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January 19, 2026   |   Read Online The Unfair Advantage in Acquisitions It's available to everyone Welcome to the JackQuisitions newsletter, If you want to buy and scale businesses (or even just survive your first acquisition), you need other operators around you. Fortunately, there are plenty of peer groups and masterminds that can serve as your unfair advantage. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Ready For Your Next Acquisition? Check out these acquisition opportunities that caught my eye this week: A Florida Treasure Coast HVAC business, established in 2007, listed for $550,000, generating approximately $815,000 in gross revenue and $447,000 in cash flow (SDE), with a recurring revenue model driven by active service agreements and repeat customers in a year-round high-demand climate. A full-service plumbing business in Western Wisconsin, listed for $6M, generating approximately $6,871,997 in gross revenue and $1,190,115 in cash flow, with an absentee owner structure, 30+ years of operating history, and a strong reputation. An established and profitable electrical contracting business in Northampton County (Lehigh Valley), Pennsylvania, listed for $135,000, with approximately 75% of annual work coming from repeat customers. Don't Lose The Deal Because Your Lender Is Slow Good deals don't die in due diligence. They die when the buyer can't move fast. If you're trying to buy a business in 2026, you need your financing lined up before the broker starts shopping the next offer. That's why I send buyers to Alan Peterson at First Internet Bank. Alan specializes in SBA 7(a) acquisition loans and he's the rare lender who: actually picks up the phone helps structure the deal and pushes it through to closing SBA 7(a) snapshot: Up to $5M Up to 10-year terms (business acquisition) Up to 25-year terms (owner-occupied real estate) If you're serious about buying this year, here's the move 👇️  Contact Alan Online The Power Move Most New Operators Miss Most people step into home service acquisitions thinking the hard part is the deal. Finding the right business. Securing the lender. Negotiating terms. Getting to closing. That is hard. But it's not what breaks most first-time buyers. What breaks them is what happens after the ink dries. When you're carrying payroll, customer expectations, lender pressure, and personal guarantees, all while trying to learn a brand new industry in real time. And if you don't have other operators around you, you end up doing the most dangerous thing possible: solving complex problems alone. That's why this conversation with Rand Larson (Scale Path) stuck with me. Rand built Scale Path after seeing firsthand how isolated most new owners are, and how quickly that isolation turns into expensive mistakes. The Moment This Got Real Rand told a story that should make every first-time buyer pause. He met an operator who bought a large HVAC company doing roughly $18M in annual revenue. From the outside, it looked like a clean success story. But the timing couldn't have been worse. The deal closed in late 2021 / early 2022. Then interest rates spiked, bank payments increased, builders paused projects, and payments slowed. At the same time, the business had internal issues the new owner didn't fully understand yet: estimating problems, operational issues, and weak financial reporting that masked how fast things were unraveling. By the end of year one, the owner had lost almost $2M, burned through working capital, and the stress spilled over into his personal life. Rand said the most painful part was that he couldn't solve the problems — he just happened to be the only person in the room who could understand what the owner was carrying. That moment became the blueprint: owners don't just need advice. They need other owners. Why Peer Groups Actually Work This episode wasn't really "about masterminds." It was about something more practical: operator proximity. Most buyers entering home service are talented and ambitious — but many aren't trade lifers. They're ex-W2 leaders, middle-market managers, or finance backgrounds who got tired of building someone else's business. Then they buy into plumbing, HVAC, septic, electrical, or other fragmented industries and quickly realize the same thing: They don't have a playbook. And they don't have a bench of people to call. That's where peer groups win. They close two gaps most operators underestimate: the information gap and the loneliness gap. You get tactical answers from people who have already solved the exact issues you're facing, and you get a place to unload the pressure without putting it on your spouse, team, or friends. Rand framed it as a 90/10 balance: 90% P&L-relevant problem solving, 10% therapy. That 10% matters more than most people admit. The Startup Lesson That Changed The Model One of the most useful parts of the conversation was Rand talking about what didn't work. In the early days, he made peer groups too broad. It felt logical at the time: put ambitious owners into a room and let them help each other. And yes — everyone wanted to help. But advice only works when it's specific. If a plumber is dealing with dispatch, ServiceTitan workflows, conversion rates, flat-rate pricing, or capacity issues, it doesn't really help when the room is full of e-comm and software founders. So the model shifted. The groups that worked best were built around shared context: similar revenue size similar business models similar personalities and ambitions That's when the conversations stopped being abstract and started becoming directly actionable. The Unfair Advantage Of Getting Deal #1 Done The biggest signal from the entire episode might've been this: Scale Path has around 60 members who have acquired businesses, and about 20–25 of those have already acquired multiple businesses. That number is shockingly high. And the reason is something I've seen over and over too: The first acquisition is the hardest. The next ones are easier. Once you've closed a deal, everything changes. Brokers recognize you. Sellers trust you more. You stop being perceived as a tire kicker. You have credibility, pattern recognition, and you can speak from experience instead of theory. In other words: deal #1 creates momentum. After that, the machine gets faster. A Quiet Warning For Anyone Buying A "Community" Business Rand also shared a warning that applies far beyond masterminds. Community businesses are trust businesses. And trust is often attached to a person. So if you buy one, the biggest risk is obvious: the founder exits and members leave with them. You didn't buy a list — you bought relationships. Without continuity, it can collapse. Rand's advice was simple and worth stealing: First, look for a customer acquisition funnel that doesn't rely entirely on personal brand. If the only reason new members join is "because of the founder," you're buying something fragile. Second, keep the seller involved post-acquisition. Ideally they roll equity and stay visible for members — Slack engagement, office hours, webinars — so relationships transfer gradually instead of snapping overnight. What Comes Next Rand said Scale Path is hitting the inflection point now. He's still the facilitator for most of the groups, but capacity is running out. The next phase is building repeatable leadership, such as bringing on 2–3 coaches, expanding groups through those coaches, and testing an in-person peer group market with a launch event model they can replicate. He also hinted at where this goes long-term: Scale Path becomes a platform that helps other business coaches run peer groups — essentially becoming a sales and marketing engine for high-quality operator communities. Why This Matters For You If you're an operator, the lesson is clear: You don't need more motivation. You need proximity. This job isn't hard because the information is impossible to find. It's hard because the weight compounds, and too many owners carry it alone. The fastest way to stay sharp, stay stable, and stack wins is to build a room around you. A handful of operators who understand the burden and can help you solve real problems in real time. Not followers. Not content. Not "networking." A room. That's how you stop guessing. That's how you stop isolating. And that's how you start stacking momentum. Tell Me What You're Thinking There's no point going at it alone when there's so much help to be had. Agree? Disagree? Reply with your thoughts. How do you feel about today's JackQuisitions newsletter? 👍 👎 😐 Disclosure: Some of the content and links in this newsletter are sponsored or affiliate links, which means we may receive payment or earn a commission if you click through or purchase. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own. 📺️ Watch JackQuisitions episodes on YouTube 🎧 Listen to JackQuisitions episodes on Apple and Spotify 📰 Subscribe to the Owned and Operated newsletter here 📰 Subscribe to the Entry & Exit newsletter here 📧 Share the JackQuisitions newsletter with a friend   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 JackQuisitions 1501 Commerce Drive Akron, Ohio 44240, United States of America Powered by beehiiv Terms of Service