EP36: How Ewen Finser is building profitable affiliate sites at scale

Buying a SaaS business requires more than looking at its recurring revenue. In this episode, we break down the key areas to review before an acquisition, including ARR and MRR quality, churn and retention, customer concentration, unit economics, technology, AI dependency, security, legal and IP ownership, team risks, and pipeline quality. Learn how to identify potential red flags, verify the numbers, and assess whether a SaaS business has sustainable revenue and long-term value before committing capital. Website: https://exiting.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/@MichaelBereslavskyAcquisitions LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/michaelbereslavsky

Thinking about buying a SaaS business? This guide walks through the acquisition process—from setting your buying criteria and sourcing deals to evaluating risk, doing due diligence, negotiating terms, and planning what to do after closing. You'll learn how to: Define your budget, preferred customer type, niche, and risk tolerance Find opportunities through brokers, marketplaces, and your professional network Understand common SaaS valuation multiples and deal structures Screen businesses by reviewing revenue, churn, customer concentration, margins, and technology Use due diligence to narrow down opportunities before making an offer Prepare a post-acquisition plan to stabilize and grow the business A clear acquisition framework can help buyers avoid unfocused searches and spend more time evaluating deals that fit their goals. Chapters 00:00 What Is a SaaS Business? 01:17 Set Your Acquisition Criteria 02:10 Choose Your Customer Type 03:08 Assess the Technology 04:00 Consider AI Dependency 04:38 Choose Your Niche and Timeline 05:30 Understand Acquisition Risks 07:27 Create Your Buyer Criteria Sheet 09:31 Where to Find SaaS Deals 10:26 Track Opportunities and Follow Up 11:53 Why Referrals Can Lead to Better Deals 13:15 SaaS Business Valuation Multiples 14:36 Deal Structure and Getting Expert Advice 15:04 A Practical Due Diligence Process 16:21 What to Review Before You Buy 17:13 LOIs and Deeper Seller Due Diligence 17:48 Upfront Payments and Earnouts 18:08 Plan for After You Close 19:08 Move Fast or Wait After Acquisition? 19:31 The Full SaaS Acquisition Process

How do you acquire six businesses in two years with little to no capital and build mid-seven figures in equity? Evan De Leonardi breaks down the creative financing model behind his acquisitions, the buyer-seller dynamics that can make or break a deal, and why deal structure matters as much as the purchase price. Evan has acquired businesses across commercial cleaning, medical transport, steel fabrication, saw blade repair, and more. He shares real acquisition stories—including J-curves, hidden operational problems, and lessons from his first deals—and explains how his company, Vitero, helps qualified first-time buyers source, diligence, and close acquisitions. In this conversation, you'll learn: How Evan's consulting-for-equity model works How SBA acquisition financing works, including down payments, timelines, and personal guarantees The seller red flags and customer-concentration risks that can sink a deal How to diligence specialized businesses when you're not an industry expert What Evan learned from inheriting a struggling team and rebuilding operations How modern software and AI can help improve small-business operations Why buying a business is not the passive, easy path some online advice promises Evan also shares how he assesses sellers, what he looks for in an operating partner, and why the quality of a business's systems and transition can matter long after closing. Chapters 00:00 Evan's acquisition model and six-business portfolio 04:11 How the consulting-for-equity arrangement works 08:12 Evan's background and first acquisition 11:05 Buying and improving a commercial cleaning company 21:29 The medical transport acquisition 25:11 How seller quality affects the transition 27:32 Steel fabrication and saw blade repair deals 39:18 Diligence, SBA loans, and buyer requirements 47:15 Personal guarantees and downside risk 51:01 Deal sourcing, red flags, and AI 54:05 The reality of buying a business 58:27 Vitero's offer and why buyers seek a partner #BusinessAcquisition #SmallBusiness #SBAloan

Mike Swigunski reveals how he went from affiliate sites and Empire Flippers employee number four to building a platform designed to let everyday investors own fractions of profitable online businesses. Links: /wefunder.com/dividends - dividendscapital.com - Globalcareerbook.com - mikeswigunski If you care about online business, acquisitions, or how to get into deal flow without needing millions, this conversation is packed with practical insight. Michael Bereslavsky and Mike Swigunski unpack the trust signals that make or break acquisitions, why recurring revenue beats one-time revenue, and how the best deals often come from sellers who are ready to move on but still want upside. You'll discover: how Mike got his first online dollar from Amazon affiliate marketing what it was like joining Empire Flippers in its early hyper-growth years why shifting a plugin from one-time payments to subscriptions changed the economics of the deal the difference between buying from hobby-builders, operators, and polished resellers how a $400K FBA exit turned into a $670K deal by shopping the buyer pool why fractional ownership could open online business investing to non-accredited investors around the world Mike also breaks down the thinking behind Dividends—a platform built to make cash-flowing online businesses investable at a much lower entry point, with a target of quarterly payouts, a $100 minimum on the current raise, and a long-term vision to turn fragmented online assets into a mainstream alternative investment. If you've ever wondered how ordinary investors can access real businesses instead of just stocks, crypto, or real estate, this episode shows you where the market is headed. Essential listening for founders, operators, buyers, sellers, and anyone curious about the next wave of online business investing. Mike Swigunski is a TEDx speaker, bestselling author, and former Empire Flippers employee number four, known for building remote businesses while traveling to 100+ countries. He is also the founder of Global Career and Dividends, where he is helping pioneer fractional ownership in online businesses. Michael Bereslavsky is an M&A advisor, and founder of Exiting.com with 20y+ experience in acquisitions, funds, and deal structuring across digital assets. He brings both the sell-side and the buy-side perspectives and a deep understanding of strategy and what makes a business worth acquiring.

Content that used to win in Google is no longer enough. Anirudh Agarwal reveals why AI SEO is shifting from keywords and backlinks to consensus, citations, and the exact prompts LLMs fan out behind the scenes. If you want your brand to show up in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode, this conversation breaks down what actually drives visibility now - and why the old playbook is already losing. Anirudh explains how LLMs answer questions, why retrieval matters more than pre-training, and why the pages that get cited are often not the ones marketers expect. You'll discover: Why AI SEO, GEO, and traditional SEO overlap, but behave differently on each platform How query fan-outs reveal the hidden searches behind a single AI answer Why Reddit citations have dropped sharply while institutional, documentation, and government sources are surging How to reverse-engineer the page types AI systems prefer, from listicles to guides to alternatives pages Why consensus matters more than a single backlink and how repeated mentions shape what models trust Anirudh also shares how his agency work evolved from link building and digital PR into a SaaS platform built around AI visibility. He explains how his tool maps topics, competitors, personas, and prompts, then tracks citations, sentiment, and visibility across platforms so brands can see where they are missing and what to do next. He also gets practical about what it takes to build authority in this new world: Why YouTube is becoming one of the most important channels for AI visibility How topical relevance beats raw subscriber count or generic reach Why enterprise growth depends on brand presence, referrals, and repeated exposure What changed after HCU and why content-only strategies are losing leverage Anirudh brings more than 17 years of SEO experience, including enterprise work with brands like Expedia, Canva, Hostinger, and Surfshark. He traces his journey from flipping AdSense sites to building a link-building agency, then to launching a SaaS product focused on AI SEO and third-party mentions. If you're a founder, agency owner, SEO, or marketer trying to understand how to win visibility inside AI answers, this episode gives you the playbook before everyone else catches up. To find more about Anirudh https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirudhag1/ https://www.getmentions.ai/ https://outreachx.com/