Garth Fasano·April 29, 2024

Selling $100,000 per Day of Dog Training | Garth Fasano Interview

Garth Fasano is a 15-year consulting veteran specializing in call center and outsourced sales operations who conducted a 5-year part-time self-funded search before acquiring Top Dog — an outsourced sales and lead conversion company that processes roughly $100,000 of dog training sales every day on behalf of approximately 120 small franchised dog training businesses across the US and Canada. He found the business on BizBuySell (listed by Transworld), closed in October 2022 at roughly a 3x multiple on 2021 SDE (effectively below 2x on 2022 run-rate), financed via SBA through Cross First Bank after an initial lender rejection, with a split of approximately 80/5/15 (SBA/seller note/equity). The business' core competitive advantage is a rare outcome-based contract model — Top Dog only gets paid after clients collect revenue — backed by a proprietary Salesforce-integrated technology stack and 15 years of accumulated sales methodology refined over nearly one million B2C leads. Garth's primary challenges have been franchise concentration risk, a tense early standoff with the master franchisor over client data access, and the inherently thin margins of US-based outsourced labor. His growth levers include expanding Top Dog's model to new franchise verticals and applying tech-driven conversion optimization (e.g., taking Thumbtack lead conversion from 2% to 14%). As a side note, Garth also acquired a backcountry ski hut in Colorado through proprietary off-market outreach, which he frames as a lifestyle/community triple-win acquisition.

Deal facts

multiple: 3x SDE (on 2021 financials); effectively below 2x on 2022 run-rate at close
sde ebitda: below $750k SDE (exact figure not stated)
revenue: $2m (2021); ~$3m (2022 at close)
financing structure: SBA loan ~80%, seller note ~5%, equity ~15% (closed at 80/5/15 split); lender: Cross First Bank
notes: Deal negotiated mid-2022 on 2021 financials; closed October 2022 with ~9 months of 2022 performance visible, giving an effective sub-2x multiple on run-rate revenue. Business was 15 years old. Sold by founder/FIRE seller of similar age to Garth. Competitive process with at least 2-3 other offers; Garth raised offer by ~1%. Found on BizBuySell, listed by Transworld broker.

Why this business

Garth spent 15 years in consulting focused on customer service, sales, and call center/outsourcing operations. When he found Top Dog — an outsourced sales and service company for small businesses — it was the only deal he looked at that was directly aligned with his professional background. That alignment made it easy to move forward despite five years of searching. He also saw the pandemic-driven growth as a sustainable shift (pet-humanization trend) and believed the outcome-based, technology-enabled model was extensible beyond dog training into other service industries.

What's working

Outcome-based commission model (Top Dog only invoices after clients collect revenue from their customers) creates perfectly aligned incentives and differentiates the business from traditional hourly-rate outsourcers
Proprietary technology stack built by the founder enables automation of 6,000-8,000 leads per month through Salesforce CRM with omni-channel follow-up, giving Top Dog a durable moat that is hard to replicate at scale
Deep industry specialization: 15 years and nearly one million B2C dog training leads processed has produced a refined sales methodology and one of the world's most comprehensive databases on dog behavioral problems
Work-from-home workforce with long-tenured employees (10+, 7+, 5+ years) creates cultural stability and retention advantages
Network effects within the franchise: 100% of new franchisees in the system have joined Top Dog; satisfied clients recruit others via leaderboard dynamics
Operational coaching role beyond pure sales (pricing advice, lead-source optimization, schedule planning) creates deep client stickiness
Technology-driven lead conversion improvement demonstrated: Thumbtack lead conversion rate increased from 2% to 14% (7x) by rebuilding integration and contact flow, cutting customer acquisition cost from ~$750 to ~$150
Successfully expanded to a second franchise vertical (a former Acquiring Minds guest's business), proving extensibility of the model

What's hard

Customer (franchise) concentration risk: virtually all revenue at acquisition came from one franchise network; no master services agreement with the franchisor created platform/pen-stroke risk
Seller would not allow Garth to speak with any clients during diligence, which was unusual and limited his insight
Tense early relationship with master franchisor who demanded client data that Garth was contractually prohibited from sharing — led to 'fetal position moments' but Garth held the line on client contracts
Initial SBA lender rejected the deal (likely due to rapid pandemic-era growth being viewed skeptically); had to scramble to find a cash-flow lender (Cross First Bank) through the broker with no time to shop rates
Deal team was not assembled before the process accelerated; Garth would advise searchers to have lenders, attorneys, and diligence frameworks ready before signing an LOI
Underestimated the importance of the technology environment during diligence; wishes he had allocated more purchase price to the tech assets (rather than goodwill) for tax advantages
Thin margins: US-based labor outsourcing inherently has tight margins; technology component improves blended margin but still below the 20%+ SDE margins common in other search targets
Expansion attempts require upfront investment and operational readiness on the client side: Med Spa pilot 'worked too well' — Top Dog sold faster than the client could staff, causing the engagement to end
Growth rate showing signs of decelerating from pandemic-era highs as of the interview (2024)

Notable quotes

Every day Top Dog sells about $100,000 of dog training.

We are not it's not good business for us to sell clients that don't really want the service or don't really need it because they ultimately might not show up for the lesson or the appointment — they might cancel — and because we have this outcome-based model that actually doesn't create any revenue for us either, and so we've tremendously aligned incentives with our clients.

This was one of those first real leadership moments — where you have to make a decision and you have to be ready to rely on your values — and I knew I could sleep better at night if I just responded to this question — I also knew that most of my clients wouldn't mind but some of them probably really would and regardless the way I looked at it is in my contracts I have to protect that data.

Even if Top Dog weren't to — if it hadn't have worked out — like there's no way I would do anything else with my career. Like this is what I will continue to do because it is so much fun. And to impact your clients, to change the lives of your teammates, and to get to lead a company is such a unique experience that even if something were to go south at Top Dog I will have already won.