Seeking Investors Beginning August 2026
1. Defining our Target Business (Done)
We're targeting an established small business with strong fundamentals: steady revenue, and resistance to industry change. These are often family-owned or founder-led companies ready for a new chapter, where owners are stepping away to retire and/or pursue new ventures.
The main criteria for our first acquisition will be a business with the following specs:
- Purchase Price: $1M - $3M
- SDE (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings): $300k+
- Multiple: 3.0x - 4.2x
We're focusing our search on the Dallas/Fort Worth and Tampa markets due to their high population growth and favorable business environments. While we are currently vetting liquor stores as an ideal first candidate, we remain open to any industry that meets these criteria.
2. The Search (Now)
This is by far the longest "step" in our process. Acquisitions are complex, involve NDA’s, and typically take around 4-12 months to complete from starting the search to signing closing documents (more details can be found under the 'Timeline' page).
As of May 2026, we’re partnered with 6 business brokers in the Dallas and Tampa areas (3 brokers in each market), and are on their mailing list for new listings.
Right now, the search for the specific business that we’ll be buying is currently underway. NDA permitting - we’ll share those details with investors as they become available.
3. Due Diligence
Once we identify a candidate and sign a Letter of Intent (LOI), we enter an exclusivity period to "open the hood" of the business. This is a rigorous verification process to ensure the financial and operational health of the company matches the seller's representations.
We engage third-party experts to minimize risk:
- Financial: We hire a specialized CPA firm to perform a Quality of Earnings (QofE) report, validating tax returns and bank statements to confirm the SDE is accurate.
- Legal & Operational: We conduct a full audit of leases, licenses, and equipment to ensure there are no hidden liabilities.
- Lender Coordination: We work directly with our SBA partners to finalize the loan underwriting based on our findings.
If red flags emerge, we reserve the right to renegotiate or walk away to protect our capital and yours.
4. Financing the Purchase
We’re going to finance a business purchase with an SBA 7a loan, which requires 10% down. These loans are originated by normal banks, but are backed by the US Government. SBA 7a loans have a maximum amount of $5M.
The funds from an SBA loan can be used for everything required for this transaction. An example of one of these loans can be found in the “Cash Example” page.
Jackson Holdings is committing $50,000 of internal liquid capital to this acquisition. Based on the target specs in Step 1, an SBA 7a loan for our target would require a 10% down payment of $100k - $300k. We are seeking equity partners to bridge this gap.
5. Owning & Operating
Once acquired (closing documents are signed), we take over that business on the same day. We’ll largely continue operating the business at is had been in the past - but we’ll also look for some small ways to enhance it (better marketing, operational tweaks, implementing modern AI workflows, etc.).
In any case, we’ll be extremely hands-on in our approach (being there on-site) at this stage to ensure the business thrives. There will be no owner-absenteeism for at least the first year - we’ll spend 40-70 hours a week physically present at the business. While we are searching in both TX and FL markets due to their growth profiles, we will only acquire a business where I (or a dedicated operating partner) can be on-site full-time from day one.
Our plan is to operate the business for at least 10 years (most SBA loans have 10-year periods). Cash flow should be positive even in year 1 - more details on the financials can be found in the “Cash Example” page.