Acquisition is the whole strategy. Verified is a platform that buys trade firms, puts them on our system, and consolidates them to sell — we are not a panel-upgrade company. The engine: source retiring or struggling owners → show them the sellable system → offer them a seat on it plus a buyout → integrate → repeat, trade by trade. The product we bring to every owner is The Verified System — an AI back office, JobTread project/field management, a standardized iPad / phone / network field kit, playbooks, and the Verified estimation process that turn a founder-dependent shop into a system-run business (a full product tour of it exists — the demo). That system is built first, in the opening weeks, at near-zero burn. Across the build we acquire 9 firms, funded by ~$10M of committed equity plus ~$6M of acquisition debt / seller notes, called in gated waves as prior integrations prove out — deep in one trade (electric), then the next (plumbing → HVAC → civil). The value engine is multiple arbitrage: buy owner-operator shops at roughly ~4× platform earnings and sell the consolidated platform at roughly ~8.5×. We acquire in two archetypes — a licensed owner who becomes a division lead and partner, or a retiring owner who cashes out and folds into a division. And a core value-add on every deal: we bring under-insured shops up to full insurance and workers' comp — de-risking the book the day it joins. Below: the sellable system, both archetypes, the deal terms, and a worked example.
The sellable operating platform we put in front of every owner — and install in every shop we buy. A full product tour of it exists (the demo). Built first, in the opening weeks, at near-zero burn:
This is what makes a founder-dependent shop sellable at platform multiples — and it's the pitch that wins the owner. Don't undersell it: an owner who joins gets ~$250k+/yr of delivered value (AI + PM, back office, estimating, marketing / lead-gen, group purchasing, recruiting) plus a salary plus a sure-thing exit — a solution, a salary, and a sure-thing exit.
A funded M&A / integration team runs this loop; integration — not sourcing — is the risk, so it's staffed and gated.
A licensed owner whose shop stands up or leads a Verified division. They step in as the Qualifying Party + division lead and run it. Examples: a plumbing owner → Verified Plumbing, an HVAC owner → Verified HVAC.
What they get:
They are partners — they run and own a piece of the division.
A retiring owner cashing out whose shop folds into a matching Verified division (e.g. Verified Electric). Their crews become Verified employees; the shop consolidates under that division's one license / one QP. This is the roll-up engine.
What they get:
No equity — they're cashing out, not partnering. The upside from consolidation accrues to the platform, not the departing owner.
The same disciplined terms apply to both archetypes, with the differences noted. We keep entry multiples low, tie the seller to performance, and cash-flow the business from day one.
| Term | Standard structure & how it protects us |
|---|---|
| Cash at close | A minority slice of the price paid up front (~30%). Keeps David's capital at risk small on any single deal. |
| Seller note | ~5-year term, performance-tied. The seller finances the majority of their own exit and only gets paid in full if the business performs. |
| Earn-out | Tied to customer retention. The seller has skin in the game on keeping the book intact through the transition. |
| Stay-on wage | Seller stays on as a W-2 field lead at a market wage — continuity for crews and customers. |
| Train-your-replacement bonus | ~$100k paid on the back end for transferring relationships, systems, and know-how to a Verified successor. |
| Retention holdback | A portion held back and released as retention / revenue targets are hit post-close. |
| Non-compete | Standard non-compete + non-solicit — the seller can't walk out and rebuild the same book next door. |
| Insurance & workers' comp | Core value-add. We bring under-insured shops up to full general liability + workers' comp as a condition of integration — protecting the crews, the customers, and the platform's balance sheet from day one. |
| Branding switch | Rebrand to Verified is a condition of close. Archetype A stands up or leads a Verified division; Archetype B folds into the matching Verified division. |
| Equity | Archetype A only: 5% vesting profits interest in the division. Archetype B: none — the owner is cashing out. |
Leverage — budgeted, and named as a risk. Across the build we layer roughly ~$6M of acquisition debt and seller notes alongside the ~$10M of equity — SBA 7(a) / bank debt secured by the acquired cash flows plus the seller financing, so the same equity dollar buys more earnings and each business services its own acquisition debt out of its own cash flow. Leverage amplifies returns and risk; it is costed into every deal and sized so acquired cash flow covers it with margin.
The target: an owner-operator electrical shop doing ~$400k SDE (owner earnings), strong local ratings, retiring owner. Purchase price ~$1.2M (3.0× SDE). Illustrative numbers.
The shop's ~$400k/yr earnings comfortably service the ~$140k/yr note and still throw off positive cash from day one — before we even fold the crew into the platform's overhead, routing, and lead flow. The seller stays on at ~$100k/yr as field lead and collects the ~$100k training bonus on the back end.
Bought at 3.0× SDE ($1.2M) — roughly ~4× on a platform-EBITDA basis once a replacement field lead is paid. After that wage, the shop contributes on the order of ~$300k of platform EBITDA. As shops like it are consolidated onto the system — one back office, shared routing and lead flow, recurring service agreements, and a system-run (not founder-run) book — the platform earns a blended ~8.5× exit multiple. That same ~$300k of contribution is worth on the order of ~$2.5M at the platform exit against the ~$1.2M all-in: the multiple arbitrage, not a one-off flip, is the return.
David's actual cash out on this deal is only the ~$360k cash portion (less if SBA-financed) — the seller note and the bank finance the rest, and the business services its own debt. Repeat this ~9 times across the three service trades and the ~4×-in / ~8.5×-out spread, plus scale and recurring revenue, is the strategy — not a lever on top of it. Capital releases in gated waves, only against vetted, diligenced deals, as prior integrations prove out.
Disciplined, costed entries. We buy at 2–3.5× SDE — roughly ~4× on a platform-EBITDA basis — against a platform that reaches scale and recurring revenue and exits at a blended ~8.5×. Purchase multiples, the integration team, deal costs, and leverage are all budgeted; the spread widens as shops move onto the system — overhead absorption, routing, lead flow, insurance, and recurring service agreements. Acquisitions are the base return, not a bolt-on — which is exactly why they are staged and gated.
Seller financing ties the seller to performance. The majority of the price is a performance-tied note plus a retention-tied earn-out. If the book erodes, we don't pay full price — the seller carries that risk with us.
Cash-flowing from day one. Every target is bought to service its own acquisition debt out of its own cash flow and still net positive — no deal relies on turnaround heroics.
Full insurance + workers' comp, day one. Many target shops run under-insured. Bringing every acquired book up to full general liability and workers' comp is a core value-add — it de-risks the crews and the platform and is often the single biggest gap we close at integration.
Tranche-gated capital. Capital only releases against vetted, diligenced deals — David's money moves one qualified acquisition at a time, never into a blind pool.