The Business Acquisition Playbook You Can Run Alongside Your W-2

Most people think you have to quit your job to build wealth. Deirdre Sommerkamp did not quit anything. She kept the corporate title, kept the salary and on nights and weekends started buying entire businesses from owners ready to retire. What we cover: - Why she finds the operator before she ever looks for a business to buy - How off-market deals from retiring owners beat anything listed with a broker - The three things every retiring business owner actually cares about: legacy, employees and customers - Her minimum threshold for a deal, and the numbers that make her walk away - How she structures ownership so operators get 51 to 75 percent while she keeps her own stake under 20 percent - Why she shifted part of her focus from business acquisitions to AI consulting and what it means for a company to become AI native - Building an app in Replit and publishing it to the App Store without writing a line of code Deirdre spent over 20 years in corporate technology, most recently as a Chief Solutions Officer, before building a business acquisition practice on the side. She has a mergers and acquisitions background and now runs both a business acquisition practice and an AI consulting firm helping companies redesign how they work. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Buying Businesses Without Quitting Your Job 02:37 Deirdre's Corporate and Entrepreneurial Background 03:46 Discovering Seller-Financed Business Acquisitions 05:23 Why You Don't Have to Quit Your W-2 07:10 How to Vet the Right Operator 08:57 What a Chief Solutions Officer Does 10:52 Buying a Retiring Owner's Life's Work 14:00 Finding Off-Market Businesses 14:29 Find the Operator First 16:09 Looking at Local Businesses Like a Buyer 17:45 Why Off-Market Deals Can Work Better 19:38 Protecting Legacy, Employees and Customers 22:12 When the Numbers Don't Work 24:36 How to Price a Business You Haven't Run 25:57 Finding Subject Matter Experts 28:15 Structuring the Deal and Operator Role 29:18 Why Deirdre Shifted Toward AI Consulting 31:27 Helping Companies Implement AI 32:46 What It Means to Become AI-Native 33:37 Using AI to Supercharge Employees 35:34 The Size of Businesses Deirdre Works With 36:08 Her AI Consulting Team and Agent Systems 37:03 Building AI Tools for Clients 38:55 Choosing the Right AI Platforms 40:19 Publishing an App With Replit 42:10 Vibe Coding and Building Without Knowing Code 43:27 Deirdre's Core Values App 45:48 Why Core Values Matter in Business 48:13 What Building Multiple Careers Has Cost Her 50:18 Work-Life Integration 51:24 The First Move for Someone With a Dream 52:48 How to Find Your Why 54:43 Who Should Reach Out for AI Consulting 55:33 Where to Connect With Deirdre 56:19 Final Thoughts: Keep Building 🤝 Connect with Deirdre Sommerkamp 🌐 Website: dsommerkamp.com 📸 Instagram: @sommerkamping 📘 LinkedIn: Deirdre Sommerkamp 👉 Don't forget to 👍like, 💬comment, 🔔subscribe, and share. 🔧 Tools & Resources Mentioned 🔧 Some of the links below may be affiliate partnerships. We only share tools we personally trust and use. 💸💸 Need funding for your next deal? Get approved fast here: 👉 app.dealfunding360.com/?ref=EdgarSalgado 💤 Sleep better, dream bigger! — Eight Sleep 👉 https://refer.eight.sl/edgardsalgado 💵 Prime Corporate Services (LLC setup + business credit) 👉 https://primepartner.info/edgardsa 💵 Foundational Funding, EMD, Transactional Lending, Double Close 👉 https://foundationallending.com/funding-wl?ref_name=Josh+Smith&[email protected] ► Join the SubTo Community and learn creative finance from Pace Morby 👉 https://join.nre.ai/mQ9T9vZ ► Learn to make money on other people's deals with the Gator Method 👉 https://join.nre.ai/mQBDJK5 ► Tools I use for productivity 👉 https://linktr.ee/EdgartheConnector 🔌 PLUG IN & SUBSCRIBE 🔌 Instagram: @edgartheconnector 🚧 DISCLAIMER 🚧 We are not a CPA, attorney, insurance, contractor, lender, or financial advisor. Content is for entertainment purposes only; verify all information yourself.