Finding a Great Business in Cow Country

May 23, 2024
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ecession resistance is top-of-the-list of criteria that many business buyers would like to have in the business they buy.

Today's guest Cody Agee was pondering this feature and what type of businesses had it.

He thought, Well people always need food, and food always needs to be safe...

I bet there's a category of food testing & safety businesses out there.

Two weeks later, he sees a listing for Sierra Dairy Laboratory.

It's a dairy products testing business.

What a remarkable coincidence.

Needless to say, Cody ran after it — and today, owns it.

Turns out there's more than just recession resistance to like about Sierra Dairy.

While not wanting to jinx himself, Cody feels like he found a great, stable business with high-quality revenue.

See if you agree.

Here's Cody Agee, owner of Sierra Dairy Laboratory.

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Finding a Great Business in Cow Country

Cody Agee thought food testing would be a good recession-resistant business to buy. 2 weeks later, one listed for sale.

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Key Takeaways

Introduction

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R

ecession resistance is top-of-the-list of criteria that many business buyers would like to have in the business they buy.

Today's guest Cody Agee was pondering this feature and what type of businesses had it.

He thought, Well people always need food, and food always needs to be safe...

I bet there's a category of food testing & safety businesses out there.

Two weeks later, he sees a listing for Sierra Dairy Laboratory.

It's a dairy products testing business.

What a remarkable coincidence.

Needless to say, Cody ran after it — and today, owns it.

Turns out there's more than just recession resistance to like about Sierra Dairy.

While not wanting to jinx himself, Cody feels like he found a great, stable business with high-quality revenue.

See if you agree.

Here's Cody Agee, owner of Sierra Dairy Laboratory.

About

Cody Agee

Cody Agee

Show Notes

Cody Agee thought food testing would be a good recession-resistant business to buy. 2 weeks later, one listed for sale.

Topics in Cody interview:

  • Bypassing business school
  • Cashing out his 401(k) without using ROBS
  • Buying a food safety and testing lab
  • The moat of licensing requirements
  • His advantage over much larger competitors
  • Adjusting purchase price based on quality of earnings report
  • Finding investors on Twitter
  • Personally guaranteeing the seller note
  • How he uses EBITDAR vs. EBITDA
  • Putting in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system

References and how to contact Cody:

Smithlist is a new job board for leadership roles at small businesses. If you're not ready to buy a business but want to lead one:

Work with an SBA broker who focuses exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

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Episode Transcript

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