How Prashant and Arvind beat 17 other bidders for a $2.7M math tutoring company

Happy Monday!

Today’s case study is about Prashant and Arvind.

Both had spent careers at Microsoft and other major corporations at the executive level, and decided they wanted something more durable than a corporate salary.

They found each other at a social event, decided to go for it, and nine months later, they closed on a $2.7M academic math tutoring business in Seattle…

Beating 17 other bidders with a simple deal structure.

Before getting into Prashant and Arvind’s case study, here’s a great success story from the Acquisition Ace community.

Alex bought a $6M last mile delivery SaaS platform after using the training videos and weekly calls as his guide.

He used the training as his compass and learned from others’ shared experiences to close a multi-million dollar deal.

👉 Want training and weekly calls that serve as your compass through the process of acquiring a business? Book a call with our team here.

Before the deal

Arvind wanted to build something he could leave to his kids - something recession-resistant that AI would enhance rather than disrupt.

Prashant was looking for a better path to ownership than the venture-backed grind he’d been through before.

Their thesis: buy a business that people won’t stop spending on no matter what happens.

Finding the deal

The business was a specialized academic math tutoring company running two physical centers and an online program, built around the Singapore mathematics curriculum.

The seller had founded it ten years earlier, grown it consistently every year since, and was ready to exit after health challenges had taken their toll.

The business had over 1,000 enrolled students, eight employees across two locations, and was operating at 81% capacity.

It had never run a real marketing campaign. Everything had grown through word of mouth and reputation alone.

Prashant and Arvind recognized immediately that their backgrounds were perfectly suited to what the business needed next: marketing, systems, and operational efficiency.

(Inside Acquisition Ace, members learn how to evaluate deals that match their skill sets, and how to build LOIs that give them a real shot in competitive situations. To learn more, book a call with our team here and let’s chat.)

The deal breakdown

Purchase price: $2.7M

SDE: $800K+ (3-year average)

Multiple: ~3.3x

Financing: 90% SBA loan, 10% buyer equity injection

Seller note: None - seller wanted a clean, simple exit

Competing offers: 17+

Their clean, straightforward structure beat multiple higher offers because those offers came with complicated earnouts and performance-based payouts the seller had no interest in dealing with.

What they’re doing now

Three weeks post-close, the business is already running better than expected.

Eight employees across two centers manage all instruction, scheduling, and student management without either founder needing to be present.

The centers are at 81% capacity, which means near-term growth will require either expanding hours or opening a third location.

The cash flow is already coming in - upfront at the start of each term, which means no working capital drag and immediate reinvestment potential.

The key lesson

“Read the room. Not every deal is the same. Not every seller’s situation is the same. Really understand what motivates a seller - and see if that aligns with your buy box.”

Prashant and Arvind won this deal because they understood what the seller actually needed, and gave her exactly that, clearly and without complication.

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This is the tool I use to find deals: SMBMarket.com