Broadly speaking, there are two ways to build a company. Some entrepreneurs swing for the fences, spending decades building one big business. Others play for singles, building a series of smaller companies they can sell and repeat.
Stuart Faught has made a career of the second approach.
He has started and sold 20 software businesses, making him the number-one seller on Acquire.com. His model is deliberately small: build a simple tool for a niche of local businesses, grow it to $50K to $100K in annual recurring revenue, sell it for four to five times that, and move on to the next one.
In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, you’ll discover how to:
- Structure a payment schedule that ends within 90 days, and why the one deal Stuart stretched over two years is the one he never got paid for
- Turn consultants who already have your customers’ trust into a sales channel, using two simple criteria to qualify them
- Spot the three buyer behaviors that make Stuart walk away from a deal, even when there’s no other buyer
- Use an in-person training commitment to win a buyer over competing sellers
- Put a $55K price on a company that doesn’t have a single customer
- Invest in your brand and sales deck before listing, and why most sellers neglect the first thing buyers see
- Make yourself part of the value proposition by showing buyers you’ll be easy to work with after the sale
Watch the full episode below.
Quote of the Week
Any experienced entrepreneur that tells you there’s not darkness out there in the world of entrepreneurship is lying.
Stuart Faught on the lows that come with 20 exits.
Curious what an acquirer might think of your business? Let’s take a look.
Deals
Cat Pumps, a Minneapolis-based manufacturer of high-pressure pumps used in industrial cleaning, water treatment, and commercial applications, was acquired by Franklin Electric (NASDAQ: FELE), a global flow control and water systems company, for $350M in cash plus up to $50M in stock tied to future performance. Cat Pumps generated $45M in EBITDA on $115M in revenue in 2025, implying a valuation of 7.8x EBITDA.
