Platform Acquisition System

Brad Jacobs has built multiple billion-dollar companies by acquiring and scaling businesses through a systematic approach. Here's his playbook:

Target Industry Selection

• Looks for huge industries with high fragmentation
• Focuses on small, profitable businesses that lack capital to scale
• Seeks industries that are disorganized but have potential for systemization
• Similar to how fast food chains standardized restaurants

Initial Platform Acquisition Strategy

• Starts by buying a small business (~$30M in revenue)
• Adds 30-40 employees to double revenue
• Uses first acquisition to build systems and infrastructure
• Targets companies selling at 5-10x earnings (often "trash" companies)
• Focuses on businesses that can be improved through systematization

Sales Team Development

• Hires hungry, talented salespeople with low base but high incentives
• Base salary: $25-35k with significant upside potential
• Looks for specific personality traits:
  • High on "need to win" scale
  • Low on "need to be liked" scale
• Expects 99 calls per day with 1-2 deals closing
• Funds training for several months
• Top performers can build $1M book after ~1 year

Growth Through Technology

• Makes strategic software acquisitions to enable scaling
• Example: "Rental Man" software became integration platform
• Uses technology to standardize operations across acquisitions
• Technology enables rapid integration of new acquisitions

Capital Structure

• Leverages debt strategically for growth
• Uses debt when growth rate (30%+) exceeds cost of capital
• Takes unemotional approach to debt decisions
• Focuses on mathematical reasoning for leverage

Acquisition Integration

• Creates standardized systems across all acquisitions
• Builds platform that can rapidly absorb new companies
• Focuses on industries where systematization creates value
• Has completed hundreds of successful acquisitions using this model