E38: Top M&A Entrepreneurs - John Carvalho 17 acquisitions, $240mm in Rev, IPO

John co-founded Wolverine Energy Services Inc. with Jesse Douglas in 2012 with an initial acquisition of a $5 million revenue oilfield services company. From his first acquisition to 2020, they acquired 16 more businesses, grew revenue to $240 million and took the company public (TSX:WEII)   Also President to Divestopedia - which helps sell businesses. 

00:00 Intro to John Carvalho   - hat  tip to Williams English
01:14  His call to adventure and decision to leave the ordinary world of Deloitte 
03:08  17 Acquisitions later $240mm in rev and taking public  - not an org chart guy
04:43   State of the O&G industry...so many products so many uses 
05:10   How he rolled his fees in and structure the partnership - and scrambling together the capital
06:48   How his deal stack looked for the first acquisition,  seller motivations,  how he leveraged assets
09:22  Did seller keep any portion of business,  for 2nd bite or sell 100%  - age big factor in risky ride
10:20  How it felt to get the first deal  - advising is different than signing and owning it. 
11:16  How has it changed him - assessing risk.   How he looks at it today  How to Mitigate the risk. 
12:35  Annie Duke book,  playing poker
12:50  When did momentum happen - or was it still grinding away...   started with 3 separate businesses,  and strategy changed.   2nd acquisition - and 3rd acquisition changed deal structure - now seeking partners  - selling the 2nd bite of apple vision
15:15   Types of companies he was buying, indirect, direct competitors or adjacency businesses - expansion strategy - geographic sectors - and some distressed deals
17:30   How did he find the distressed opportunities?
18:27   What did he learn about doing all these deals  - risk mitigation - in hindsight...wish we would made process more systematic - deal sourcing, offers,  deal stack, DD process,  capital sourcing  - always fun...always needs to be capital partner ready...blowing through credit limit...
21:37  Did he accomplish what he set out to do,  helping CEO with journey - wanting to do deals - built wealth helping someone else
23:43   Did he have any internal struggles being the #2 guy...  
25:45   Having 5 deals in pipeline and assessing probability assessments on closing each deal 
27:35  Parents - not sure they know what he does - generational creating better opportunity - proud - work ethic they instilled 
29:40  Types of businesses he works with now.   Where his expertise is - best use
33:17 Working backwards to get the highest EBITDA  how many acquisitions you need to do.  HVAC example
34:10  HVAC example,  if $20mm HVAC CEO has never made an acquisition,  mind set change - risk appetite - triple the business or saying you are not ready because you would choke
37:15   Does he assist in adjacent businesses  - why are you doing acquisitions - diversify risk
38:40  Thoughts on purchasing an unprofitable business
40:00  His Acquisition Playbook training - teaching others how to acquire businesses 
42:10  Does he just teach people how to do it DIY or Do it with me...
44:45  Bringing his expertise to parts they are missing - bringing leadership to C-Suite
46:30  Working with Jesse, first meeting,  being young,  different,  assets behind him,  start of the relationship. 
47:40  How this acquisition journey has changed him - breaking away from that paycheck.   Find out what you love to do,  you will never work a day in your life - tap dancing to work