Ania Aliev Bought an AED Service Business and Doubled It in 18 Months

The Setup Ania Aliev spent years as an institutional equities broker covering tech and healthcare, sitting across from hundreds of management teams. Tuck MBA introduced her to the search fund model. She ran a traditional funded search targeting the northeast, constrained by geography because she was starting a family and wanted a business within commuting distance of home. Her outreach ignored the standard credential-heavy pitch. Instead she led with personal context: local, pregnant, serious. The founder of Life Support Systems, an AED (automated external defibrillator) sales and service business ten minutes from her house, wrote back. They grew up in the same town and lived five minutes apart. He was not actively selling. Ania closed him on urgency and shared roots rather than multiple. The industry itself is the unlock. AEDs are the shockable-rhythm devices in office lobbies, gyms, and schools. Sudden cardiac arrest hits 250,000+ Americans a year, EMS response averages 8 to 10 minutes, and survival drops 10% for every minute without a shock. Penetration is roughly 20% nationally. Only about 30 companies touch AEDs at all. Double-digit industry growth. Fragmented, mission-aligned, and under the radar of institutional buyers. The Deal Closed November 2023. Financial statements were complex enough and the timeline tight enough that Ania funded the close with 100% equity rather than slow the process with a lender. Roughly 18 months later, once the operating story was clean, she recapitalized with debt in conjunction with a bolt-on acquisition. Deal size was not disclosed beyond mid-seven-figures revenue at close. Team came with the business; the prior owner had built a stable, long-tenured bench. Operating Moves The pricing rewrite was the move. AEDs historically sell as one-off hardware transactions. 95% of sales in the category are one or two units. Ania flipped it: sell the device below cost if the customer signs a 2-year minimum service contract. Service plans run $300 to $500 per device per year. Once a customer hits the 2-year mark they stay an average of 10 years. Attach rate on new customers jumped past 70%. She kept the existing team intact. In an industry full of operators who have been in the chair for decades, her edge came from being the outsider willing to admit what she did not know and ask the obvious questions the incumbents had stopped asking. Route design followed the new revenue mix. Three full-time regional technicians cover the coasts. Seasonal deployments sweep less dense regions multiple times per year rather than trying to staff them year-round. About a month before her podcast appearance she closed a bolt-on, which temporarily diluted the recurring-revenue mix from 70% back down to just over 50% as she integrates the acquired book. Where They Are Now Revenue doubled in the 18 months post-close. Recurring service contracts now sit at 50%+ of revenue, heading back toward 70% as the bolt-on integrates. Three regional techs plus seasonal coverage spans most of the country. Pipeline of additional tuck-ins is active; the industry is consolidating and she now...