let us collect them on their behalf, creating confusion among the customers.

Recommendations

We do not know of a silver bullet for negotiating working capital. Our perspective is that it is a topic that simply requires patience, dialogue and flexibility. We believe that industry associations and accreditation authorities could make considerable headway in reducing the time dedicated to working capital negotiations by developing educational material and other resources for sellers, buyers and brokers alike.

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital.  We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, including the issues surrounding working capital.  Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty and can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process.

The Many Roles of Seller Paper

By admin
February 8, 2017 8:13 am
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The Many Roles of Seller Paper

In the lower middle market, sellers have become increasingly willing to accept a note for a portion of the purchase price for their companies.  In fact, the smaller the deal, the more common this so called “seller paper” seems to be.  Our experience, however, is that business owners do not always understand why seller paper is so important to the buyer.  It seems as though advisors are simply telling their clients that they will need to help finance the deal and business owners are accepting that guidance at face value.

Why is Seller Paper So Important?

When it comes to deals for the smallest of companies, where buyers tend to be individuals who are in the market to “buy a job,” seller paper may indeed be needed to help the buyer finance the acquisition.  In slightly larger transactions, however, buyers are more likely to have sufficient capital, but have other equally important reasons for using seller paper.

We see two principle reasons why buyers require the sellers to finance part of the transaction.  The first is alignment of incentives.  In short, if payment of a meaningful amount of the purchase price is dependent on the future creditworthiness of the company, sellers are generally more willing to put forth the effort necessary to transition the business to the buyer and to help the buyer work through any issues the business might encounter.

In larger deals, it is more common to seek alignment with an earnout or by having the seller retain a minority equity stake.  In smaller deals, however, this approach can be problematic.  Exiting entrepreneurs and the new owner-operators may refuse to partner with each other; sellers may need the cash to replace their salaries; and in deals financed through the SBA, these mechanisms are specifically prohibited.

The second reason is more pragmatic.  In the event that the seller misrepresents the state of the business in the purchase agreement and the buyer has a valid indemnification claim, the note can be (i) the only source of leverage to bring the seller to the negotiating table and (ii) potentially the only asset that the buyer can legitimately expect to access for settlement of that claim.  Additionally, the risk that future claims could reduce the size of the note is a powerful incentive for the seller to provide honest disclosure about the business during the due diligence period and in the purchase agreement.

Recommendations

As business owners have become more accepting of the role of seller paper in lower middle market transactions, negotiations have become less contentious.  But we believe that the advisors can help the negotiations go even more smoothly by educating their clients about all the reasons buyers insist on seller financing.  And when businesses have multiple owners, advisors can help their clients see a note as a way to manage their own liability.  Faced with a future indemnification claim, for instance, it might be much easier for them to reduce the face value of a note than to chase each individual seller for his/her share.

Bootstrap Capital

If you are aware of business owners who would like to sell their companies, please consider introducing them to Bootstrap Capital.  We are keenly in tune with the issues business leaders face when they decide to sell their companies, as well as many other nuances of transacting in the lower middle market.  Bootstrap Capital is a patient counterparty and can be a constructive partner in helping sellers through the sale process.