How She Bought A $3M Pet Food Business Making $500K/yr (For 10% Down)

In this episode, Chelsea breaks down how she bought a $1.7M raw pet food business after 12 years at Boeing and Amazon, the off-market deal that "broke up" and came back to life nearly a year later, and the performance-based seller's note that bridged a valuation gap when bird flu cratered 2025 sales.◼️ The "Hail Mary" offer she sent the seller nine months after their first deal collapsed◼️ The one moment that killed the first deal a few months in (and how the seller's son ended up on her team anyway)◼️ The financing structure — 10% down, SBA loan through Climate First Bank, and a sales-tied performance note — that closed a $1.7M deal with no outside investors◼️ Why she spent her first year hunting virtual businesses before realizing she needed a local, physical operation◼️ How her corporate negotiation training saved the relationship with her biggest wholesale customer in month fourSubscribe to the SMB Deal Hunter newsletter (200,000+ subscribers): https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz/Follow Helen:Twitter: https://x.com/HelenGuo_LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-guo-06674523/