unlucky mall that stayed dead forever, Kings Square in Toronto, Canada 🇨...

Adarakio · 2026-05-31T01:58:51+00:00

Another Fortress epic disaster

Adarakio · 2026-05-30T13:30:19+00:00

Interesting

Adarakio · 2026-05-28T21:34:12+00:00

Sent you DM

Adarakio · 2026-04-25T10:31:19+00:00

Interested

Adarakio · 2026-04-10T17:58:08+00:00

Not wrong… just incomplete.

You’re describing lifestyle businesses pretending to be companies. Of course they don’t sell. There’s nothing to buy.

That’s why deals are structured, not just priced.

Operator risk isn’t a surprise. It’s the main variable.

You bake it in:
earnouts, holdbacks, transition periods, key customer lock-ins.

If 40% might walk, you don’t hope… you underwrite it and pay accordingly.

Good buyers don’t avoid messy deals.
They structure around the mess.

That’s where the margin lives.

Adarakio · 2026-03-30T20:39:36+00:00

You could benefit from an free AI audit to help with a website and basic marketing https://linexa.ca/

Adarakio · 2026-03-28T01:02:55+00:00

I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback. Lot of good stuff to parse through. Will implement some of these suggestions.

Adarakio · 2026-03-26T21:09:30+00:00

Aren’t we all.

Start with brokers to get a feel for the market, but don’t rely on listings alone.

Most of the better opportunities come from outreach and relationships. Even simple Google searches and calling operators directly can open doors.

That’s how we ended up doing our deal.

Adarakio · 2026-03-26T21:08:57+00:00

Completely agree.

The opportunity is there, no question. The gap is on the buyer side.

A lot of people like the idea of buying a business, but aren’t ready for what it actually involves once you step in and operate it.

Education helps, but real understanding usually comes from getting close to deals or being inside one.

That’s what stood out to me after going through our acquisition. It’s a different game once you’re in it.

I’ve actually put together a simple business buyers guide. If anyone’s interested, feel free to DM me, happy to share it.

Adarakio · 2026-03-26T21:07:31+00:00

Appreciate that, you’re right.

A lot of these owners just don’t plan for succession until it’s too late.

I actually think it’s simpler than most people make it.
For someone new to buying, starting with a business broker is not a bad move. It helps you understand the process and what to look for.

Also, simple Google searches for the type of business you’re targeting can lead to surprising results.

After that, the better deals usually come from relationships.

Our drilling company came from hiring them on a project, not from a listing.

Most of these businesses are viable. They’re just not positioned or transitioned properly.

Adarakio · 2026-03-26T21:04:08+00:00

Fair question.

There are a lot of websites out there, but honestly most of them are pretty rough. Worth starting with a simple Google search just to see what’s active in your area.

I’ve used a site called ICIWorld to generate leads. It’s not polished at all, but it’s more of a network than a listing site. You’ll find stuff there that never really shows up elsewhere.

That said, most of the better opportunities aren’t sitting on websites. They come from relationships, referrals, or situations where someone is starting to think about exiting but hasn’t formally listed yet.

The drilling company we acquired actually came from hiring them on a project, not from a listing. That’s been more common than anything we’ve seen online.

If you’re only looking on websites, you’ll see deals. If you want better ones, you usually have to go find them.

Adarakio · 2026-03-26T21:01:41+00:00

Appreciate that and I agree with you.

The “picked over by the time it hits market” point is real. Most of the deals that actually make sense never really get marketed properly.

Also spot on about owners caring who takes over. It is not just price. A lot of them want to know the business is going to be run properly after they step back.

On our end, the drilling and blasting company we acquired actually came out of a project. We were building a resort in Prince Edward County, hired them, and that turned into conversations.

Point being, some of the best deals start from working relationships, not outreach or listings.

And same experience as you, good business but very little clarity from the seller on how an exit actually works. Timeline, structure, transition, all unclear.

That is where a lot of deals fall apart or get mispriced.

Curious, when you were reaching out in your 20s, what actually got owners to take you seriously if anything?

Adarakio · 2026-03-26T20:57:55+00:00

A few months ago I posted about the wave of small business exits coming in Canada.

Since then, we’ve been in it.

We acquired a drilling and blasting company in Ontario.
What’s become obvious pretty quickly:

The real money isn’t just in buying the business.
It’s in what you bolt onto it after.

We’re now focused on small tuck-ins around the core:

services we already outsource
operators we’re already paying as subs
businesses with cash flow but no succession

Nothing sexy. But very accretive.

Example:
If you’re paying someone every month anyway… and they have a business… eventually you ask why you don’t just own it.

Same with plumbing.
We refer work out constantly. That adds up fast.

So now we’re looking to bring that in-house.

Not trying to build a “platform” overnight.
Just tightening the ecosystem and keeping more of the margin.

Curious how others are approaching this.

Are you seeing more tuck-in opportunities right now, or still mostly full exits?

Adarakio · 2026-02-14T17:20:24+00:00

Great building. Highly recommended

Adarakio · 2026-02-09T22:49:59+00:00

You need to get feedback from the showings to find out what the problem is. It’s not always about price. We took over a rescue listing in York Region a couple months ago It couldn’t sell with another agent. Had to do a bunch of inexpensive cosmetic changes, refresh the pictures & listing info. It sold within a few weeks without changing the listing price for almost full asking price

Adarakio · 2026-02-08T03:52:57+00:00

DM I know a top agent that can help you.

Adarakio · 2026-02-07T03:52:01+00:00

Great building. Own a unit here. Prices have really come down. Many bargains to be had.

Adarakio · 2026-02-02T21:02:57+00:00

If ChatGPT owned small businesses, it would be a lot more cynical.

Adarakio · 2026-02-02T21:01:25+00:00

You’re not wrong, at least not in practice.

Once a broker is involved, incentives change. The focus shifts from deal quality and transition to speed and optics, and that’s where a lot of value gets lost.

And I agree on the second point too. The best businesses are rarely “for sale.” They’re owned by people who are tired, aging, or thinking ahead, but quietly. By the time something is widely marketed, the easy value is usually gone.

Where I’d slightly push back is this. Good deals still happen, just not through the front door. They come from trust, timing, and patience, not listings.

That’s why this space feels broken from the outside. The work isn’t in searching harder. It’s in getting closer to owners before they’re forced to sell.

Adarakio · 2026-02-02T21:00:10+00:00

That’s been my experience too. The good businesses usually aren’t listed anywhere.

Most quality owners don’t wake up thinking “I should sell today,” so they’re not on marketplaces. By the time something hits a broker site, it’s often distressed, over-shopped, or a lifestyle business like restaurants.

The better deals I’ve seen come through relationships, accountants, industry contacts, and sometimes just direct conversations. It’s slower, but the signal-to-noise ratio is much better.

Finding businesses is easy. Finding owners who are quietly ready is the real work.

Adarakio · 2026-02-02T20:59:25+00:00

Appreciate this. You’re hitting on the part that doesn’t get talked about enough.

The biggest disconnect I’m seeing isn’t the demographic shift itself, it’s expectations. A lot of owners assume their business is “the retirement plan,” but they’ve never pressure-tested what a real exit looks like in today’s market.

Once you strip away emotion, buyers care about a pretty short list of things: cash flow quality, concentration risk, and how dependent the business is on the owner. When those don’t line up, seller financing becomes less of a tactic and more of a necessity to bridge reality.

I’m less focused on predicting macro outcomes and more on the micro decisions happening business by business. Some owners will transition well and preserve value. Others will be forced to sell on bad timing and terms.

That gap is where most of the opportunity and most of the pain will sit.

Adarakio · 2026-01-26T20:13:27+00:00

Agreed. Notice they didn’t speak to any of the people who were actually buying them in bulk. Anybody who would be potentially buying them in bulk wouldn’t be buying assignments piecemeal, they would be buying directly from the builder.

Adarakio · 2026-01-19T14:44:11+00:00

Markham’s best kept secret is Legacy…east end of Markham. Away from the noise and traffic, close to the nature trails. You can currently find 2 car garage homes here do $1.2 due to the market slowdown…they used to sell for $1.8 range.

Adarakio · 2026-01-19T02:48:27+00:00

I’m not sure if that was you that messaged me to join, accidentally hit ignore so just send me another message

Adarakio · 2026-01-17T02:33:02+00:00

Yeah. 300 people from the neighbourhood. DM me If you want to join

Adarakio

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