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My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

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Acquire venture-backed companies with broken cap tables at discounted prices

Investors with patient capital who can restructure deals

12-24 months per deal

What Success Looks Like

Good business making $10M revenue growing 30% annually but founder and VCs both happy to exit due to misaligned incentives

Steps to Execute

1

Identify VC-backed companies from 2020-2021 vintage with high preference stacks

2

Research companies doing well operationally but not venture-scale

3

Contact founders to understand their true goals without VC pressure

4

Structure deal that gives founder meaningful equity and removes VC overhang

5

Run business for cash flow and organic growth

Checklist

Company has solid fundamentals
Founder wants to stay involved
VCs willing to take discounted exit
Preference stack is the main issue
Business can be profitable without growth-at-all-costs

Inputs Needed

  • Capital for acquisition
  • Relationship with VCs
  • Ability to value distressed situations
  • Understanding of cap table mechanics

Outputs

  • Profitable business acquired below intrinsic value
  • Happy founder with reset equity
  • VCs get liquidity on dead deal

Example

“SaaS company raised $50M at peak, doing $10M revenue growing 30%, founder owns 10%, VCs need 10x return - restructure so founder owns 30% and can run profitably”