Elliot Holland, Bruce Van, Bakari Sellers (Graves Hall Capital), Chris Munn·July 20, 2023

The Life-Changing Potential of Buying a Business

This is a panel episode featuring four Black ETA practitioners and ecosystem participants: moderator Elliot Holland (founder of Guardian Due Diligence), Bruce Van (three acquisitions, ~$750k combined SDE), Bakari Sellers of Graves Hall Capital (two acquisitions including a $35m burlap bag manufacturer with $5m EBITDA and a hired CEO), and Chris Munn (two remote acquisitions in Florida from California, $5m+ revenue). The conversation centers on what it means to be a Black small business buyer — the structural disadvantages of lacking wealthy networks for friends-and-family fundraising, the experience of not knowing whether deal rejections stem from race or deal quality, hostile broker and seller dynamics, and the psychological shift required to assert authority as an owner after a lifetime of cultural conditioning toward deference. Despite these challenges, all four are bullish on ETA as the most accessible, leverage-friendly path to generational wealth creation, especially as SBA 7(a) availability grows and the Baby Boomer ownership transfer wave accelerates. Bakari identifies MBE certification as a major untapped opportunity, noting billions in minority set-aside contracts go unclaimed annually. The episode's tone is candid, motivational, and explicitly framed for Black professionals considering the ETA path.

Deal facts

sde ebitda: Bruce Van group ~$750k SDE; Bakari's burlap bag company ~$5m EBITDA on $35m revenue
revenue: Chris Munn: 'a little over five million dollars in revenue'; Bakari's burlap bag company: $35m
financing structure: Self-funded / own capital (Bruce Van); partnership with PE firm and family office (Bakari); SBA noted as key vehicle in general discussion
notes: Panel episode with four participants. Elliot Holland is the moderator and runs Guardian Due Diligence (service provider, not an operator). Bruce Van: closed first acquisition (Lux Out Products) Feb 14 2020, two additional acquisitions since. Bakari Sellers: two acquisitions — burlap bag manufacturing company ($35m, 80 employees, hired CEO) and an edtech company. Chris Munn: two acquisitions — one in 2020, one in 2022, both in Florida, operated remotely from California.

Why this business

Each panelist was motivated by a desire to escape the vulnerability of employment, build generational wealth, and gain true ownership and autonomy. Bakari: inspired by Dame Dash's interview and the discovery of ETA as a 'secret' path to ownership without needing to raise VC money. Bruce: saw ETA as 'the best and most consistent and predictable on-ramp to building wealth.' Chris: driven by his father dying after 30 years at GM only for General Motors bankruptcy to cancel his life insurance, leaving the family with nothing. All four shared the theme of not wanting to remain dependent on employers who may not treat them fairly.

What's working

Buying existing cash-flowing businesses eliminates the startup risk and income gap of building from scratch
SBA 7(a) and self-funded search structures now allow buyers to get deals done with 10% or less equity down, reducing reliance on wealthy friends and family networks
Bakari's burlap bag manufacturing company generating ~$5m EBITDA with a hired CEO running operations, providing passive income and board-level oversight
Chris Munn successfully operating two remote acquisitions in Florida from California, generating over $5m in revenue
Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification opportunity identified as a major untapped lever — billions in contract dollars (e.g., Starbucks $1.5B, Apollo portfolio $2B+) allocated to minority businesses go unclaimed
Being authentically oneself — not performing corporate formality — was described as a competitive advantage in building trust with sellers, especially blue-collar business owners

What's hard

Raising equity from friends and family is structurally harder for Black buyers who did not grow up with wealth — 'your friends and family are like five thousand dollar checks for me'
Difficulty distinguishing whether deal rejections are due to deal quality or racial bias — 'I was never able to determine those types of things'
Brokers and sellers sometimes gave hostile or dismissive energy; Bruce Van described being called a 'nuisance' by a seller while attempting to buy a landscaping company
Cultural conditioning to minimize and defer — especially to older white men — conflicts with the assertiveness required to close deals and manage teams
Displaying anger or authority as a Black manager or owner is socially constrained in ways that don't apply to white peers, making team management harder
Bakari was told he couldn't buy a company because he lacked an undergraduate degree, though he could not determine if that was a pretext for racial bias
Early in the search, ETA knowledge was gatekept to HBS and Stanford; Bakari had to physically show up and audit courses to learn it

Notable quotes

I don't want any more Vans working for people who don't see them as full human beings. I just don't want that.

ETA in general is the very best — is generally the best and most consistent and predictable on-ramp to building wealth that's out there if you do it the right way.

I want to be the person that changes that in my family. I don't want somebody to have to work for 30 years and then still have to hope that the white man treats you right.

While I look like the most quote unquote out of place person in the picture, it's your picture — this picture doesn't happen without you. You're the curator.