From Zero to One to ETA: Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur

From Startup Rocket Ships to Small Business Ownership

Shawn Daly's entrepreneurial journey has taken him from early-stage tech startups to buying and growing a small HVAC business. After experiencing the highs of riding startup "rocket ships" and exiting his own venture to a public company, Shawn made the transition to entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA). His story offers valuable lessons for aspiring business owners on bringing a startup mentality to established small businesses.

Early Career: Riding the Startup Wave

Shawn's career began in the trenches of tech sales, making 200 cold calls a day selling software. He quickly rose through the ranks and joined Gia Technologies (then called Salil Move) as one of their first business development hires. Shawn describes joining Gia as "wandering onto a rocket ship" - the company grew rapidly and achieved unicorn status with a billion-dollar valuation.

This experience gave Shawn a front-row seat to hypergrowth:

"You get to see the business on fast forward. You see a lot of the things that you do are supposed to do correctly, but you also see a lot of things that you shouldn't do and all of the mistakes. I think that the big difference between the companies that are ultra-successful and the ones that can still be successful but don't grow super fast are the ones that make mistakes but very quickly bounce back."

Founding a Startup: From Zero to Exit

After Gia, Shawn founded his own startup called Expa Tile in the title insurance space. He grew this business over several years before exiting to Real Brokerage, a publicly-traded real estate technology company.

This experience as a founder taught Shawn valuable lessons about building a business from scratch:

"I really got to see what it was like to start from ground zero and make something work and all the chaos that comes with it."

The Transition to ETA

Despite his success in the startup world, Shawn was drawn to the idea of buying an existing small business. He spent time researching ETA models and speaking to over 200 people in the space before deciding to pursue a self-funded search.

Shawn explains his motivation:

"I think I fell in love with the idea of entrepreneurship...I think being around that and just sort of saying I'm going to do this without everybody telling me that it's a bad idea for whatever reason is I think what I enjoy."

The Search Process: Moving Fast and Breaking Things

Shawn approached his search with the velocity and experimentation mindset of a tech startup. He gave himself a one-year runway to find and buy a business, but aimed to compress that timeline even further.

High-Volume Deal Sourcing

Shawn hired a virtual assistant in Ukraine to help with deal sourcing and outreach. They cast an extremely wide net:

"We sourced thousands of deals...I looked at with seriousness probably about 3 to 400 and then conversations I probably had I don't know 50 plus conversations with companies."

This high-volume approach allowed Shawn to quickly build pattern recognition and get comfortable evaluating businesses across industries. He focused primarily on home services businesses, leveraging his experience in the title insurance industry.

Moving Quickly to Close

Shawn's bias for action served him well - he found the business he would ultimately buy just four months into his search. He moved quickly to get a deal done:

"I went into LOI the next day...Started looking at the books and the books looked solid enough. There was definitely a lot of room for improvement in terms of technology."

Within 45-60 days of signing the LOI, Shawn had closed on the acquisition of IC Cool, a small HVAC business.

Rapid Experimentation as a New Owner

Once he took over IC Cool, Shawn wasted no time in implementing changes and experimenting with new approaches. His startup mentality of "moving fast and breaking things" was on full display.

Technology Overhaul

Within the first week, Shawn implemented a new back-office system to replace manual processes:

"We transitioned to a new back office system in about a week, week and a half. That was overzealous but in a good way. It was painful for I'd say about a month...but about 30 days later it was fine."

Offshoring and Building Remote Teams

Shawn quickly moved to offshore many business functions to Nicaragua, including:

• Permitting
• HR
• Sales team (4 people hired)
• Estimations and service agreements

This allowed him to rapidly scale up capabilities while keeping costs low. However, he learned some functions like answering customer calls were better kept local.

Sales and Marketing Experiments

Shawn's background in sales drove him to focus heavily on growth initiatives:

• Built an offshore sales team doing 100+ calls per day
• Experimented with various marketing channels
• Implemented new sales processes and follow-up systems

While not all experiments were successful, the rapid iteration allowed Shawn to quickly find what worked:

"The things that did work, I believe are outweighing the things that don't."

Key Lessons for ETA Entrepreneurs

Shawn's unique journey offers several valuable takeaways for those considering the ETA path:

1. Bring a Startup Mentality

Shawn's willingness to move quickly, experiment, and make decisive changes allowed him to rapidly improve the business. While this approach can create short-term chaos, it accelerates learning and growth.

2. Be Decisive as a Leader

Shawn didn't hesitate to make tough personnel decisions or implement major changes. His decisiveness as a leader was critical in driving the business forward.

3. Leverage Offshore Talent

Building remote teams allowed Shawn to access affordable talent and rapidly scale up capabilities. This startup-style approach can work well in traditional small businesses.

4. Focus on Sales and Marketing

Shawn's sales background gave him a growth-oriented perspective. He emphasizes that ETA is fundamentally about sales - selling yourself to sellers, employees, customers, and more.

5. Balance Short-Term Action with Long-Term Vision

While moving quickly, Shawn maintains a long-term outlook. He's focused on building a strong foundation for sustainable growth over many years.

6. Embrace the Entrepreneurial Journey

Shawn's perspective on the ups and downs of business ownership is refreshing:

"You're going to have something really good happen every two to four years in business. The rest of the time while that's happening, you're grinding like crazy...If you are looking at that down the line and saying like, 'Okay, something good is coming, I just have to continue to stick it out' and that what is happening right now is just part of the learning process, I think that that can really help you get out of bed with a pretty good attitude."

Conclusion: Bridging Startup and Small Business Worlds

Shawn Daly's journey from tech startups to small business ownership through ETA offers a compelling case study in bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to traditional industries. His willingness to experiment, move quickly, and embrace change allowed him to rapidly improve an existing business.

While his approach may be more aggressive than some ETA investors, Shawn's story highlights the potential for injecting startup-style growth tactics into small businesses. For aspiring entrepreneurs considering the ETA path, Shawn's experiences offer valuable lessons in balancing rapid action with long-term vision.

Ultimately, Shawn's enthusiasm for the business-building process shines through. His journey is a reminder that whether starting from scratch or buying an existing company, the entrepreneurial path is filled with challenges, learning, and opportunities for personal growth.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-HmBtWMgs