How a Couple Left Tech to Buy a Business Together
Open on YouTube ↗Ray Cherry (investment banking / cybersecurity software) and Dana Cherry (Salesforce product marketing / pre-IPO startup) are a married couple who left tech to jointly acquire Monam, a Bay Area manufacturer of customizable portable sinks, in 2024. The company — founded in 1998 by a husband-and-wife team after the wife needed a portable hand-washing station to sell cakes at farmers markets — had ~$2m in revenue at acquisition, was bought for approximately 4x SDE on a fully self-funded basis with no outside investors. The Cherrys were drawn to Monam's niche positioning (limited competition in a $200m market), demonstrated ability to scale without adding staff, and clear upside from underinvested marketing. Six months in, they have relaunched the website, refreshed the brand, and are digitizing paper-based workflows; near-term growth levers include deeper penetration of education, food service, beauty/wellness, and dog grooming verticals, plus expansion of the dealer network and a push into Canada. The couple's complementary finance and marketing skill sets, strong seller rapport (both families are immigrant-founded with parallel career-crossroads stories), and long-tenured employees have made the transition smooth, though prioritization and the 24/7 demands of running a small manufacturer with just two owners remain their biggest ongoing challenge.
Deal facts
- multiple
- 4x SDE
- sde ebitda
- SDE several hundred thousand (floor $250k, sub-$1m)
- revenue
- ~$2m (low seven figures at time of acquisition)
- financing structure
- Self-funded (no SBA, no outside investors)
- notes
- Listed price was approximately 4x SDE; buyers paid close to asking. Business founded 1998. LTM revenue ~$2m at acquisition in 2024.
Why this business
They were looking for a consistently profitable B2B business within 30 minutes of their East Bay home, founded by retiring owners (not a distress sale), with no stringent licensing requirements, and clear upside from underinvested sales and marketing. Monam — a niche manufacturer of customizable portable sinks — fit all criteria, and the founders' similar immigrant-family, career-crossroads story created a strong personal connection. As Ray put it, the business 'had a really strong product with really strong demand' and the prior owners 'weren't as aggressive on some of the sales and marketing techniques as they could have been,' leaving obvious room for growth.
What's working
- Niche product with limited direct competition in a ~$200m portable handwashing market growing 3-4% annually
- Highly customizable product accommodating a wide range of end markets (schools, restaurants, hotels, spas, salons, food trucks, stadiums, dog groomers)
- Proven capacity to scale revenue significantly without adding headcount — COVID demand spike demonstrated this
- Strong seller relationship and values alignment facilitated a smooth handover; sellers saw buyers as successors who would carry on the legacy
- Long-tenured employees (4+ years) with deep product and operational knowledge
- Ray's investment banking background streamlined financial diligence and deal management
- Dana's marketing background enabling immediate brand and digital uplift — new website, refreshed logo, CRM, email marketing, abandoned cart tracking
What's hard
- No recurring revenue — all sinks are made to order, making forward revenue visibility difficult
- Prioritization challenge: with just two owners running everything, daytime is consumed by in-the-business operations (production, inventory, shipping, vendors) leaving strategic work for nights
- Entirely paper-based order management and fulfillment workflows requiring significant digital transformation effort
- Adjustment from tech/finance corporate culture to a blue-collar manufacturing environment took time
- Broad SDE range ($250k–$1m) and industry-agnostic search meant reviewing 300–400 CIMs over 6–7 months before finding the right fit
Notable quotes
It's not too long ago that I was on the couch binging episodes and your platform and your guests have been really helpful for us in showing us what was possible and inspiring us to take this step and realize our dreams.
The luxuries became necessities — and that's not all the case anymore. We have this appreciation for the life that we go into every day in this company.
We've learned more in the last six months than we had in probably the prior decade of working.
Before I become the COO of any other company I'd like to be in the C-suite for myself first.
I have the mind and vision of a technician but you two are strong business minds and you're the right pair to take this into the next era of Monam.