Matt Brunik, Kevin Peer·June 30, 2025

New Way to Pursue ETA: Searcher-in-Residence | Matt Brunnig and Kevin Peer Interview

Matt Brunik is a former power plant project manager who self-discovered ETA (with no business school background) and bought Sunrise Yacht Products in 2018 — a niche manufacturer of catamaran tension nets located 1.35 miles from his St. Pete, FL home — for $470k via SBA 7(a) and a ROBS 401k structure. The business had strong international brand recognition but a tired, low-effort retiring owner with virtually no ad spend; Matt grew it ~20% YoY through basic marketing, then rode COVID outdoor tailwinds to become a multi-year demand surge. He subsequently bolted on two more sewing manufacturers to form the holding company Octal Ventures, now at ~$3m combined revenue. The episode's second arc introduces the 'Searcher-in-Residence' (SIR) concept: Matt hired Kevin Peer, an MBA-trained former M&A integrations professional who had been fundraising for a traditional search fund, as a part-time Director of Growth and Improvements embedded at Octal. Over eight months, Kevin and Matt discovered they fit the traction visionary/integrator model naturally and codified the SIR concept — a one-to-two year embedded operator role in a small business that can evolve into CEO succession, a buyout, an add-on acquisition lead role, or simply better-prepared independent search — as an alternative ETA path suited to searchers who want to stay local and build community relationships before buying.

Deal facts

purchase price: $470k (business #1, Sunrise Yacht Products); ~$100k (business #2, pan rack covers); ~$400k (business #3, golf seat covers)
sde ebitda: SDE ~$170-200k (business #1); SDE ~$70k (business #2); SDE ~$170k stated (business #3)
revenue: $670k (business #1 at acquisition); ~$150k (business #2 at acquisition); ~$700k (business #3 at acquisition); combined ~$3m+ (2024)
financing structure: SBA 7(a) + ROBS (401k rollover as majority equity) + seller note (year 3-5 standby) on business #1; SBA 7(a) on business #3
notes: Business #1: Sunrise Yacht Products, catamaran tension nets manufacturer, St. Pete FL, 5 employees + owner. Business #2: pan rack baking covers manufacturer, ~$100k purchase, bought from ~74-year-old sole proprietor. Business #3: golf seat cover manufacturer, mid-Atlantic seaboard, ~$400k purchase. ROBS structure creating structural complexity for future deals. Combined holding company (Octal Ventures) at ~$3m+ revenue as of 2024.

Why this business

Matt had a lifelong drive to build and own something; he originally considered inventing but concluded buying an existing business with product-market fit was more practical and lower risk than starting from scratch. He searched locally in St. Pete, FL because he was settled there and wanted to stay. Sunrise Yacht Products caught his eye once he realized it was literally 1.35 miles from his house — a world-class niche brand with low marketing spend, a retiring owner, and clear room to grow via advertising and market penetration.

What's working

Niche brand with international reputation: Sunrise Yacht Products' nets last 12-13 years vs. 3-4 years for OEM competitors, commanding a premium price and strong word-of-mouth worldwide
Buying from tired/ready-to-retire sellers created immediate low-hanging fruit: prior owner worked ~20 hours/week with under $1,000/year in ad spend, so modest marketing investment drove ~20% YoY growth for 5 years
COVID tailwinds boosted demand for catamaran products and outdoor living for 2-3 years, accelerating growth significantly
Bolt-on acquisition #2 (pan rack covers) grew from $150k to ~$600k revenue by leveraging existing sewing capacity and automation to cut processing time by 80-90%
Traction (EOS) implementation has been a 'substantial win' — created company-wide dashboard with real-time productivity metrics, quarterly bonus visibility, and clear visionary/integrator roles
Hiring Kevin Peer as Searcher-in-Residence / Director of Growth and Improvements tripled the speed of special projects completion and identified the Matt-as-visionary/Kevin-as-integrator dynamic
Long-term hold philosophy: building employee alignment through transparency, growth opportunities, and profit sharing creates a sustainable, self-reinforcing culture

What's hard

Buying too small (SDE ~$170-200k) meant wearing too many hats for years; Matt now recommends buying at least $500k SDE if possible
ROBS (401k rollover) structure is creating structural complexity: the 401k holds majority equity, making it harder to bring in partners or structure future acquisitions; buying out the 401k is expensive because equity value has grown with business success
Business #3 (golf seat covers) was a weaker acquisition: Matt underdid diligence, overestimated SDE because the seller was exceptionally fast/efficient (underrepresented true labor hours), and over-relied on COVID tailwinds that have since reversed — business is now roughly breakeven
Core lesson: seller hours should be treated like 'dog years' — multiply stated seller hours by at least 2x to estimate replacement labor requirements
Growth by organic self-funding limits speed; Matt notes they were near the edge of sustainable growth without external capital
Special projects pile up when the owner is the only senior person; hiring a peer-level operator was the only way to clear the backlog

Notable quotes

When your downside is bankruptcy, there is buying bigger, there is no more risk. Your risk is bankruptcy. Period. So, as long as you have a large portion of the capability to run something larger, buy as big as you can and maximize what you can buy through the SBA because you're either bankrupt or you're not. It's binary and you just increase your expected value if you're buying larger.

About four years later, I found out that one of the key employees who today runs one of our businesses would have left that day if I hadn't brought donuts. She'd had a really bad experience in a different job with ownership transition and the small gesture of showing that I cared a little bit made a really big difference and they brought that up to me years later.

I should have just went ahead and assumed that was the case and adjusted my offer accordingly. And if I didn't win, I didn't win.

I view it as a way, a different way to pursue ETA. It's taking in somebody who is interested in doing a search for one to two years to get operational experience, but then to have a number of different outcomes, all of which beneficial, that it could take.