M&a Masters

M&A is never just about chasing numbers…. It’s about the people who trust you with their business… A business that represents generations of hard work—and a family’s legacy. My guest Chris Parisi knows this well. At Carl Marks Advisors, which has been around since 1925, Chris secures clean exits for lower middle market business owners.  In this episode, Chris shares some of Carl Marks Advisors’ storied history and reveals how he fights for the best outcomes for his clients.

Cloud-based infrastructure is one of the most rapidly expanding industries today… And this episode’s guest, Sean Frank, is an expert on it. As the founder of Cloud Equity Group, Sean invests in lower middle market companies in the web hosting and cloud-based infrastructure sectors. Listen to find out: What Sean looks for in a company The problem with naming firms after the founder Sean’s investment strategies for the lower middle market How reps & warranties insurance has affected the cloud Cloud-based infrastructure predictions for 2023 And more

How do you get owners to stop thinking like operators… And start thinking like investors? For the lower middle market, this mindset shift is crucial for a clean exit. In this episode, I talk to Sly Buford, founder and CEO of Tenth Street Group, which specializes in helping lower middle market businesses grow, scale, and exit. Sly had an unconventional path to becoming an investor, and he’s here to share how he found M&A success.

In this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we sit down with Marty Fahncke to talk about M&A for the lower middle market.Marty is a partner at Westbound Road, LLC and has over 30 years of experience in building and growing businesses. Listen to learn: How businesses can double revenue without increasing sales How owners can leave a legacy with their business Marty’s takes on M&A trends for 2022 And more

You might think of M&A as a zero-sum game… But that’s where many business owners go wrong. It might surprise you to hear that building trust with the opposing side is the key to securing your clean exit. This episode’s guest, Alistair McBride, coaches business owners in the fine art of negotiating M&A deals.  Alistair has seen deals succeed when business owners treat their opponent like their ally. He calls this “the psychological edge of negotiation.” In today’s episode, we discuss how you can use this idea to win over the other side and sell them your vision—so you can both close with maximum value.

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we’re sitting down with Deborah Smith to talk about real estate, a first on this show!Deborah is the Co-Founder and CEO of The CenterCap Group. The CenterCap Group, LLC, is a boutique investment bank providing strategic advisory, capital-raising, and consulting related services to public and private corporations, owners, operators and investment managers. They are exclusively focused on the real estate sector, with a deep understanding of what drives the industry and the relationships to back that up. Deborah says, “We are all things real estate and we haven’t strayed from that. Our whole goal is to be in the middle… if you think about real estate and you need an advisor, you should call us.”Listen to learn:  Where the interest is in the real estate market right now Why looking at ESG in real estate long-term is now more important than ever Where The CenterCap Group is most dialed in and how they can help when it comes to long-term growth and valuation How reps and w

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we sit down with Patrick Turner to talk about how his company is transforming good companies into great companies through their partnerships. Patrick Turner is the Managing Director of VSS. VSS is a private investment firm that invests in the information, business services, healthcare and education industries. Since 1987, VSS has partnered with lower middle-market companies to provide management teams with capital solutions to drive growth. Patrick says, “Our focus is on creating value in the companies we invest in. If you don’t grow [your company] you’ll lose it, you can’t stand still. We provide additions that help companies grow. Hopefully, we get involved with them and take them to a different level.”Listen to this episode to learn: What Patrick sees as the key drivers in the current M&A market and how he thinks the investment horizon is changing How VSS differs from other private investment firms The top 3 industries they are looking to partner with His top

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we speak with Jennifer Mandelbaum, Senior Investment Director at Halogen Ventures. Halogen Ventures is a California-based Venture Capital fund focused on investing in early stage consumer technology startups with a female on the founding team.Female led businesses represent a massive opportunity. They deliver higher ROI and deliver higher payouts on exits, but they are still having issues raising money. Halogen Ventures, led by Jesse Draper, is ready to change that by investing in companies creating technologies that are changing lives in the consumer space. Jennifer walks us through:  The key things that separate Halogen from all the other businesses out there, plus their hands-on strategy that supports the whole of every business they work with The 3 word marketing strategy Halogen uses to help women portray the unique gifts they bring to the table How they are jumping into women founded companies that support the changing way families live, work, and shop today Th

Global M&A volumes hit a record in 2021 and that pace is expected to continue as we head into the second quarter of 2022. Family-owned businesses continue to be front and center in many of these deals, which is why I wanted to rewind my episode with James Darnell for my listeners today. I sincerely believe that there is a huge marketplace of companies in the lower middle market that need help. James is the Managing Partner of KLH Capital, a private equity firm that focuses on serving family and founder-owned, lower middle-market companies throughout the United States. M&A Source recognized KLH Capital as the Private Equity Firm of The Year in 2021. At KLH Capital, they are all about added growth and value and helping teams reach new levels of success. Listen to the rewind of this episode to learn: Why KLH Capital is focused on businesses at the intersection of realizing their value and reaching for growth Why overcoming the fear of technology is the secret to unlocking the potential of the family owne

If the past two years have taught us anything, it is we need to have a thriving manufacturing sector. With the inability to meet supplies of offshore parts with demand here at home and the new instability in Europe and it’s more important than ever to have a thriving US manufacturing sector.  That’s why today, on M&A Masters, I am rewinding my conversation with Jessica Ginsberg. Jessica is the Director of Business Development for LFM Capital, a private equity firm founded by operators and engineers. At LFM Capital, manufacturing is all they do, with their focus turned toward investing in private, lower middle-market manufacturing companies in the United States and Canada. Listen as we rewind how LFM Capital is: Attracting top talent and leveraging partnerships to expand a critical piece of the United States economic landscape  Using the 5S philosophy to expand a manufacturing company's legacy  Creating trust through their jeans and pickup truck's approach and how that translates to  a virtual world Applyi

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, I’m revisiting my conversation with Ryan Milligan, Partner at ParkerGale. I am rewinding this episode for two reasons. The first is that the ParkerGale Capital podcast, The Private Equity Funcast opened the entire private equity world to me over five years ago. The second reason is in our conversation. Ryan and I dove deep into how ParkerGale uses a tool to actively measure culture to create improvements and make companies better places to work. As you probably know, culture is the biggest buzzword of the last few years. According to Caroline Castrillon, a contributor to Forbes, 2022 is the year of workplace culture—so this episode is worth another listen. Ryan says, “Culture is kind of a stew that’s created from a whole list of things… the combination of communication… consistency and then listening to your organization.”Listen to learn: The unique way ParkerGale approaches deals, and how they are using transparency to circumvent surprises Which aspects of company c

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, to celebrate International Women’s Week we’re rewinding my conversation with Suzanne Yoon. In 2020, Suzanne’s firm, Kinzie Capital Partners, in Chicago was honored by the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN) as the North American female-founded firm of the year. The Wall Street Journal has also recognized her as a top female dealmaker. We asked Suzanne how she felt about these honors, she said, “Companies outperform when they have diversity in their leadership ranks and when they have diversity on a board. So that’s both gender and ethnic and experience. I actually attribute some, a lot, of our success at Kinzie to that and not because I’m a woman and I have an ethnic background, but more when you look at our entire team and you see the different experiences we’ve had.” Listen as she walks us though:  What’s unique about Kinzie—what the Kinzie formula is and how it helps companies execute their vision Putting the formula into action, how Kinzie helped one co

Today on M&A Masters, we’re rewinding my interview with Jon Finger, a Partner at McGuireWoods in Dallas. The reason I want to take you back to this show is because of the unique things Jon’s practice is bringing to the M&A space. They were the first to dedicate themselves to introducing independent sponsors to their capital partners.  Jon says, “As we were building the network, and our practice was evolving, what we like to think was our secret sauce was our ability to introduce investment opportunities to our network of capital partners.”Listen, as I rewind this episode of Jon walking us through: The lightbulb moment that led to the discovery of their secret sauce How independent sponsors differ from private equity investors and how they're bringing greater value to their capital partner relationships. Creative solutions to offloading the friction in deals (including his use of rep and warranty insurance)

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we’re sitting down with Renny Sie, Vice President of Business Development and Investor Relations at the private equity firm Boyne Capital. Established in 2006, Boyne Capital takes a different approach to investing—one that forges lasting and collaborative relationships with companies whose founders and families are still deeply involved in growing their businesses. It’s a term they call a value cultivator approach.Renny says, “Partnership is extremely important to us. The fit is important because this is going to be a long-term partnership to grow this thing together and make it bigger and better for everyone.”Listen to discover: How to propel family-owned businesses to the next level—partnering NOW to prosper in the future Boyne Capital’s unique value cultivator approach to the lower middle market—building the right team through focusing on relationships, recruiting, and retention Why they feel that Rep & Warranty Insurance is an important component for their de

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we sit down with Laurin Parthemos to talk about culture. Laurin is a Principal at Kotter, a company named after Dr. John Kotter, the world’s foremost change expert. Kotter’s approach to merger & acquisition integration focuses on culture and people first.Laurin says, “Culture is more and more seen as that differentiator within an industry to say we have a strong culture where people want to work.” Listen as she walks us through: Three ways to acknowledge (and counter) the survive or thrive mindset of change and help an organization move forward  The key to the path forward when integrating organizations with varying cultures—she’ll share a case study of the positive results they achieved (with long-time rival companies)  The monumental shift in the talent pool—what’s behind it  One of the most overlooked things most miss when planning integration and catalysts for forward momentum And much more

This week on M&A Masters, I want to revisit with you a special episode featuring the conversation I had with Domenic Rinaldi. Domenic is the President and Managing Partner of Sun Acquisitions, a buy-side and sell-side M&A advising firm. Domenic also hosts his own podcast, M&A Unplugged, ranked among the top M&A podcasts in 2021.Listen to this special rewind episode as Domenic walks us through: Too big to be small and too small to be enterprise: why Sun Acquisitions loves the lower middle market The secret to uncovering opportunities on both the buy-side and the sell-side How to avoid the number one pitfall to getting deals done And much more

This week on M&A Masters, we’re doing a special rewind of my sit down with Dena Jalbert, Founder and CEO of Align Business Advisory Services. I think it’s worth revisiting this episode for two reasons. 1) Dena’s name appeared on Mergers and Acquisitions Magazine’s list of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in Mid Market M&A. 2) Her company, Align, is unique in their commitment to the lower middle market—a vast marketplace that is highly underserved. By bringing their expertise to the owners and founders they help them discover: Key strategies for unearthing opportunities at the inflection point How Align positions a company to put its best face forward—bringing Wall Street resources into smaller deals The secret strategy that is the real “art of the deal”  And more

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we sit down with Samantha Ory to talk about choosing partnership over buyout. Samantha’s company, Ouroboros Group, is a private investment firm specializing in middle market corporate acquisitions and operations in the manufacturing, healthcare, and consumer sectors.Samantha says, “I found that there is this segment of outlier companies and CEOs who are looking for something a little bit different. We cater a lot to the CEOs. We always ask ‘what can we do for you?’ It builds trust, but it’s also very genuine… we really want to know.”Listen as she walks us through: How her non-traditional background led to a unique approach for the Ouroboros Group Two atypical things they focus on to take a company to the next level (post buyout) The 3 algorithmic strategies they use to find deals The key to developing organic partnerships And much more

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we speak with Lorraine Wilson, Chief Impact Officer and Head of ESG Methodology at Novata. Novota’s mission is to empower general partners in the private market to collect, analyze, and report relevant ESG data. Lorraine says, “ESG is evolving. Novata offers a standard process for analysis... using metrics most applicable to the private market.”As ESG begins permeating the private sectors, it’s becoming top of mind for investors and in the boardroom. Listen as Lorraine walks us through: How Novata assists general partners and private companies in collecting, analyzing and reporting relevant ESG data The reporting on-ramp Novata has created - a technology platform which includes a library of metrics and guidance, where GPs can select the most relevant disclosures for their portfolio companies What she believes will be the biggest focus of data analysis for 2022 (Hint: ESG isn’t going away) And more

On this week’s episode of M&A Masters, we are replaying one of our most popular episodes. Gus Marshall, Head of Transaction Liability at CFC Underwriting, Ltd. CFC is a specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk, and market leader in cyber and transactional liability.We are talking with Gus about CFC's exciting new product launch, Transaction Liability Private Enterprise (TLPE). Gus says, “Reps and warranties insurance is currently Wall Street and we want to make it Main Street with TLPE.” He’ll break this new product down for us and tell us: How TLPE creates groundbreaking opportunities in micro markets 5 Key TLPE coverage highlights 3 key points to making TLPE work  And more