he less of your own money you put into a deal, the easier it is to talk yourself past the red flags.

Today's guest learned that firsthand.

Rahib Diwan started a short-term rental management company in Nashville from scratch.

He grew it to $10m of assets under management while finishing his MBA at Kellogg. Then he bought a competitor three times his size, quadrupling the business overnight.

So that's a slightly different format for Acquiring Minds. Most of our stories begin with the acquisition. Rahib's began with an operating business, and the acquisition was how he then stair-stepped it.

As many of you know, the SBA treats acquisitions of targets in the same industry favorably.

In this case, the financing was 80% SBA debt, with the sellers rolling the other 20%. So Rahib didn't have to contribute any equity, making his out-of-pocket to 4x the business just the due diligence fees.

Sounds amazing — but as he tells it, it also made him less careful than he should have been.

The business wasn't quite what it looked like from the outside, and Rahib has spent more than a year rebuilding it. We get into what that took.

Listen too for his approach to growth.

Rahib isn't chasing big for big's sake. He has a specific number in mind, and he's already most of the way there.

If the short-term rental industry interests you, we've covered it before. Matt Orley bought Red Cottage in the Poconos, and Megan McGee bought Guesthouses in Charlottesville. Both interviews are worth a listen, and they're linked in the show notes.

Here is Rahib Diwan, owner of WanderLuxe Hospitality.