It wasn’t enough that Peter SerVaas had already sold his 8-figure-revenue bus tracking college startup, DoubleMap to the Ford Motor Company in 2019.
One year later, he decided he’d try entrepreneurship again through an acquisition. He more than 30 timesed that investment in five months when he sold it on Acquire.com.
Peter’s second project came to him through a lucky connection.
He’d heard through industry connections that Bishop Peak Technology, a 10-year-old business with loyal customers and $150 thousand in ARR, was on the verge of bankruptcy. It happened to be in the mobile transportation tracking business, Peter’s specialty.
Peter got in touch with the state of California to see about acquiring the business and heard they were asking for as little as $10,000. He paid $5,000 for a lawyer and pushed through an offer of roughly $10,500. He was the only bidder.
Once he’d bought Bishop Peak, Peter snapped right back into founder mode. He immediately began reaching out to old contacts for DoubleMap and hired his former teammates to grow the business. In five months, Peter was back to the 90 hour workweeks of his previous startup.
But things were different this time around. Peter didn’t want to work 90 hour weeks anymore. He’d done it for a decade already and was ready for a slower pace.
Instead, Peter hopped on Acquire.com hoping to sell the business. He was a bit more selective with the type of buyer he wanted to engage because Bishop Peak was still in the early stages of growth. Many of the buyers that reached out were portfolio investors wanting a low-effort cash-flowing business that may not have been the right fit. He finally settled on a buyer who he trusted to keep growing the business in a way he felt it deserved. And settled for a six figure price tag.
Peter trusted his buyer and the business so much he was willing to write a seller’s note allowing the total price to be paid out over the next six years.
Now he’s turned his attention to a new passion project, a program for high-schoolers called High School Hustles. It gives high schoolers money and mentorship from entrepreneurs to start their own small businesses.
Listen to Peter’s fascinating podcast with Andrew to learn more about:
How to buy a business put through state bankruptcy
How Peter learned how to hustle including scalping tennis match tickets and running dance parties in high school.
Peter’s just getting started and you can follow along with him at the links below:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterservaas/
https://www.youtube.com/@HighSchoolHustles
The post Startup Acquisition Stories with Peter SerVaas, Owner of Peak Transit appeared first on Acquire.com Blog.