Understanding the Buyer Who Pays 100% at Close with Dan Mytels

Kyle Winder
Jun 16
3 min read

Dan Mytels represents this type of buyer. Through his firm, Salt Creek, he’s acquired 100 businesses—most of them mature, profitable, niche companies where the owner was ready to move on.

About this Episode

Most acquirers want you to stick around. Roll equity. Hit targets. Train your replacement.

But there’s a different kind of buyer out there. One who wires 100% of the money at closing—and lets you walk.

Dan Mytels represents this type of buyer. Through his firm, Salt Creek, he’s acquired 100 businesses—most of them mature, profitable, niche companies where the owner was ready to move on. They don’t always offer the highest multiple, but they do offer something many founders value more: a clean break.

You discover how to:

Weigh a clean exit versus a higher price with strings attached
Understand why some buyers prefer to hold for 15 years—not flip in five
Navigate the difference between committed capital and fund-based buyers
Spot the red flags of ETA buyers still looking for their first deal
Decide whether your business is better suited to growth—or transition

About Our Guest

Dan Mytels

Dan Mytels is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor with a sharp eye for value and a track record of scaling and exiting businesses across multiple industries.

As the founder of multiple successful ventures, Dan has bought, built, and sold companies by focusing on operational excellence, disciplined growth, and long-term value creation.

With deep experience on both the buy and sell sides of M&A, Dan brings practical insight into what makes a business truly sellable—and how founders can position themselves for a life-changing exit.

On this episode, he shares real-world lessons from the trenches: from navigating due diligence to creating businesses that thrive without the owner.

Definitions

Due-Diligence: This is a comprehensive appraisal of a business or investment undertaken before a merger, acquisition, or investment. It seeks to validate the information provided and uncover any potential risks or liabilities.

Earn-out: This is a financing arrangement for the purchase of a business, where the seller must meet certain performance goals before receiving the full purchase price. It reduces the buyer’s risk and aligns the interests of both parties post-acquisition.

Roll Over Investor: A rollover investor, in the context of selling a business, refers to an individual or entity that rolls some of their proceeds from the sale with the buyer. This strategy allows the seller to defer capital gains taxes and potentially leverage their expertise or resources in a new venture.

Debt Coverage Ratio: The debt coverage ratio is like a financial health check for a small business applying for a loan from a bank. It shows whether the business earns enough money to comfortably cover its debt payments.

In simpler terms, it’s a way for the bank to see if the business can afford to pay back the loan. If the ratio is high, it means the business is making enough profit to easily handle its debts.

But if it’s low, it could indicate that the business might struggle to make loan payments, which could make the bank hesitant to lend them money.

Let’s say there’s a small bakery called “Sweet Delights” that wants to expand its operations by taking out a loan from a bank to buy new equipment. The bank wants to make sure Sweet Delights can afford to repay the loan, so they calculate the debt coverage ratio.

Sweet Delights’ annual net income (profit) is $50,000, and they have annual loan payments of $20,000 for existing debts.

The debt coverage ratio formula is:

Debt Coverage Ratio = Net Operating Income / Total Debt Service

In this case: Net Operating Income = $50,000 (annual profit) Total Debt Service = $20,000 (annual loan payments)

So, the debt coverage ratio would be:

Debt Coverage Ratio = $50,000 / $20,000 = 2.5

This means that for every dollar of debt Sweet Delights has, they’re making $2.50 in profit. In simple terms, the higher the ratio, the better, because it shows that Sweet Delights is making enough money to comfortably cover its debt payments.

This would likely make the bank more confident in lending them the money for the new equipment.

Arbitrage: Arbitrage refers to the practice of exploiting price differences or inefficiencies in the market to generate profits.

In the context of selling a business, arbitrage may involve identifying undervalued businesses or assets, acquiring them at a lower price, and then selling them at a higher price to realize a profit.

This could involve various strategies such as purchasing distressed businesses, improving their operations or market positioning, and subsequently selling them at a higher valuation.