Acquiring My First Small Business
I'm Rob Davidson, and I'm searching for my first acquisition — a specialty manufacturer I can own, operate, and use as a foundation for my family's future.
Why acquire a manufacturer? It's not because of some numbers on a spreadsheet. My story is a little bit different.
Because someone has to carry the torch for the next generation — and I grew up watching how it's done.
How I Got Here
Origin
I grew up in a family that built things.
My grandfather founded two steel companies in rural Southern Illinois — businesses that kept a town alive, put families to work, and gave a community a future.
I watched what ownership meant when it was done right: knowing people by name, thinking in decades instead of quarters, and understanding that the business exists to serve the people inside it, not the other way around.
That's not something you learn in a classroom. That's something you grow up in.
The Pattern
Working inside specialty manufacturers — first as a consultant, then as a fractional operator — I kept seeing the same story.
The product was excellent. The customers were loyal. The team knew what they were doing.
But the commercial infrastructure was twenty years behind the rest of the business.
No CRM. No pipeline. No pricing discipline. No documented sales process.
Word of mouth was the entire revenue engine, and there was no system to carry that forward when the founder stepped back.
It wasn't a failure. It was a feature of how these businesses grew — through grit, reputation, and handshake deals that worked brilliantly for decades. But it's also the reason they plateau.
The Work
So I spent seven years learning how to fix it. I've redesigned go-to-market strategy for a modular masonry manufacturer, built e-commerce and dealer sales systems for a 120-year-old refractory company, and implemented CRM and sales process where none existed.
I've walked production floors, reviewed performance data with plant teams, and built sales tools alongside the people who actually know the product.
In my current role leading a B2B software division, I built the entire sales function from scratch — pipeline architecture, competitive pricing strategy, coaching cadence, performance systems — and delivered 226% year-over-year revenue growth.
Not just by changing the product, but by changing how it was sold.
The Turn
I kept building these systems and handing them back. Watching businesses I'd spent months (or years) inside grow on the infrastructure I built — under someone else's name, on someone else's timeline.
It was good work. I'm proud of it.
But at some point you stop wanting to build the engine for other people and start wanting to drive it yourself. I don't want to advise manufacturers anymore.
I want to own one and build it the way my grandfather built his.
The Search
I'm completing my MBA at Washington University in St. Louis as a Koch Center Own-Operate-Invest Fellow — a program built to prepare the next generation of small business owners.
My SBA financing is confirmed with a nationally ranked lender. My advisory network includes operators running multi-generational industrial companies.
I'm not preparing to search. I'm searching — for a specialty manufacturer with $10–18M in revenue, stable operations, loyal customers, and a founder who cares about what happens next.
If that's you, or you know someone it might be, I'd welcome the conversation.
A Different Kind of Buyer
Manufacturing Heritage
My grandfather didn't read about manufacturing. He welded it, built it, and bet a town's future on it. That's the lens I look through.
Operating Experience
I've built CRM systems where none existed, repriced product lines no one had touched in years, and turned a blank pipeline into 226% revenue growth.
This isn't a thesis. It's a track record.
Disciplined Capital
I don't finance deals that need growth to survive. Every acquisition services all debt at flat EBITDA — growth is the upside, not the oxygen.
A generation of manufacturers is changing hands. The question is who's on the other side.
What Brings You Here?
Investors
I'm building something that lasts — starting with the right acquisition, financed conservatively, operated hands-on. If you want real-asset exposure with an operator who's already done the work, I'd like to show you what I'm building.
Business Owners
You built something worth preserving. I'm not here with a timeline or an agenda — just a genuine interest in your story and whether I'm the right person to carry it forward.
Brokers
SBA-financed. Criteria-locked. Responsive. You'll have a clear answer within 48 hours. Full target profile and NAICS codes are one click away.
Credentials at a Glance
MBA, Washington University in St. Louis (Olin Business School, Dec. 2026) · Koch Center Own-Operate-Invest Fellow · 7+ Years Commercial Leadership in Specialty Manufacturing & B2B · SBA 7(a) Financing Confirmed · Active M&A Advisory Network
Alone, a founder built something remarkable.
Together, we make sure it lasts.