No Money Down Acquisition

A Harvard graduate purchased eggcartons.com with no money down through creative financing and extensive deal sourcing. Here's how she did it.

Deal Sourcing Process

• Searched through 400,000+ private companies over 1.5 years
• Used 50+ unpaid interns from Craigslist to help source deals
• Operated from a library (required fake IDs for interns to access)
• Used aggressive outreach tactics:
  • Faxed thousands of businesses daily
  • Sent photos wearing "I want to buy your business" sweatshirt
  • Harassed owners until getting replies

Target Business Criteria

• Needed stable historical cash flows for bank financing
• Required high barrier to entry
  • Domain name value (eggcartons.com)
  • 100+ related domain names owned
• Simple enough operations for someone with no experience
• Profitable since 2001
• Revenue under $50M

Deal Structure

• 100% debt financing with no money down
• Financing breakdown:
  • 75% bank debt
  • 25% seller note
• No personal collateral except 2012 RAV4
• Used business assets as collateral instead
• Due diligence costs rolled into deal financing
  • Hired accountant to audit business
  • Fees included in purchase price

Business Overview

• Originally pure egg carton business
• Now specialty packaging company
  • 40% revenue from non-egg related products
• Major clients include:
  • Boeing
  • SpaceX
  • Disney
  • Madison Square Garden
  • Crayola

This demonstrates how creative financing and persistent deal sourcing can lead to acquiring a profitable business with minimal personal capital.