fter paying the owners' salaries, the business that today's guest bought generated about $150k of earnings.

Which would not typically be large enough for a self-funded searcher jumping into entrepreneurship through acquisition.

But Ville-Matias Vilén of Hensinki saw that the business's flagship product enjoyed sustained demand, despite being under-marketed.

And the bones of the business — high-quality manufacturing, patented design, a network of dealer relationships abroad — were good.

So while very small, Ville saw a risk worth taking.

And so far, so good.

The business grew 20% last year, and that was despite a 3-month manufacturing pause while Ville moved operations from one part of Finland to another.

He's eyeing 50% growth in the year ahead, and his longer-term goal is 5x over 5 years.

‍That's the bull case; Ville and I also discuss the bear case, so listen for how he thought about the downside here.

Also listen for how he financed the acquisition.

To his surprise (and mine), in Finland there turns out to be a government-backed program not unlike the SBA here in the US.

Obvious lesson for non-US listeners:

See if there is a small business acquisition loan product offered by your government.

Such programs may be more common than we all thought.

OK, here is Ville-Matias Vilén, owner of FinnEasy, maker of the EasySwing cattle brush.