293: Buying an Ecommerce Business: How to Do It and Why You Should

Buying an ecommerce business can be a brilliant move to build wealth, or have costly unintended consequences. 

Between finding the right business, knowing what to look for when going through due diligence, and avoiding misinformation - buying an eCommerce business can be a lot to handle. We're giving you a crash course on how to do it.

Today’s show is a mashup of three episodes I’ve done with expert eCommerce entrepreneurs in this space - David Newell, Shakil Prasla, and Drew Sanocki. We talk about how to determine if you are the type of person who should buy or build, what a thorough due diligence process looks like, and the things to always investigate within a prospective company. We also breakdown the common pitfalls first-time buyers tend to experience and how to avoid them.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights

• 4:30 How to determine if you should buy or build an eCommerce site
• 7:27 Buying a business to cross-sell
• 9:29 The 6 key tenets to robust due diligence when buying a business
• 13:12 How to assess the quality of a business’ backlinks
• 16:23 Financials you should always assess as a buyer
• 19:23 Problem areas to investigate before buying a business
• 23:15 Technical and legal checklist items you shouldn’t forget
• 25:38 The biggest mistakes most first-time buyers make and how to avoid them
• 27:34 Leveraging SEO and content for growth
• 30:53 Income and age: Two essential criteria for evaluating a company
• 32:49 Buying a business on a bank loan
• 35:48 Five things to always look for when buying
• 39:04 The advice Shakil would have given himself when he was starting out
• 41:30 Shakil’s process for reviewing prospecting companies and getting them through due diligence
• 43:30 What Drew is most excited about when buying
• 46:15 Merger and acquisition opportunities that can help your brand
• 50:45 Uncovering your blind spots within the acquisition process
• 52:26 Boostrapping vs acquisition: Which is right for you and which comes first?

Links and Resources:

• Podcast: 095: 4 Reasons Why You Should Buy An Ecommerce Business & The 6 Key Tenets To Proper Due Diligence
• Podcast: 195: Austin Ecommerce Investor Reveals His Short-Cut To Scaling
• Podcast: 241: Evolutions In Lifecycle Marketing & New Approaches To Creating Wealth
• Websites: FE International, Pro Click Ventures, Nerd Marketing, AutoAnything
• Social Media: David Newell on Twitter, Drew on Instagram
• The San Francisco Fallacy: The Ten Fallacies That Make Founders Fail
• Brand Growth Experts
• The Coalition
• Foxwell Digital
• @a_brawn on Twitter
• @andrewfoxwell on Twitter
• Review or subscribe on iTunes