Silent Success Strategy

Sarah Moore exemplifies a different type of entrepreneur - one who quietly builds significant businesses without seeking attention or validation from the startup ecosystem. Her story of acquiring and running eggcartons.com demonstrates how unconventional approaches and determination can lead to substantial success without public recognition.

Key Points:

• Unconventional Acquisition Strategy:

  • Started a PE firm alone with no traditional office or funding
  • Used 50+ unpaid interns from Craigslist
  • Screened 400,000+ private companies over 1.5 years
  • Found eggcartons.com through persistence

• Creative Deal Structure:

  • Bought business with no money down
  • 75% bank debt, 25% seller's note
  • Used business itself as collateral instead of personal assets
  • Rolled accountant fees into the deal

• Business Characteristics That Made It Attractive:

  • Profitable since 2001
  • High barrier to entry with valuable domain names
  • Simple enough for someone with no operational experience
  • Revenue under $50M but implied to be substantial

• Unconventional Tactics to Close Deals:

  • Harassed owner until getting a response
  • Contacted 100+ banks before finding one
  • Faxed thousands of businesses her photo wearing "I want to buy your business" shirt
  • Got fake IDs for interns to access library workspace

• Business Evolution:

  • Transformed from pure egg packaging to specialty packaging
  • 40% of business unrelated to eggs
  • Services major clients like Boeing, SpaceX, Disney
  • Expanded into protection and separation products

• Personal Style:

  • Maintains extremely low public profile
  • Minimal online presence
  • Focuses on execution over publicity
  • Shows preference for privacy despite significant success