Conversations with Mike Krieger

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Krieger.

Hi Mike, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My dad was always an entrepreneur, so I grew up in the family businesses. We had a contract embroidery business that my dad started in 1990, and we still have a neighborhood bar & grill called Finn McCool’s in the DTC area. In 2005, when we opened Finn McCool’s, I took over the day-to-day operation of the embroidery business. I ran that starting in 2005, and in 2016 I felt like I wanted to try something new, but not knowing yet what that career might be. We sold the embroidery business in 2017 and I was really intrigued by that process. I then went to work at Finn McCool’s from 2017-2018, but I still felt like I wanted to do more. We were very happy with the service we received from the company we used to sell our business, Transworld Business Advisors, so I decided to ask if they were hiring new brokers. The owner, Al Fialkovich, said yes which lead to an interview process, after which I was told to get my real estate license and start as soon as possible. I became a business broker in early 2019 and have been enjoying it ever since.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Understanding what it takes to manage a $1M+ revenue business with 30+ employees at age 25 was a challenge, but I had great support and learned from my mistakes. And it was also a difficult decision to sell the business that my dad started in our garage when I was 10 years old. We had built strong relationships with our customers and employees, but in the end I am very happy with the path I took.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
It is not an easy path to become a business broker, as they warned me in my interview, you need a long runway to get started. There is an incredibly steep learning curve in the first two years. The process to sell a business from beginning to end takes an average of 6-9 months and there are a great deal of steps to complete along the way. As a business broker, we have to coordinate the process which starts with earning the trust of our clients, marketing the business, finding a qualified buyer, and moving all parties through the transaction until we get to the closing table. Every business is different and every sale process is different, which means we are always learning and adapting to best serve our clients. I am very proud of the business sales I have accomplished and the satisfaction I see in my clients when we achieve their goal of selling.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
When I tell people that I am a business broker, most don’t know exactly what that means. Many people are unaware that my profession exists. But, over the past 3-4 years I have seen more awareness around the idea of buying or selling businesses. We are seeing more people getting into the fix & flip mindset with businesses, much like the boom in flipping houses over the past 15 years. And after the layoffs caused by the COVID pandemic, many people have decided that they want to be a business owner to be in control of their own destiny. The market is very strong for selling a business, we sell more year over year with the values going up. I expect this trend to continue in the foreseeable future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tworld.com/agent/mikekrieger/bio/