Acquiring Minds Podcast: “From €4 Million, to Zero, to €12 Million”
Host: Will Smith
Guest: Ivona Butcher, Co-CEO at Bayre
Date: October 23, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Will Smith interviews Ivona Butcher, who, together with her husband Corbin, charted an unusual entrepreneurial journey: buying and scaling a business in the Czech Republic, overcoming investor skepticism, surviving COVID (when their business revenue literally dropped to zero), and ultimately tripling revenue and doubling EBITDA. Ivona shares candid insights on buying a business in a small, post-communist market, building a company as a wife-husband team, and navigating existential crises with resilience and strategic vision.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background & Motivation for Search (03:19–13:07)

• Ivona’s Career and Search Fund Discovery

  • Grew up in Czech Republic, studied economics, then attended Kellogg School of Management with her husband, Corbin.
  • Learned about search funds at Kellogg: “So I don’t need any amazing idea. I don’t need my own money, and I can run a business. I mean, that sounds great, right?” (Ivona, 04:45)
  • Both worked in NYC finance after MBA to gain experience and clear student debts.

• The Draw of Entrepreneurship

  • Sought tangible impact: “After some time... you find out that you are like moving money left and right, but you can’t see tangible impact of what you do.” (Ivona, 07:45)
  • Inspired and warned by family history: Her father, a post-communist entrepreneur, went bankrupt, which shaped her perspective on business risk and reward.

• Partnership as Solution for a Dual Career Couple

  • Joint entrepreneurship solved the problem of finding equally ambitious work for both partners—especially important given their international lives: “For us it was the only way...” (10:42)
  • “If we are to live in Czech Republic for some time, there must be something interesting for both of us to do.” (Ivona, 11:51)

2. Launching a Search in the Czech Republic (13:25–22:51)

• Building Investor Relationships, Facing Skepticism

  • Networked among traditional US search fund investors, but they were unwilling to back a Czech search due to perceived lack of opportunities.
  • Went self-funded: “We had to do self-funded because the investors just didn’t believe that we would find anything.” (Ivona, 14:20)

• Commitment in the Face of Rejection

  • “A big part of being a successful entrepreneur is not to be discouraged and really go after what you want.” (Ivona, 17:03)
  • Motivated to bring Western values of transparency and ethics to Czech business, where there’s lingering skepticism due to socialism.

3. Unique Aspects of Acquiring in the Czech Market (22:51–32:34)

• Business Sale Culture & Market Reality

  • Czech owners are aware of business sales, partially due to PE activity—even for small companies.
  • Notably, Czech market’s public data disclosure requirements enabled them to build a powerful database and search tool (Python scraper) to identify targets.

• Legitimacy & Seller Trust

  • As first searchers in Czech, credibility was a challenge; utilized media/press appearances and a PR firm to build an online presence sellers could vet.
  • “We had like several newspaper articles so that when seller Googles us before our first meeting there is something that pops up.” (Ivona, 27:03)

4. Lessons from Failed/Abandoned Deals (33:23–39:40)

• First LOI: IT Company
  • Passed on a strong IT company due to investor concerns about hiring risk; sold the deal to a local PE, which reaped outsized returns.
  • Takeaway: “We should have asked for more... especially now when we know how successful investment it was.” (Ivona, 37:32)
  • “If you have something…try to monetize it.” (Ivona, 38:08) — advice on recouping value from unsuccessful searches.

5. The Acquisition: Target, Process & Deal Structure (41:00–63:10)

• Finding the Right Business

  • Despite their proprietary search tool, their acquisition came via a small, local broker: “It is true... We approached all the big accountants and big brokers. But... the most helpful were the small local brokers.” (Ivona, 41:17)
  • Business: Exhibition booth design/fabrication for Western European clients; capitalized on engineering strength and focused on recurring, project-based revenue.
  • “This was a very new sector to us... but we liked it immediately compared to many other industries we looked at before.” (Ivona, 43:01)

• Deal Structure

  • ~€4M revenue, 30% EBITDA margin, ~35 employees; post-communist first-gen entrepreneurs as sellers.
  • Funding: 60% senior bank loan, 25% seller note, 15% equity.
  • Raised due diligence capital when a viable business was in hand; assembled a hand-picked investor group.
  • “We could actually get a 60% bank loan, senior loan. So that was very nice.” (Ivona, 57:24)
  • Opted for traditional search fund terms with top-tier investors over more favorable economics.

• Transition

  • Sellers were upfront; complexity favored operator-buyers over PE: “The sellers were very upfront. We still have a very good relationship... some funny things like... we found out that there is a herd of sheep on the property.” (Ivona, 62:59)
  • Smooth transition as ownership passed from one husband-wife team to another.

6. Weathering COVID-19: From Existential Crisis to Opportunity (69:50–84:59)

• Business to Zero Revenue

  • In early 2020, exhibitions worldwide instantly canceled: “Within one week our revenues and like forecasted revenue dropped to zero.” (Ivona, 70:55)

• Emergency Survival Tactics

  • Pivoted to kitchens, metalwork, virtual products; some not profitable, but important for morale.
  • Slashed costs and negotiated with all stakeholders—key learning: “The biggest fear that we had was what the bank was going to do because we were highly leveraged at that point. ...Our investors...helped us think through negotiation with the bank.” (Ivona, 71:03–74:49)
  • Investors coached them to aggressively demand loan suspensions, which worked: “We arrived at a meeting with a banker and basically put a gun to their head... Ultimately saved us.” (Ivona, 75:59)

• Seller Note Buyback at a Discount

  • With prospects unclear, convinced sellers to sell the note at a heavy discount, reducing purchase price by a full EBITDA turn: “We were able to negotiate huge discount...effectively decreased the purchase price of the company by a turn.” (Ivona, 78:45)

• Emergence & Market Advantage

  • “We managed to keep our employees during COVID and we started ramping up much sooner than the others. ...We succeeded in capturing much bigger market share.” (Ivona, 84:06)

7. Post-COVID Growth & Looking Forward (87:17–88:42)

• Results

  • “We almost tripled revenues and we doubled EBITDA... Now we say every problem we face right now, it’s a good problem.” (Ivona, 87:31)
  • Now at >€12M revenue, €2M+ EBITDA.

• Strategic Choice

  • Now pondering further growth via organic means, acquisition, or new production facilities.

8. Partnership, Family, and Reflections (89:47–93:34)

• Working as a Couple

  • “I wouldn’t be able to do this alone. ...For us it worked out very well.” (Ivona, 89:47)
  • Separate roles prevent friction; mutual understanding enables flexibility and harmony.

• Family Life

  • Joint purpose creates alignment; “Above all, they see happy parents, happy parents that have a good relationship with each other. I think that’s the most important thing for the kids.” (Ivona, 92:32)

• Advice to Searchers

  • “It’s very hard, but it is worth it.” (Ivona, 93:37)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“So I don’t need any amazing idea. I don’t need my own money, and I can run a business. I mean, that sounds great, right?”
— Ivona, 04:45

“A big part of being a successful entrepreneur is not to be discouraged and really go after what you want.”
— Ivona, 17:03

“We had like several newspaper articles so that when seller Googles us before our first meeting there is something that pops up.”
— Ivona, 27:03

“We managed to keep our employees during COVID and we started ramping up much sooner than the others. ...We succeeded in capturing much bigger market share.”
— Ivona, 84:06

“Now we say every problem we face right now, it’s a good problem. ...Compared to COVID, like any issues, ... they are all good problems to have.”
— Ivona, 87:41

“I wouldn’t be able to do this alone. ...For us it worked out very well.”
— Ivona, 89:47

“It’s very hard, but it is worth it.”
— Ivona, 93:37

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Background & Motivation – 03:19–13:07
• Search Launch & Investor Skepticism – 13:25–22:51
• Cultural/Market Challenges in Czech Republic – 22:51–32:34
• Abandoned IT Deal & Lessons Learned – 33:23–39:40
• Acquisition Details – 41:00–63:10
• COVID-19 Crisis & Recovery – 69:50–84:59
• Post-COVID Success & Strategic Reflection – 87:17–88:42
• Family, Partnership, and Advice – 89:47–93:37

Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is candid, personal, and laced with war stories and humor (sheep in the company parking lot; surviving on “pig” sausages actually made from sheep). Ivona’s resilience, humility, and pragmatic optimism stand out. Her advice to searchers: don’t take “no” for an answer, lean on your support network (especially investors), and be prepared for the lows—because the impact and rewards are worth it.

For more inspirational and practical interviews with acquisition entrepreneurs, subscribe to Acquiring Minds and check out their YouTube page.