Speed-Dial Expert Learning
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A strategy for rapidly acquiring industry knowledge by tapping into the expertise of professionals who see hundreds of deals and businesses.
Key Strategy: Leveraging Industry Experts
- Target professionals who see many deals:
- Investment bankers
- VCs
- Accountants
- People who invest others' money
Banking Expert Strategy Example
- Approach: Contact bankers who've sold companies in target space
- Pitch to bankers:
- "I'm thinking of starting a company in this space"
- "Tell me about why companies were bought"
- "What opportunities did buyers see?"
- "Maybe in 5-10 years you can sell my company"
Information You Can Extract
- Why companies succeed in specific spaces
- What buyers are looking for
- Which companies buyers tried to acquire but couldn't
- Market gaps and opportunities
- Which business models are most enjoyable to operate
- Specific job titles/markets that acquirers struggle to reach
Why This Works
- These professionals are "vaults filled with gold"
- They have pattern recognition from seeing hundreds of deals
- Can speak generally about trends without revealing specific details
- Provides free learning from others' experiences
- Helps speed-dial your learning curve
- Gives insight into both successful and failed approaches
Best Practices
- Focus on general patterns rather than specific deals
- Ask about buyer motivations and struggles
- Understand what makes certain businesses more valuable
- Learn from multiple deals in the same space
- Use insights to identify clear paths to success
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.