The SMB Investor
The SMB Investor
Podcast Description
Forget startups. Forget climbing the corporate ladder.
The real path to wealth? Owning profitable small businesses.
Hosted by Sean Smith and Nick Bryant, The SMB Investor dives into how investors, operators, and dealmakers are building wealth through small business acquisitions, syndicates, and holding companies.
We talk to the pros—fund managers, investors, searchers, and service providers—who are making SMB investing the next big asset class.
Whether you want to invest, operate, or build your own holding company, this podcast is your playbook.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a range of content themes centered on small business investing, including evaluating small business acquisitions, building supportive communities for entrepreneurs, and the nuances of creating a profitable SMB portfolio. Specific episodes highlight important factors such as Quality of Earnings evaluations, effective community building for success, and strategies for distinguishing successful SMB investing approaches.
Forget startups. Forget climbing the corporate ladder.
The real path to wealth? Owning profitable small businesses.
Hosted by Sean Smith and Nick Bryant, The SMB Investor dives into how investors, operators, and dealmakers are building wealth through small business acquisitions, syndicates, and holding companies.
We talk to the pros—fund managers, investors, searchers, and service providers—who are making SMB investing the next big asset class.
Whether you want to invest, operate, or build your own holding company, this podcast is your playbook.
In this interview, Sean Smith, Managing Partner of Search Fund Ventures and Founder of the SMB Investor Network, sits down with Robert Graham, Co-Founder of SIG Partners and Co-Founder of Pillar Health Group.
Robert shares his journey from HBS to building a healthcare group that grew from $6M in revenue to $130M+, powered by both organic growth and acquisitions.
Together, Sean and Robert unpack:
- The evolution of self-funded search and the role of SBA financing.
- A new SBA policy that could permanently ban investors with prior 7A loan defaults — and its ripple effects on entrepreneurs, lenders, and small business owners.
- Investor diligence: debt service coverage, leverage, IRR vs. MOIC, and why “step-ups” can be misleading.
- Industry heuristics: how to think about recurring revenue, installation, and construction risk in trades and building services businesses.
- What investors should consider when evaluating cost of capital, revenue buckets, and risk-adjusted returns.
This conversation highlights both the opportunities and challenges ahead for searchers, operators, and investors in the SMB ecosystem.
👉 Subscribe for more interviews with leading investors and operators in SMBs.
💬 Share your thoughts in the comments — how do you see SBA changes impacting the space?
Connect with the speakers:
- Robert Graham (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertelliotgraham/
- SIG Partners: sigpartners.com
- Pillar Health Group: https://www.pillarhealthgroup.com/
- Sean Smith (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-smith-47ab2a70/
- SMB Investor Network: https://www.smbinvestornetwork.com/
Disclaimer
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