In a private equity world built on discretion, intermediaries, and financial engineering, Leila Hormozi is quietly crafting something rare. As CEO of Acquisition.com, a $200M+ investment platform helping companies scale from $3M to $30M, she blends two worlds that rarely overlap: the operational rigor of traditional PE, and the mass leverage of a creator-led audience.
This isn’t just capital meets content. It’s a new playbook – born from the passion economy – and increasingly watched by both operators and investors alike.
“We’re not building a fund. We’re building a growth partner,” Hormozi says. “That’s different.”
A New Source of Leverage in Private Equity
Hormozi has amassed a loyal following of millions across platforms like YouTube and Instagram, where she shares insights on scaling companies, hiring leaders, and implementing systems. At a glance, this audience provides clear deal flow benefits – something her team acknowledges. But beyond sourcing, she says the true value runs deeper:
“It helps us build trust at scale. Our founders already know how we think. That changes the entire dynamic during diligence and onboarding.”
In a typical PE model, that trust is earned over months of in-person meetings, consultant reports, and management workshops. At Acquisition.com, it may be earned in 10 hours on YouTube. This form of asynchronous alignment saves time and derisks early-stage partnerships, while accelerating execution once the deal is signed.
It also extends across other areas of value creation:
- Talent attraction: Founders backed by Acquisition.com tap into Leila’s credibility and reach to attract high-performing operators.
- Exit positioning: Buyers see systemized operations and professionalized infrastructure, even if the business is sub-$30M.
- Narrative control: Unlike most PE firms reliant on arm’s-length sources such as bankers, brokers or IMs, Acquisition.com controls its own story.
This isn’t just theory. A 2024 McKinsey study showed that mid-market companies with clear operational frameworks, digital maturity, and brand alignment traded at higher EBITDA multiples – especially in competitive auction environments.
The $3M to $30M Window
Acquisition.com focuses on companies in the sweet spot between founder chaos and institutional readiness: $3M to $30M in annual revenue.
“It’s the range where founders have proven product-market fit, but operations haven’t caught up to ambition,” Leila explains. “That gap is where we create value.”
Instead of financial arbitrage, their strategy is built around operational clarity: hiring, org design, compensation models, reporting systems, pricing, and accountability. It’s a re-foundation process.
“Founders don’t stall because they’re lazy. They stall because they’re overwhelmed. We help them stop scaling chaos.”
It’s a space few traditional PE firms operate in – but it’s growing. According to Pitchbook’s 2024 PE report, sub-$50M deals now account for over 40% of new platform acquisitions in the U.S. lower middle market, driven in part by the rise of founder-friendly vehicles and permanent capital models.
A Firm, Not a Fund
Acquisition.com isn’t structured like a traditional private equity firm. There are no outside LPs. No defined exit timelines. No IRR pressure from quarterly reports.
“We’re evergreen, self-funded, and long-term aligned. That lets us do the right thing for the business – not just the return profile.”
This echoes a trend seen in emerging holdcos like Permanent Equity and Tiny Capital, where patience and permanence are used as value levers – not constraints. But Acquisition.com goes further by pairing that model with content infrastructure, public-facing playbooks, and a scaled media presence.
The result: an entirely new type of firm. Half-operator, half-media company, all execution.
The Creator Era as a Structural Moat
Private equity has historically competed on price, speed, and financial engineering. Hormozi believes that’s changing – and that mass visibility may become a true structural moat.
“Most investors underestimate what trust at scale really means,” she says. “Thousands of people watch how we think every week. That reduces friction everywhere – hiring, customer acquisition, negotiations, even exits.”
This dynamic reflects a broader shift. In the creator-led economy, trust is no longer earned behind closed doors. It’s built publicly, through consistent thought leadership, audience engagement, and accessible frameworks.
A 2023 SignalFire report estimated that over 50 million people now consider themselves creators. While the majority are consumer-facing, a growing subset of B2B founders and investors are using audience reach as business leverage – especially for talent and credibility.
“For us, it’s not about virality,” Leila says. “It’s about clarity. Our content sets expectations. Our values are transparent. It attracts the right founders – and repels the wrong ones.”
In many ways, it’s operating partner leverage – but at scale, and without needing a bench of advisors.
From Operator to Architect
Hormozi’s credibility doesn’t come from content. It comes from execution.
Before launching Acquisition.com, she scaled a gym chain and built multiple 8-figure businesses alongside her husband and business partner, Alex Hormozi. But today, she sees her role more like a platform architect.
“I’m not in the weeds anymore. My job is to build the system that helps our operators win. Hiring, capital allocation, playbooks, internal alignment – that’s where I focus now.”
It’s a familiar evolution for many founders – and one that often stalls growth if not navigated intentionally.
“To scale, you have to let go of being the hero. That identity shift is hard. We help founders with that too.”
This “identity shift” is something Leila often addresses publicly – a blend of emotional clarity, system thinking, and leadership development. It’s part of why her audience extends beyond business owners – to operators, aspiring investors, and even traditional PE professionals rethinking their own firms.
The Future of PE? Or Something Entirely New?
Acquisition.com doesn’t look or feel like a classic PE firm. But that may be the point.
“Founders today want more than capital. They want a partner who understands the trenches – and can scale what they’ve built without breaking it,” Leila explains.
She believes the future of PE will be shaped by:
- Operating experience at the core
- Media infrastructure as a source of inbound and influence
- Transparent values and frameworks replacing confidential memos and opaque decks
“Media isn’t marketing. It’s infrastructure,” she says. “And most firms haven’t realized that yet.”
In the next five years, she envisions Acquisition.com as the “first call” for bootstrapped or founder-led companies doing $5M+ in revenue – not because they need capital, but because they want clarity, discipline, and durable systems.
“I don’t want to be the biggest,” she says. “I want to be the one people trust.”
That trust – built through consistency, execution, and public accountability – may prove to be one of the most defensible advantages in modern private equity.
And in a market flooded with dry powder, deck polish, and institutional sameness, it might be just the kind of edge the next generation of firms needs.