Insurance Broker to Investors & Operators | Co-Founder @NewCoRisk | Marin Dad | Golfer | Books & Olives | Recovering triathlete
Marin County, CA
Joined May 2010
- Tweets573
- Following2.2K
- Followers1.6K
- Likes6.7K
Josh Richman retweeted
Seller said his X-Mod was 0.67. Then @MrJoshFro pulled 5 yrs of loss runs and found a $4M comp claim not yet factored. Projected X-Mod then 1.34. Buyer's biggest contracts required a low one, so the deal died.
Tips from Josh of @NewCoRisk at LIVE—Denver last month: Get loss runs from the carrier, not the seller.
I appreciate you working @NewCoRisk into the deal structure! We typically say to engage us 45-60 days out from closing!!
Great stop in Denver yesterday at @SMBootcamp_ Really enjoyed getting in front of a room full of aspiring business owners and sharing a few lessons learned from the insurance side of buying businesses.
Appreciate all the great questions and thanks to the @SMBootcamp_ team for having me! @Sam_Rosati @mbeckham352
Great spending time with the team at @SearchFundCEOs for a Lunch & Learn yesterday. @NewCoRisk
We covered an often overlooked part of the acquisition process: insurance due diligence, identifying risks before closing, and what searchers should be thinking about as they transition into operating roles.
Appreciate the hospitality and all the great questions. Always fun spending time with the next generation of business owners!
Josh Richman retweeted
Insurance is the diligence item most searchers skip...
until a claim shows up after close.
Next week in Denver, @MrJoshFro of @NewCoRisk covers insurance diligence for acquisitions, plus a few horror stories from deals that went sideways. Every attendee leaves with NewCo's updated diligence guide.
Always appreciate your Deal Team support, Josh and @andyharbut.
Josh Richman retweeted
Today's the day to enter @NewCoRisk's LIVE free seat giveaway! Entries close noon PT.
@NewCoRisk is giving away a free seat to SMBootcamp's LIVE—Denver, October 21–23! @SMBootcamp_
It's three days in person with @Sam_Rosati and team on how to find, finance, and close on a small business with SBA 7(a) financing. Their alumni have closed 80+ acquisitions so far.
I'm speaking Thursday on due diligence day. Insurance diligence mirrors business diligence more than most buyers expect, and the gaps you miss in one usually show up in the other. I'll walk through a couple of deals that went right and one that went very wrong.
The seat is a $4,500 value, and I pick the winner. If you're actively searching or about to start, and this would move you forward, apply in the reply below.
Applications close Monday, October 12 at noon PT. Know a searcher who should be there? Tag them too!
Josh Richman retweeted
@NewCoRisk is giving away a free seat to SMBootcamp's LIVE—Denver, October 21–23! @SMBootcamp_
It's three days in person with @Sam_Rosati and team on how to find, finance, and close on a small business with SBA 7(a) financing. Their alumni have closed 80+ acquisitions so far.
I'm speaking Thursday on due diligence day. Insurance diligence mirrors business diligence more than most buyers expect, and the gaps you miss in one usually show up in the other. I'll walk through a couple of deals that went right and one that went very wrong.
The seat is a $4,500 value, and I pick the winner. If you're actively searching or about to start, and this would move you forward, apply in the reply below.
Applications close Monday, October 12 at noon PT. Know a searcher who should be there? Tag them too!
@NewCoRisk is giving away a free seat to SMBootcamp's LIVE—Denver, October 21–23! @SMBootcamp_
It's three days in person with @Sam_Rosati and team on how to find, finance, and close on a small business with SBA 7(a) financing. Their alumni have closed 80+ acquisitions so far.
I'm speaking Thursday on due diligence day. Insurance diligence mirrors business diligence more than most buyers expect, and the gaps you miss in one usually show up in the other. I'll walk through a couple of deals that went right and one that went very wrong.
The seat is a $4,500 value, and I pick the winner. If you're actively searching or about to start, and this would move you forward, apply in the reply below.
Applications close Monday, October 12 at noon PT. Know a searcher who should be there? Tag them too!
The application is short and takes a few minutes. Good luck! rja55xy9n89.typeform.com/to/…
I'll follow up separately to confirm your Thursday time slot. Talk soon.
Appreciate the shoutout @AlanPetersonSBA We built @NewCoRisk for exactly this - Understanding the deal/exposures, moving on "PE time" and ensuring the at-close program makes sense for the new owners
Closed - $1.2MM acquisition of a Hydraulic Repair business here in Florida yesterday. First time buyer.
Reminder here: Insurance - it's needed before we close, and our buyer "had it handled".
The seller's agent had fifteen years of history with the seller - but stalled out with the new buyer, and that's something that happens more than you might imagine.
@MrJoshFro at @NewCoRisk jumped in to provide the correct coverages, with the right limits in place without having to move the closing date.
The part I actually care about is the policies he put in place are ones the business can carry next year. A policy bound to get a wire out and a policy that fits the business with sustainable appropriate coverages are different things, and the buyer only needs the second one.
SMB Buyers: Insurance diligence matters, regardless of industry - like everything else in our process, the earlier the better.
Pleasure to work with you and looking forward to seeing you crush it as CEO!! Congrats!
Deal closed. If I knew almost 4 years ago it was going to take this long, would I have persisted, or even started? Not sure. I just kept going forward. I'm grateful to my wife for her patience.
Now, I don't want this to sound like a "victory speech" - I know the hard (and fun) part begins now, and I'm excited to execute on the vision I have for this brand!
There were so many points in my search where I decided "I'm just going to start something new" - but that always felt like quitting, I knew what the incredible opportunity the SBA program offered. A chance to "buy time" in market, buy a business who had product-market fit, employees, systems - and improve on those.
I did a lot of this within my consulting as a Fractional CTO, helping companies save/grow revenue through tech/software. I plan to do the same for my new acquisition.
I have owned/operated dozens of small businesses in my career thus far, including Ecom, Events, Tech, Consulting. I did not come into this naively. I've bought/sold many smaller ecom businesses, always with cash, had no idea about the SBA program. I learned about SBA through @walkerdeibel - absorbing his book, all of his YouTube content years ago, engaged in the free Acquisition Lab community.
I want to give a shoutout to my deal team for busting their ass to get this one done.
LOI signed 7/2
Term Sheet 7/13
Approval 8/20
Funded 9/30
Loan Broker: @SBA_Matthias at Pioneer Capital Advisory, He's been the first guy I called about a potential deal for the past 3 years. We've became good friends through this journey. He's built out an incredible team of killers and know how to get a deal done... and even best of all, his team costs you nothing.
Bank: Pathward - Jeff is a true deal guy, who is open to creative solutions to find out HOW to get a deal done instead of WHY it can't be done. @JeffStelmachSBA
Attorney: @Lawyer4Deals Rob Fafinski is the man, and always sticks to his word. If he said he was going to get me something today, he did it. He's got an incredible team behind him, shoutout to Jennifer and Frankie!
Business Insurance: NewRisk Co - These guys made the process painless @MrJoshFro
Life Insurance: Life for SBA - Ana Ferrari is the absolute best in the business when it comes to life insurance. She made this painless. Not on X but [email protected] is her email.
Equity Partners: @GrantHensel Grant gave me a chance to show them my deal even if not squarely in their usual box, and I'm excited to have @entrepreneurcap participating as the lead investor on this ride. I also have several other awesome investors which I'm grateful for.
Some fun stats of my search:
1,353 days
1 Amazing wife
3 Children born (started with an infant lol)
672 NDA's signed (thanks GrokBot)
23 Offers sent
5 Offers accepted
4 Dead deals
1 Acquisition.
Now, as I look at those numbers, it kind of looks a little ridiculous, but there are a lot of details between the lines. I'll have plenty of stories to elaborate and talk about later.
Happy to connect with anyone else on this path, my business is DTC Ecommerce primarily, with a fast growing wholesale channel. My DM's are open.
Will be posting more as I learn, and of the things I've learned.
Til next time!
Josh Richman retweeted
I still think the biggest issue, which hasn’t gotten much attention yet is having mostly unlicensed insurance folk selling AM Best non-rated paper to unsophisticated buyers.
A lot of customer contracts, financing agreements and leases require AM Best A- rated paper or better. I also can’t imagine many board members would be comfortable knowing their D&O protection is placed with a non-rated insurer.
Josh Richman retweeted
Just bound a $2M media liability policy (thank you @MrJoshFro).
Don't like what I'm saying about your company? Bring it.
My job is to speak truth in a way that's helpful to property management biz operators. Won't be stopped.
Randomly sat next to each other on a Virgin America flight from Vegas to SFO.. The better story is how I proposed: on a flight from SFO to Vegas.
M&A advisor dream: one data room for every active deal.
@NewCoRisk is on 42 active deals across the SMB, PE Search Fund and independent sponsor space. 31 have data rooms.
Across those 31 deals, we’re working in 14 different platforms.
Just give me one place to view, download, and keep everything organized.
Buyer: “Confirmed with seller. No workers’ comp — not needed in Texas.”
Me: “Thanks. Please request the non-subscriber filings for the pool construction company. Also, just so you know your lender agreement requires workers’ comp.”
