Bonus Episode with Andy Cagnetta

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/acagnetta/
Email: ac@tworld.com
Website: https://www.tworld.com/

Jason Cutter [00:00:02]:
You have found the Business Broker Growth show with your host, Jason Cutter. This is the podcast for brokers who are ready to stop hoping for deals and start growing their pipeline. Our goal is to bring you strategies, stories and insights that will be a catalyst to move you quickly from transactional deal makers to trusted advisors. Time for Business Broker growth.

Jason Cutter [00:00:24]:
All right, welcome to the after show. I guess the after show segment of the Business Broker Growth Show. I’ve got Andy Cagnetta here, Transworld Business Advisors. Andy, welcome back to the after show.

Andy Cagnetta [00:00:39]:
Looking forward to it.

Jason Cutter [00:00:40]:
All right, so we just got done recording the main segment, took a little break. Here we are. Let’s say, you know, when the, when the lights and the cameras are off and no one’s watching, let’s talk about the other stuff that comes to mind. The things, the things that, you know, brokers probably really want to know about and what you see for the industry. And so I just want to dive into some, some topics, some things that, you know, come to mind, especially with all of your experience with everything you’ve done in brokerage and then now with transworld and then growing it and like you even said in the, in the main episode, talking about it being international. So it’s not just about what’s happening in Florida, what’s happening in New York. It’s okay. What’s also applicable, you know, globally.

Jason Cutter [00:01:20]:
And what you see. First question would be what will brokers need to survive in 2030?

Andy Cagnetta [00:01:30]:
They’re going to need to understand how AI works and how to leverage technology. It’s, you know, I’ve been predicting this for 30 years, but it’s going to become even more important. And at the end of the day, it’s, it’s going to be about the content. And the content is having the transactions to sell. So if you don’t have the ability to leverage everything to get transactions to sell, you’re going to be out of luck because in 2030, there will be the way for buyers to directly connect with who is handling the sale of businesses.

Jason Cutter [00:02:16]:
It’s interesting because you said you’ve been predicting this for 30 years. And just like TVs and movie shows, movie TV shows and movies have predicting, like flying cars and, and robots doing everything for us. And it’s like now it finally feels like all that stuff is really close. And AI specifically, more than flying cars, like AI is now, you know, a tool that everybody can use to some capacity. And so it’s really, it’s really here.

Andy Cagnetta [00:02:43]:
Yes, it is.

Jason Cutter [00:02:45]:
Okay. Number two, obviously just this is the preset question I would normally ask is, what’s the number one tech shift coming to M and A, which obviously is AI, and to you, it’s really AI in buyers finding listings. Is there other ways you see the AI affecting kind of the business broker world?

Andy Cagnetta [00:03:06]:
Yeah, I think, you know, it’ll take a lot of the. Out of. A lot of the noise out of the process. You know, creating SIMS and creating NDAs and getting people to sign certain things and getting the process to move a little bit more quickly. I mean, I, you know, I don’t want to predict, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be around where you can actually trade businesses in a very fast manner, like you could trade a stock right now. But I do think that, you know, God bless. Shout out to Mike Ertel, who passed away earlier this year, who helped us get the 2023 Brokerage Simplification act, which gave us the ability to sell portions of businesses. I think that business will come about and people will be investing in small businesses, and it’s not here yet, but I think there will eventually be an exchange for doing that.

Andy Cagnetta [00:04:07]:
So the idea of buying a whole business and running it might be not a thing of the past, but might not have. You might not have to do it.

Jason Cutter [00:04:18]:
Yeah. Where in. In hearing that, it sounds like, you know, being able to buy into a REIT for real estate. Right. Instead of actually buying an apartment building, instead you’re buying into a trust. That’s an ownership share of that. Yeah, that. That real estate.

Jason Cutter [00:04:35]:
I think. I think that’d be great. I could see that making it more accessible for people who. They don’t want to buy the whole thing, or they don’t want to run it, but they want to invest in it. They want to have that as a vehicle. I could see that being big and then where the technology makes that easier and easier. And it’s funny because you think, okay, trading, you know, versus trading stocks, which is instant, we can do it. I could literally grab my phone and buy it.

Jason Cutter [00:04:54]:
And you think of how long ago was it that that wasn’t a thing, where it was literally a very manual process. All right, next question. So what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in this year so far?

Andy Cagnetta [00:05:10]:
This year?

Jason Cutter [00:05:11]:
Yeah, 2025.

Andy Cagnetta [00:05:14]:
The biggest lesson I’ve learned this year is that I. Not as good as technology as I used to be. So I went to school. I was a failed computer engineer, so that’s the best way I could put it. But so I, you know, I knew a Bunch of languages for Tran Basic, you know, like. And I was, I was always ahead on the technology thing. Always being able to really dive in and know what’s going on and feeling like I’m at the cutting edge. And as I’ve grown a big business and you’re not in it every day.

Andy Cagnetta [00:05:51]:
The AI and the things that are coming out, the tools that are available, I just don’t know them all yet, and I certainly don’t have a good proficiency in them. So. And that’s come really apparent this year. I, you know, just because of where AI is going, which is great. I think it’s great. So. Yep.

Jason Cutter [00:06:11]:
You’re now in that mode where you’re that, Are you that person who’s like, you just don’t. People are talking about it, you’re just disconnected from it.

Andy Cagnetta [00:06:19]:
Yeah, not so much disconnected, but, you know, like all of a sudden I’m the old guy, which is, I never myself like that, you know, But I.

Jason Cutter [00:06:25]:
Wasn’T gonna say that part because I like you and I wasn’t. You want to say that you can, but I, I, I, I find myself in that mode too. I’ve always been a late adopter anyway and, and kind of late to things, but, you know, it’s, it’s moving so fast. It’s like.

Andy Cagnetta [00:06:40]:
No, I’ve always been an early adopter and, and on, on some levels, that’s inefficient. Right. To try to be an early adopter. I watched some business brokers try to do that, and you wind up having an analysis by paralysis by analysis.

Jason Cutter [00:06:55]:
It’s.

Andy Cagnetta [00:06:56]:
You get to. In the weeds.

Jason Cutter [00:06:58]:
Yeah. And, or you just waste your time or spend a lot of time on a lot of different tools that aren’t mature enough, aren’t going to work, or it’s just too scattered. Now you’re just doing shotgun. Whatever it is. Let’s say marketing versus, you know, sniper specific. All right, next question. What are you most excited about doing this year with your business.

Andy Cagnetta [00:07:22]:
Expand internationally? It’s great to watch us do that. It’s a lot of fun. You know, we went to Japan last year, Vietnam as two notable places. We just opened up two African countries this year, Ghana and Nigeria. And watching, you know, those kind of things bubble up. We’re working on a couple other ones like Poland and Germany and things like that. So that’s, that’s really exciting. Yeah.

Jason Cutter [00:07:51]:
And, and I, I hear these countries names and I think, do they still have the same challenging SBA type of structure out there?

Andy Cagnetta [00:07:59]:
Are they, you know, it’s funny, you know, like you call it challenging and they call it like you have the greatest opportunity in the world.

Jason Cutter [00:08:07]:
Right, of course.

Andy Cagnetta [00:08:08]:
Yeah. So they’re like, we don’t have funding for small businesses. So, so it, the SBA changed our world. And you know, as frustrating as it is and crazy as it is, it, it gave us the ability to leverage into 5 million dollar businesses. The only thing wrong with it, I think right now is that we haven’t changed that five million dollar number in over a dozen years or whatever it is.

Jason Cutter [00:08:33]:
So it’s not the same. It’s not, it’s not helping the same amount of businesses in the same ways it could. Yeah. Last question in this bonus round here is if you could wave a magic wand to have just one marketing strategy implemented automatically where you don’t have to do anything, what would you pick?

Andy Cagnetta [00:08:54]:
I would pick a really sharp buyer match where, you know, when the buyer came to us, we could give them really solid options to buy the business they’re looking for. And beyond what I have for sale and perhaps even beyond what other brokers have for sale, it matched me as the broker with businesses that could be targets and have a likelihood to get targets because again, the world is getting way smarter with data. So I’ll know that, that, that landscaping company that’s not for sale through any, through me, not through sale through any other broker, but that landscaping company has an owner that’s 67 years old and that might be. And us being able to tap into that automatically and being able to connect with those sellers and buyers and try to get deals done and, and, and.

Jason Cutter [00:10:02]:
That would be amazing. And it feels very doable and tangible now and also would help make everything more efficient like you were talking about early. Yeah. Well, Andy, I appreciate you being on here, staying a little bit longer, going in the after show, obviously for everyone listening, tuning in the links for Andy is going to be in the show. Notes from this and also the main show. But definitely connect with Andy Cagnetta on LinkedIn and then also tworld.com for Transworld. It’s the main website. Can also email him at ac@tworld.com find him on YouTube Coffee with Cagnetta and make sure to check out his book, which I just really enjoyed.

Jason Cutter [00:10:46]:
I loved how you wrote it. I like the stories in there. And Andy, once again, thank you for being on the Business Broker Growth show.

Andy Cagnetta [00:10:53]:
Thanks for being. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.

Jason Cutter [00:10:55]:
All right. And everyone else, until next time, stop hoping for deals, start growing your pipeline.