A path into online business acquisitions
Mike Swigunski’s first online dollar came through Amazon affiliate marketing while he was studying for an MBA. He built a travel blog, monetized it, and began learning how to make money online.
That path eventually led him to Empire Flippers, where he became employee number four. From 2016 to 2020, he worked across marketing and sales, including paid advertising, email marketing, automations, CRM systems, conferences, and remote sales. Working in a fast-growing company with a small team gave him a broad view of how online businesses are built, bought, and sold.
After leaving Empire Flippers, he began buying businesses himself and developed a focus on software businesses with recurring revenue.
Why trust matters in acquisitions
Swigunski’s first acquisition came from a seller he already knew. The business was a WordPress plugin with a one-time price of about $20. After acquiring it, they moved it to a subscription model, added a yearly plan, raised the price, simplified checkout, and ran several promotions.
The structure included an upfront payment for the seller and a percentage tied to the seller’s audience during a limited promotion period. Swigunski received the recurring subscriptions outside that window. The deal returned his investment within eight months.
He recommends valuing trust as highly as the financial details. Buyers need to trust the business and, when possible, the seller. If the financial statements look strong but the seller cannot explain discrepancies, that can be a reason to walk away.
Michael Bereslavsky described two common types of sellers. One is a developer or creator who builds a product, develops a following, and eventually loses interest as the business declines. Such businesses may be attractive because they need renewed attention and optimization.
The other is a marketer or reseller who has already tested every growth method and maximized the business. Swigunski prefers the first type because the focus is on solving a customer problem and improving the product, rather than maximizing revenue at every stage.
Recurring revenue provides a moat
Recurring revenue is central to Swigunski’s acquisition thesis. Subscription businesses retain customers, control pricing, and have monthly or annual revenue built into the model. That makes them more resilient than businesses that depend mainly on affiliate sales or Amazon FBA.
His approach is not to treat every software business as attractive. Each business still needs individual evaluation. He focuses on recurring revenue, customer churn, expected growth, and whether the product serves a durable niche rather than a passing trend.
He also looks for ways to acquire software businesses at multiples closer to those paid for content sites, particularly when a one-time payment can be changed into a subscription model.
Shopping a deal can improve the sale price
Swigunski later helped an owner sell an Amazon FBA business and inventory. Brokers initially valued the deal at around $400,000. By presenting it to aggregators in his network, he helped secure a sale for about $670,000.
The result was roughly $270,000 more than the seller had received from other potential buyers. The experience showed him the value of understanding the seller’s interests, buyer-side demand, and the process from several angles.
Three requirements for buying a business
After consulting on many acquisitions, Swigunski identified three requirements for someone who wants to buy a business:
- Capital
- Time
- The skills to run and operate the business
People with money but no operating experience may not have the time, knowledge, or resources to manage an acquisition properly. His work on funds and advisory services was partly motivated by this gap.
Fractional ownership opens acquisitions to more investors
Dividends, the fractional M&A platform Swigunski founded and Bereslavsky advises, aims to give investors ownership stakes in online businesses rather than requiring them to operate the companies themselves.
The platform is designed for accredited and non-accredited investors, including people outside the United States. Its capital raise is being conducted through Wefunder, with a minimum investment of $100. Investors are expected to receive quarterly dividends initially, with monthly payments as a longer-term goal.
The platform initially plans to offer investments in businesses that have already been acquired. Later, it may also allow investors to fund businesses before they are acquired. Investors will be able to review the business, its cash flow, and an estimated return before investing.
Swigunski expects the company to acquire profitable businesses with recurring revenue, improve their earnings, and distribute the resulting cash flow. His long-term goal is to hold billions of dollars in fragmented assets on the platform.
Investment terms and return target
The current capital raise is structured around revenue share and future company equity. Investors also receive an equity stake in Dividends as it grows.
For the first $250,000 raised, the targeted payback is 1.75 times the investment. For example, a $10,000 investment would aim to return $17,500. After that threshold, the multiple falls to 1.5 times, meaning a $10,000 investment would aim to return $15,000. In both cases, long-term equity and dividends remain part of the investment.
Swigunski’s target payback period is two to three years, with an estimated annual return of 12% to 15%. These are targets rather than guarantees. A significant portion of the payback would be paid when the acquired businesses are sold.
Aggressive buying requires strict controls
Bereslavsky described a more aggressive approach to acquisitions. He has completed more than 200 acquisitions, possibly as many as 300, and has lost most of his money in three to five deals. One content website cost $10,000, earned about $1,000 in its first month, and then lost nearly all its traffic.
His typical process was to buy a business with a specific improvement plan, then have his team work on advertising, marketing, funnels, and SEO. If those changes failed, he would try to resell the business and recover what he could.
Swigunski’s approach is more cautious. He focuses on software with recurring revenue and applies strict criteria to both the business and the seller.
Finding talent is an early challenge
One of Dividends’ immediate challenges is building the platform and attracting the right team. Swigunski believes that strong employees should share in the company’s performance rather than rely only on high salaries.
He plans to use a profit-sharing structure inspired by what he saw at Empire Flippers. This would tie talented people’s incentives to the company’s results and encourage them to contribute actively to its success.
The capital raise had already brought together more than 80 investors from around the world. These investors are expected to become the platform’s first users and receive updates about its progress.
Conclusion
Swigunski’s advice is to look beyond the headline valuation of a business. Recurring revenue, seller trust, a durable product, and careful due diligence are central to making an acquisition work. For investors who lack the time or skills to operate a company, fractional ownership may provide a way to invest in profitable online businesses without managing them directly.