One of the ways that acquisition entrepreneurship differs from zerotoone entrepreneurship is that you need to adopt the mindset of an investor. Today, we're going to lean into that. Rafael Quinn is American born & raised, but in his 20s sold all his belongings on Craigslist, and moved to his mother's native Panama. He's been there ever since. Over the last 13 years, he and his partner have built a holdco of 3 businesses in Panama, and have more recently raised almost $30m to look for larger opportunities back here in the States. What you're going to hear today is what this path of buying small businesses could look like if taken to the investor extreme. If you wanted to live here in SMB land, but never be an operator. You just wanted to buy & hold businesses. So today's guest has a bit of a different profile than my usual guest, but plays in the same sandbox and has a lot to share about it. Here's Rafael Quinn, president of Alternative Holdings.

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00:00:00. Intro & background
00:02:27. Selling everything on Craigslist to move to Panama
00:06:31. Buying his first business Panama from a billboard ad
00:20:28. How to buy a business with an operator
00:25:43. The value of longevity in a business
00:29:47. How he decided to build a holdco
00:34:18. Selfidentity as investor vs. entrepreneur
00:41:20. 3year dry spell not buying any businesses
00:51:23. Being in "search mode" your whole career
00:56:42. Breaking his own rule by buying a restaurant
01:13:19. Why he turned his sights to the US
01:18:38. How to raise $28m & structure a holdco
01:28:56. Why buy a furniture retailer

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ABOUT Acquiring Minds
Acquiring Minds is a podcast about buying businesses. Acquiring an existing business is an awesome opportunity for many entrepreneurs, and host Will Smith talks to the people who do it. New episodes 2x per week.

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