Codie Sanchez
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Investor | @CTVentureCap Owner | @contrarian @bizscout_ @resibrands @bigdeal_pod
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Articles by Codie Sanchez
Michael Jordan Won by Giving Up the Ball. Then He Made the Same Mistake I Did
After interviewing more than 15,000 owners, I discovered the ways that instinct eventually becomes a liability. Diagnose first, then act. For years I flew to Santiago, Chile, every single week. 11 hours in an aluminum tube, rocking through cloudy nights, head buried in my laptop, fine-tuning presentations. I made that trip more than 100 times. And I liked Chile fine. But I wasn’t going for the scenery.
Take a 2-Week Vacation. It Can Reveal Whether You Own a Business or Just Work for One
The no-laptop-vacation test reveals how dependent profit is on your effort and where systems can turn daily work into a durable business asset over time. There’s a number that decides whether you own a business or just hold an expensive job, and almost no one calculates it. Owners track revenue, margin, maybe EBITDA. The number that actually matters never appears on the statements, because it measures the one thing accounting assumes away: you.
If Your Business Can’t Survive Without You, You Don’t Own a Business — You Own a Job With a Logo Original
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. It was my birthday, and I was crying in the airport. The quiet kind, where your face is wet, and you don’t realize it’s happening until a stranger asks if you’re okay. One did. She was kind, which somehow made it worse. For years, I flew 11 hours to Chile every week like clockwork. I made this round trip more than 100 times. I’d swallowed a holy lie: that if I wasn’t in the room, deals would die.
Codie Sanchez - From Journalist to VC to Acquisitions: Buying Businesses and Unique Partnerships
Buying a business is a blend of process, timing, and luck. A few times a week Ryan Condie shares the deals he’s looking at in a short form podcast. Listen in on updates from investors and bankers. Whether you’re buying a business to own and operate or building up your passive income, you’ll learn what to focus on and what to avoid during acquisition.
The Contrarian Thinking Newsletter
Don’t get left out One email, two high-value newsletters straight to your inbox. Each one delivers everything you need to be smarter than a private equity investor. ★★★★★ "Just wanted to say this newsletter was incredible. Sooo helpful. I sent it to my CEO and CFO.
Cuándo dejaría de llover en Tucumán: la explicación del meteorólogo Cristofer Brito
Jueves, 29 de enero de 2026 16:25 El observador meteorológico Cristofer Brito habló con Enterate Play Verano y explicó por qué Tucumán atraviesa un período de lluvias extraordinarias, cuándo podría darse un alivio y qué esperar del clima en las próximas semanas. Según explicó Cristofer Brito, el actual escenario climático no está dominado ni por el fenómeno de El Niño ni por La Niña, sino por circulaciones regionales que vienen sosteniéndose desde hace casi un mes.
"La Justicia no actuó como corresponde": Chincarini cuestionó el fallo que sobreseyó a Alfaro
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El Reloj del Apocalipsis rompió otro récord: ¿Se acerca el final?
El silencio duró apenas unos segundos, pero el mensaje retumbó en todo el planeta. Este martes, el Boletín de los Científicos Atómicos movió las manecillas del Reloj del Juicio Final y dejó a la humanidad a solo 85 segundos de la medianoche, el punto simbólico del apocalipsis. Nunca antes el mundo estuvo tan cerca.
Would You Buy This $1M Auto Mechanic Shop?
After meeting with the sellers, he was ready to move. The numbers made sense, financing was lining up, and the fit felt right. Then the call came: another buyer had submitted an LOI, and the sellers accepted it. It stung, but he didn’t let the process stop there. He kept in contact with the broker. One deal advisor urged him not to wait nearly that long.
How to Stop the Slopification of Main Street
These days, there’s a whole lot of talk about “slop.” You’ve got written slop: You’ve got video slop: Heck, you’ve even got slop bowls: But there’s also another kind of pervasive slop. A variety that small business folks know all too well… You’ve likely seen or experienced this slop, even if you couldn’t put your finger on it.
Would You Buy This $6M Jewelry Business?
Ethan kept working to make the deal fit. He adjusted his models, played with multiples, and explored ways to sweeten a seller note with interest to balance risk and reward. But every version of the math told the same story: it only worked if nothing went wrong. Will Amazon keep humming along? What if Amazon changes its algorithm and it hurts the business, or if it white-labels the product and wipes out the sales channel?
Always Do the Obvious Thing
There’s a powerful story about a man stranded on his roof during a flood. A boat passes by and the captain shouts, “Jump in!” The man shakes his head. “God will save me.” So the boat leaves, and the water rises. A few hours later, a helicopter spots the man and lowers a rope. The man waves it off, too. “Go on without me, God will save me.” Hours later, the water rises, and the man drowns. When he gets to heaven, he asks God: “Why didn’t you save me?” “Save you?” God says.
Maya decided to move forward toward the thick of due diligence, with the aim of working line by line through contracts, licenses, and fleet inspections to make sure the numbers hold. This isn’t a passive play. Before reaching this point, Maya spent nearly a year inside the community analyzing deals, learning SBA financing, and narrowing her focus to landscaping. She’s shown up consistently, asked sharp questions, and applied every lesson she’s learned.
The Power Law of Proximity
Take Mark, one of our very own Contrarian Community members. Mark was searching for the right business to buy. He spoke with dozens of owners, listened to their stories, and learned from their experiences. But opportunity came from a familiar room: his church. A fellow churchgoer had been thinking about starting a pool tile cleaning business, but hadn’t made the leap. That single conversation sparked an idea, which turned into a partnership: It’s a great story, but it shouldn’t be surprising.
Would You Buy This $2M Cleaning Business?
With the right people around him, the buyer turned a spark of opportunity into a true swing at ownership. He didn’t coast into this one. He showed up to 64 live calls, posted questions and feedback dozens of times, and spent many hours dissecting and negotiating the details until he worked the deal. As he said after signing the LOI: Three months later, that curveball connected. The seller chose him over higher cash offers, financing cleared, and the deal closed. As Brad put it, “Success isn’t solo.
Main Street Over Wall Street 2025
Contrarian Thinking’s 4th Annual Nov. 2-4, 2025 | In Person | Austin, TX Contrarian Thinking’s 4th Annual Nov. 2-4, 2025 | In Person | Austin, TX A Gathering of Change Makers in a World of Spectators We’re bringing together business buyers, owners and investors to network, make deals, and learn from industry juggernauts how to find, negotiate, and buy cash-flowing businesses…then scale to millions.
Main Street Over Wall Street 2025
Contrarian Thinking’s 4th Annual MAIN STREET OVER WALL STREET 2025 Nov. 2-4, 2025 | Austin, TX Contrarian Thinking’s 4th Annual MAIN STREET OVER WALL STREET 2025 Nov. 2-4, 2025 | Austin, TX A Gathering of Change Makers in a World of Spectators We’re bringing together business buyers, owners and investors to network, make deals, and learn from industry juggernauts how to find, negotiate, and buy cash-flowing businesses…then scale to millions.
A Garbage Man and a Billionaire Walk into a Room...
Soon you’ll hear about that room, but first, a question. If you had 30 days to launch a trash company — truck, bins, customers, revenue, the whole thing — could you do it? Could you wire $40,000 to a stranger for a garbage truck off Facebook Marketplace, learn hydraulics on YouTube, convince 200 neighbors to prepay for service… And do it all while your wife is 9 months pregnant? (Not recommended, by the way.) But Spencer Scott figured it out.
Would You Buy This $750K Painting Business
The headline risk here is structural. Revenue has grown, but the business itself hasn’t grown beyond the owner. She’s still the operator, estimator, bookkeeper, and customer liaison. In busy months, she works 60-70 hours a week. That workload raised serious questions about what a new owner would actually inherit. One coach explained what that really means: In other words, all the relationships, sales, and processes flow through the seller, and could vanish the moment she walks away.
How to Escape The Rat Race Economy
We are one of the wealthiest nations in history… and (seemingly) one of the most financially illiterate. Six-figure earners live paycheck to paycheck. Lottery winners go broke. Celebrities file for bankruptcy after careers that generated hundreds of millions. People are financing their damn DoorDash orders. From one vantage point, society is sedated by subscriptions, financed burritos, maxed-out credit cards, and minimum payments. We’re bodybuilders with clogged arteries, flexing our consumption.
As the buyer heads into another meeting with the seller, there’s plenty to weigh: the land risk, the operational realities, and whether there’s a structure where this deal could actually pencil out… or just wash away. With private equity circling and a wide valuation gap still on the table, the buyer now has to determine how far creativity and relationship-building can take him. Want your deals reviewed by hundreds of smart business builders and buyers?
9 Business Truths We Wish We Knew on Day 1
We work with hundreds of business owners to help them scale their businesses. One thing we tell them: this needs to be in their toolkit from day 1. Why? Because accessing capital is hard and takes time (that you probably don’t have). You have to fill out applications, network with bankers, and sometimes even schlep into physical bank branches. SoFi’s Small Business Loan marketplace solves that.
Celebrating Hispanic Voices: 8 Books to Read This Month
This Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrate with nonfiction that’s as bold as it is inspiring—books that spotlight powerful voices, fresh ideas, and stories you won’t forget. Learn something new every day with “Book Bites,” 15-minute audio summaries of the latest and greatest nonfiction.
The buyer is ready to move forward into due diligence, negotiations, and the potential grind of integration. The financing pitch is in place, the upside is visible, and the legacy vision is clear. But readiness on one side doesn’t guarantee agreement on the other. That’s the real tension now: the buyer has a plan. The question is whether the seller will see themselves in it. Want your deals reviewed by hundreds of smart business builders and buyers?
Building Is the Only Way Forward
It’s been a difficult week in America. Political violence struck again. The temperature of our national discourse rose higher. All of it made heavier by the dark anniversary that falls today. Moments like this test us. They remind us how fragile the things we build really are: families, businesses, buildings, trust. It is easy to lose faith in times like this. Today, many young adults feel they face more obstacles than their parents did. And confidence in our institutions has dropped to historic lows.
Would You Buy This $2.5M Transportation Business?
The buyer didn’t get far before the red flags started flying. What began as a straightforward $2.5M opportunity quickly surfaced questions about valuation, negotiation, and even the reliability of the numbers on the page. The community’s deal coaches pulled out 3 key lessons that apply to nearly every deal. The first hang-up came from valuation. At $2.5M on $587k SDE, the multiple worked out to 4.3x. The buyer flagged it as high, his accountant agreed, and industry data confirmed it.
How to Build an Unfair Financial Advantage in the Next 118 Days
Ever watch an NBA game? For 36 minutes, the pace is manageable. Players jog back on defense, coaches test different offences, stars conserve energy, fans get up for beers. Then the 4th quarter starts, and suddenly, every possession is 10x more intense. Fouls get harder. Stars stop resting. Games are won and lost over a few big, late plays. The closer to the buzzer, the more each moment matters. Life has a version of this, too. Early in the year: Each decision matters, but there’s slack.
Would You Buy This $4M Door Business?
The coaches didn’t any items as reasons to walk. Instead, they framed them as the work ahead. The buyers left with a diligence checklist, but also shared how they got here in the first place. They didn’t just stumble on this listing. One buyer explained that persistence with brokers made the difference. He called about a different business that was already under LOI, just to open a line of communication. A few days later, the broker sent him this deal before it ever hit the market.
Is This The Real Reason You’re Not an Owner?
To the untrained eye, the first SpaceX Raptor engine didn’t look like the future. It looked like something Dom Toretto welded together in a Fast & Furious garage at 3 am. A maze of pipes, wires hanging out, duct-tape vibes, scorch marks on the sides. More street-racer than space program. But here’s the thing, it works: Whoops, sorry, that’s the one from Fast and Furious. Let’s try that again… It works: What’s cooler? Today, more than simply working, those same engines have become works of art.
Would you buy this $3.5M frozen food business?
This business doesn’t just rely on one major customer — it relies on someone else’s relationship with that customer. Here’s how it works: Customer #1 accounts for nearly 70% of total revenue. But the seller doesn’t interact with them directly. That relationship is managed by a third-party food broker.
How to Navigate The Split-Screen Economy
That’s why we’re hosting Main Street Millionaire Live: a 3-day virtual bootcamp on the exact playbooks for spotting these opportunities, structuring the deals, and stepping into ownership. Come, and we’ll show you how to: Identify great businesses for you (and avoid bad ones). Finance acquisitions with tools like SBA loans and seller financing. Negotiate with sellers and transition into ownership. And so, so much more. You can check out the schedule here.
Would you buy this $360k med spa business?
As soon as Olman and Jen started exploring med spas, one thing became clear: They didn’t know sh*t about running a med spa. Jen was a nurse, but she’d never worked in this setting. She needed to learn how to be an injector. Classic chicken and egg. So what’d they do? They got creative and made some sacrifices. Olman told Jen, “Why don’t we email a bunch of smaller med spas? You can offer to work for free and learn. People pay for school, here we’ll just pay with some time.” And that’s what she did.
The Simple Formula That Can Change Your Entire Financial Future
We live in a country where most college students worship industry tech titans or big corporate salaries but stay largely uneducated about ownership. Most people measure success in annual comp alone — $80k, $150k, $250k — and obsess over negotiating an extra 3% in pay, while ignoring the math that often creates outsized wealth. Here’s the rough gist of it: Increase profit by $300k in an industry with a 4x multiple, and you’ve just added $1.2M to your business’s value.
The #1 Lie Stopping You From Owning a Business
Two years ago, she joined our community to learn everything she could about buying small businesses. A year of hard work later, she made her move and closed on 2 businesses: Davis Brothers Heating & Air Conditioning The Wholesale of Indiana She didn’t start these businesses from scratch. Didn’t want to. She acquired their existing operations and everything that came with ‘em. $1.5M purchase price (including real estate) $3M+ revenue at acquisition 21 employees “I didn’t just dip my toes in.
9 Things One of the Most Powerful CEOs in AI Wants You to Know
“A lot of people think I’m selling magic,” Amjad says. “I’m not.” “Management [of AI tools] is hard. You need to think clearly. You need to communicate clearly. It’s going to get frustrating. The agent, the AI, is going to make errors. And it’s going to require resourcefulness.” The skill that separates owners now? Knowing what you want and knowing how to ask for it.
Would You Buy This $5M Manufacturing Business?
Ben’s leaning in, and the coaches are, too. The consensus? There’s real potential here IF Ben moves fast, conducts thorough due diligence, and structures smart. Another deal coach, Hants, was blunt: “Time kills deals, especially off-market ones. You need to be thinking in hours and days, not days and weeks.” His advice? Try to bypass the formal IOI process, if possible. Candice agreed: “I’ve seen brokers try to use buyers to test the market. Don’t ask.
Business Education is Broken. Here’s How to Fix it
You know something’s wrong with the way things are going at business school when you see a headline like this: That’s one of the top business schools in the world. A bunch of people will probably point out that this isn’t surprising, since business school isn’t really about learning anymore. “It’s all about the networking.” Even so, the network effect is now also a diminishing value prop, as technology enables new distributed networks that don’t cost an arm and a leg (~$250k). And for what?
Would You Buy This $3M HVAC Business?
Just days after the live call, Jorge gave the group an update. “Unfortunately, this deal fell through yesterday. There were some things on the financials that even the bank was having difficulty understanding. For the best, I think.” Natalia, another member, replied: “Sometimes rejection truly is a form of protection.” The buyer walked away from the deal sharper, more experienced, and better prepared for the next one.
How 1 Tool Cracked the Code to Business Ownership
In 2008, Paul Graham drew the “Startup Curve”, a now-famous sketch of how building a startup actually feels. We think buying a business follows a similar path: Today, this process can feel like finding a needle in a haystack… in a dark room. But what if someone just flipped on the light and pointed you toward the needle? That idea has always been on our minds. …And it’s why Sally’s story is so cool. See, Sally’s not your average buyer.
Would You Buy This $1M Painting Business?
With an LOI signed and diligence underway, David brought this deal to the community for a live breakdown. The advice that followed was tactical, no-fluff, and grounded in real operator experience. Here’s what they told him to pay attention to: David asked whether conducting a formal financial review was necessary for this deal size. The deal coaches were clear: maybe not a “full-blown QofE” costing tens of thousands of dollars, but a review is required.
The (Nearly) $0 Lever to Grow a Business Today
There’s a massively underrated growth lever hiding in plain sight. It’s basically free, yet most owners never truly leverage it. Below you’ll see exactly how we turn it into a machine across our businesses. One word: 89% of consumers check reviews before buying 66% say they’re the #1 influence on purchasing decisions Here’s the twisted part… 9/10 happy customers never leave a review. Angry customers are more likely to leave reviews than happy ones.
Would You Buy This $3M Pet Business?
The broker told Jake this business’s price had “already drastically dropped drastically…” which made the reality even more bleak. If revenue kept falling, he realized, there’s not enough cushion to safely cover debt payments. The deal would go upside down — fast.
We Got Gary Vee’s Unfiltered, $350M Truths About Building Businesses
We just recorded a podcast with business legend Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary says he “truly had nothing” at 34. Couldn’t pay rent for his business. Started out of a borrowed conference room, what’s now a $350M company with 2,000 employees. He’s now 49, and after getting to know him over the last year, I think he’s playing the long game better than almost anyone. Below are 6 of the most important ideas from our recent 1-hour conversation.
Would You Buy This $700k Towing Business?
Welcome to The Main Street Minute, your shortcut to Main Street acquisitions. 👋 Shoutout to the dozens of new deal junkies who joined the newsletter last week. This week: A buyer eyes a towing business with extra trucks, a major contract, and little competition… then the red flags appear.
America Needs More Owners. Here’s How To Create Them.
-Peter Drucker When 86% of Americans agree on something, you pay attention. That’s how many believe small businesses have a positive effect on the direction of the USA — more than any other U.S. institution, beating the military, in 2nd place, by 26%. That kind of trust says something. But for all that trust… there’s shockingly little training.
Emma recently found a 45-year-old landscaping company for sale in Texas. It checked a lot of boxes: ✔️ Long operating history ✔️ Strong relationships with premium homebuilders ✔️ Healthy referral-based growth ✔️ A seller willing to do seller financing But something clearly didn’t add up. “I couldn’t get the numbers to work out,” Emma confessed. Margins in 2023 had mysteriously collapsed, which meant she couldn’t get the list price to pencil.
8 Lessons from the Man Who Wrote The Laws of Power
-Robert Greene This was probably one of my favorite podcasts I’ve ever done. A couple months ago, I sat down with Robert Greene, master of human psychology and author of The 48 Laws of Power. What started as a conversation turned into a playbook for anyone building a business, leading a team, or navigating high-stakes decisions. 8 lessons from our chat that I think about almost every day while building Contrarian Thinking: I learned this the hard way, twice.
Would you buy this $1.6M kitchen redesign business?
Hants kept drilling deeper into Kurtâs deal structure. Something wasn’t adding up. Then, another Contrarian Community expert on the call, Lloyd, said it: âItâs the salary needed.â Kurt had plugged in $100k as “salary needed” because he was leaving his W-2 job and wanted that salary. But did he need all of it? Probably not, he admitted.
We Built an AI Codie
-Steve Jobs Everyone’s either excited about AI or thinks it’ll steal their job. I used to be on the fence. Then I hired a full-time employee just to integrate AI into everything we do. His name’s Chadwick: The dude is half-human, half-android. His only job: Find every unfair advantage AI gives us… and leverage the hell out of it. We’re biased, but he’s building a free tool that might eventually become the #1 AI in the world for business buyers and builders.
How to Make a Smart Offer on a Business (When the Seller Won’t Name a Price)
Every week, our members bring real deals to the table… and tear them apart with expert coaches. We dig into the numbers, challenge assumptions, and sharpen strategy. With hundreds of recorded calls in the vault, there’s no shortage of lessons. Here’s a taste: Lean, profitable, B2B frozen food biz with zero employees and high customer concentration. After nearly 40 years of business, this deal relies on decades of trust and one massive client. This buyer thinks he can grow it — would you?
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