{"podcast":{"title":"The SMB Deal Hunter Podcast","slug":"the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast-7541224","podcast_index_feed_id":7541224,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast","website_url":"http://join.smbdealhunter.xyz","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/ryVS_4EnnsoNc7YOE4bH5mBUjGvES7GhKayukwR4fuM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ZGJh/YTEwNmZhZTcyYWJk/OWU0OGM3MDM2Mzcy/MmUxNy5qcGVn.jpg","author":"Helen Guo","episode_count":104,"summary":"Every week, Helen Guo interviews successful acquisition entrepreneurs, independent sponsors, and investors who have acquired businesses. Learn how to buy a business rather than starting one from scratch from those who have done it themselves.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-14T08:20:23.718235+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast-7541224"},"episode":{"title":"From $18M AI Founder to a Cleaning Business (Working 15hr/week)","slug":"from-18m-ai-founder-to-a-cleaning-business-working-15hr-week","published_at":"2026-06-05T18:42:24+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast-7541224/from-18m-ai-founder-to-a-cleaning-business-working-15hr-week","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast-7541224","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/0b90a8d3","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/0b90a8d3/a6f1fe67.mp3","summary":"Want help buying a business? https://smbdealhunter.link/pro-yt In this episode, Rob Carpenter breaks down why he walked away from an $18M AI company to buy residential cleaning businesses, how he closed his first deal in six weeks, and what running blue-collar companies actually taught him. ◼️ Why three of the most powerful people in AI convinced him to bet on blue collar instead of white collar ◼️ How he closed his first acquisition in just six weeks, and the one holdout that almost blew the timeline ◼️ The off-market deal he landed from a 72-year-old who'd owned his location for 40 years ◼️ The expensive mistake he made in his first six months that made him reverse every single change he'd made ◼️ What a 15-hour work week actually looks like when you're done by 11am and picking your kids up at 3 Subscribe to the SMB Deal Hunter newsletter (200,000+ subscribers): https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz/ Follow Helen: Twitter: https://x.com/HelenGuo_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-guo-06674523/","meta_description":"Want help buying a business? https://smbdealhunter.link/pro-yt In this episode, Rob Carpenter breaks down why he walked away from an $18M AI company to bu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3240,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast-7541224/episodes/from-18m-ai-founder-to-a-cleaning-business-working-15hr-week/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smb-deal-hunter-podcast-7541224/from-18m-ai-founder-to-a-cleaning-business-working-15hr-week.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}