Negotiating ETA Acquisition | Gautam Basu Mikko Järvinen | Negotiator 14

Recorded as the first True North Search webinar, this episode shows how negotiation skills apply to Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. Gautam Basu and Mikko Järvinen first explain the ETA model: a jockey, a horse and a trainer, meaning an aspiring entrepreneur who screens some 500 targets, acquires one established business and runs it as CEO toward an exit in four to seven years. Sami Miettinen then demonstrates why the COVID-19 crash may be an ideal entry point, how EV/EBITDA multiples and valuation discounts shape the deal, and why master negotiators aim for either a genuine win-win or a fast no deal. The session covers the four levers of negotiation, Rumsfeldian information gathering from open cards to black swans, signaling lessons from Björn Wahlroos and Elon Musk, and the Columbo tactic for extracting information. Slides are used throughout, so the YouTube version is recommended over audio only.00:00 Cold open on boring but inexpensive targets00:49 Sami introduces the episode and its structure02:15 Gautam welcomes viewers to the first webinar03:05 Why negotiation is core to ETA success04:07 Mikko takes over to explain the model04:54 ETA origins at Stanford in the mid 80s05:47 Jockey, horse and trainer principles06:16 Who becomes a searcher and what gets bought07:05 Four steps and the five to ten year timeline07:25 Funded, self funded and accelerator search options08:03 Screening 500 targets to acquire one08:29 Operating as CEO and growing the business08:50 Exit paths, third party sale or recapitalization10:12 Sami's banking background and negotiation book11:38 Sell side versus buy side advisory in ETA12:12 VIX fear index at Lehman level highs12:51 Why a crash is a good entry point13:09 Buy boring and cheap, not the next Supercell13:54 Valuation discounts as price levers14:31 EV/EBITDA multiples and the engineering sector15:43 Comparable data and the two to twenty million range16:39 Bad bargaining corridor versus win-win or no deal17:55 Exit book and entrepreneur success stories18:30 Anatomy of a bad negotiation arc20:26 Doing it right with agenda and walk away options21:54 Four levers, split the pie and bake it bigger23:19 Power, analytics, interaction and principles in practice24:40 Signaling and the Texas Hold'em analogy25:11 Rumsfeld's unknown unknowns and black swan leverage26:28 What to signal openly and what to withhold27:27 Wahlroos and Musk as extreme signaling examples28:29 The Columbo tactic for gathering information29:19 Outro and topics for the follow-up episode