This month’s episode of the ETA Insider Podcast features Lisa Forrest, Director of Live Oak Bank. At the time of the taping last March, the LMM SBA market was in the throws of adjusting to the interest rate shocks. Deal flow at that time was in a state of disarray as buyers, sellers, and lenders were all trying to figure out acquisition structures in this rate environment. Almost 7 months later, the market is starting to adjust and many lenders like Live Oak Bank will end up with solid 2023 prod...
Oct 31, 2023•29 min
This month’s episode of the ETA Insider Podcast features Tim Lahey, CEO of r:Home, a technology concierge company, who shares his journey into entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) from a finance career. He stresses the significance of personal risk assessment in ETA and discusses his acquisition process, including location and size criteria. Tim highlights the challenges of scaling a service-oriented business and the importance of company culture. He advocates for patience in business grow...
Sep 29, 2023•32 min
This month’s episode of the ETA Insider Podcast features Clement Lucas, Principal of Relay Investment, a diverse firm based out of Boston that focuses on ETA investments. Clement’s unique perspective as a former operator is a value add to his team and the searchers Relay works with. Clement shares with Brian how diversity is beneficial within your resume in addition to the team you build. He also shares advice and mistakes that both searchers and operators can make and insights into the future o...
Aug 31, 2023•32 min
This month’s episode of the ETA Insider Podcast features Jan Simon, the Managing Partner of Vonzeo Capital, a Professor of the Practice of Management in Entrepreneurship at IESE, and the Academic Director of its International Search Fund Center. Jan’s expertise and research focuses on investment strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and entrepreneurial acquisitions. Prior to working in the investment world, Jan spent four years in the Special Forces. In his conversation with Brian, Jan discusses...
Jul 31, 2023•42 min
In this episode of the ETA Insider Podcast, Brian interviews Nick Oberhouse, MBA ‘20, CEO of DAWGS (Door and Window Guard Systems, Inc.). After graduating from Chicago Booth, Nick partnered with NextGen Growth Partners (NGP) to acquire a business, eventually acquiring DAWGS in October 2021. DAWGS serves municipal and commercial property owners by securing their buildings with DAWGS' patented steel security system. Nick discusses how he transitioned from a background in consulting to a career in ...
Jun 30, 2023•30 min
This special edition, live episode of the ETA Insider Podcast features Brian Vanderheyden, MBA ‘14, Founder and CEO of Glass Lake Holdings. When Brian joined the podcast in 2020, he was CEO of the Richmond Alarm Company, which he acquired in July 2017 out of his search fund. In this episode, recorded live at the Chicago Booth Harper Center in front of an audience of students and alumni, Brian discusses his recent exit, including the process of working with a bank and choosing between financial a...
Jun 09, 2023•40 min
This episode features Mia Jackson, CEO of Vital Care Industries, a medical surgical supplies manufacturer. With a background in operations, supply chain, and finance, Mia discusses how acquiring Vital Care Industries combined her expertise with her passion for healthcare. In this episode, Brian interviews Mia on her career in entrepreneurship through acquisition, her advice to future searchers on how to strategically prepare to operate during the search, and the importance of building networks t...
Apr 28, 2023•31 min
Brian interviews Jason Pananos and Jay Davis, cofounders of the Nashton Company, on their careers in entrepreneurship through acquisition. Jason and Jay discuss how they developed a serial acquisition strategy, the benefits of long-term growth, and how their experience with ETA has informed how they think about investing today.
Mar 31, 2023•36 min
Addie Epstein and Ashley Quisol, principals and cofounders of Benton Place Partners, join Brian to discuss their journey into entrepreneurship through acquisition. Addie and Ashley share their search philosophy and highlight the importance of playing to your strengths, how to market yourself to business owners, and lessons learned from the ups and downs of searching.
Feb 28, 2023•38 min
Santiago Perez Teuffer, Managing Partner at Cerralvo Capital - a search fund investment firm based in Mexico City - discusses his journey into the world of ETA as well as his current work at Cerralvo as the firm approaches its third fund. The conversation revolves around the compelling future of ETA in new frontier markets in Europe and Asia, and Santiago shares his insights on navigating these international opportunities for both entrepreneurs and investors - including the top countries for sea...
Jan 30, 2023•29 min
Graham Weaver, founder and CEO of Alpine Investors, joins the podcast to tell the story of Alpine's evolution. Graham focuses on key times (the Great Recession) and people who made Alpine what it is today. The episode is full of hard earned wisdom from the importance of coaching to how to find incredible talent and is sure to leave the listener inspired.
Aug 01, 2022•33 min
Industry veteran David Dodson joins Brian to talk about his successful and varied career in the Entrepreneurship through Acquisition community. From his time as an early student of Irv Grousbeck to his multiple successful searches, acquisitions to his more recent time as an investor David’s stories are full of earned wisdom and success. David also details the importance of mentorship and how he has taken lessons learned in ETA to his non profit work.
Apr 01, 2022•38 min
Monica Weaver, MBA '07 talks through her first two years of leadership at TGI Direct, a company that manages direct mail in highly regulated industries. Monica shares her search story from raising and then closing a traditional search fund after two years to keeping her pipeline active and eventually acquiring TGI Direct through a self funded search. Along the way she details her success in building a strong relationship with the seller both in the acquisition process and also the first year ope...
Feb 23, 2022•30 min
Robert Graham talks through his busy roles first as the CEO of Pilar Health Group, a company he acquired through a partnered self funded search in 2018, and also as a Partner at Search Investment Group where he advises self funded searchers on diligence, deal sources and raising capital. During the conversation Robert provides insider perspective on the home health space and Pilar's growth strategy built on building a great company culture and acquiring business units with complementary services...
Jan 25, 2022•34 min
Andrew Cousin joins to talk about his career as an ETA entrepreneur. His story is full of rich anecdotes from acquiring and building onto a woodworking hardware company in the early 90s to exiting that business and leading one of the largest search acquisitions in history at Circle Graphics. Andrew brings great perspective on how to view manufacturing businesses versus service businesses and growing new product categories within mature businesses. HIs interview is full of gained wisdom and enter...
Dec 23, 2021•39 min
Brian Kruse, MBA '18, joins the podcast to talk about his first year as the owner/operator of Legacy Roofing in Ohio. The two talk about how to identify a great industry and weigh the pros and cons of choosing the right size business to acquire. Kruse also concentrates on the importance of building a great team and identifying and prioritizing each persons' strengths.
Oct 14, 2021•29 min
Brian chats with Trevor Lwin, MBA ’12, about his round trip ETA journey. Trevor discusses his introduction to the model during his time as an executive MBA student at Chicago Booth, his keys to a successful partner search, advice on intermediaries, and his experience operating T Base, a proprietary software company that converts documents for people who have vision impairments. Trevor also goes into detail about his recent sale of T Base to Thompson Street Partners and what he has planned next.
Jul 29, 2021•37 min
Jamie Shah, MBA ’13, joins the podcast to talk about family enterprise and her experiences after joining her family’s company Chem-Impex Intl. Jamie shares the entrepreneurial roots of her father and the laboratory science product supplier, Chem-Implex Intl., that he started from scratch. Jamie discusses her role within the business and the operational strategies and impulses that guide her work as she tries to support growth within the company. Jamie also shares advice for searchers approaching...
Jan 25, 2021•32 min
Brian is joined by frequent podcast guest, Shamus Hines, MBA '15, and Chicago Booth professor Steve Morrissette, MBA '90, to discuss the exciting growth recapitalization of Shamus’ company Applied Data Corporation (ADC). Shamus talks about ADC’s switch to providing their clients with a SaaS platform and the recapitalization that will allow ADC to enter a new growth stage. Professor Morrissette recounts his history with Shamus from the classroom, where as a student, Shamus actually introduced him...
Dec 14, 2020•36 min
Reid Tileston, MBA '15, and Brian O'Connor discuss the in depth, and often, involved diligence efforts that Reid went through in purchasing Giddings Hawkins, a company that he acquired through a self-funded search. Reid is a one of a kind guest and his stories are impactful and, at times, humorous-from daily cold showers to racing up skyscraper stairs and cleaning Southern Wisconsin's grease traps. Reid's stories from his first year as an operator cover a number of lessons about assessing risk a...
Oct 08, 2020•32 min
On this episode of the ETA podcast Brian re-visits (previously featured on the 2018 episode Navigating Your Search) Booth alums Jessica Markowitz, MBA '13 and Trista Engel, MBA ’13. Jessica and Trista give an update on their acquisition of Paragon Legal, a San Francisco-based legal services firm, and their quick transition from searchers to new operators to business leaders during a pandemic. Jessica and Trista also discuss some lessons on building a great partnership, their focus on a culture o...
Sep 24, 2020•30 min
“Well there’s gotta be a better way to do this!” This is the rallying cry of HeatWorks CEO Jerry Callahan, MBA ’88. From cardboard point of purchase displays, to summer bbqs, and hot showers, there is a good chance one of Jerry Callahan’s ideas has made your life easier. Jerry graciously visits the pod to talk about his successful career developing and improving products and companies through invention and acquisition.
Sep 10, 2020•36 min
Fresh off her new book, Leadership and Life Hacks, Alyssa Rapp joins Brian to talk about her transition from founding and leading every wine drinker’s favorite app, bottlenotes, to moving back to Chicago and takin the reins at Surgical Solutions. Alyssa discusses her “hacks” for learning about the health care services industry, working with an inherited board and juggling family and personal life outside of work. She also speaks about her work at Booth as a lecturer for the capstone class Women ...
Aug 28, 2020•24 min
Michael Tobey discusses his successful transition from Booth graduate to investment banker to owner/operator of Hose Monster, and the search pivot that he made when a year’s worth of diligence and negotiations fell through right as a unique opportunity became available. Michael also outlines changes Hose Monster has made due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as his long term plans regarding growth, spending and debt structure during the pandemic.
May 19, 2020•26 min
Booth alum Brian Vanderheyden, CEO of Richmond Alarm Company, reflects on how he began his ETA journey, executing on the herculean task of launching a search and the altruistic element that was influencing his approach and tactics. Recorded during the Covid-19 crisis, Brain discusses his contingency planning during this new and rapidly developing situation, and its associated economic challenges.
Apr 08, 2020•29 min
Eric Roza is executive-in-residence with General Catalyst (one of the country’s leading venture capital firms) and serves as Chairman of TrueCoach (the leading SaaS platform for personal trainers). He recently stepped down as the general manager of Oracle Data Cloud, a post he assumed following his sale of Datalogix to Oracle for $1.25B in 2015, delivering a 35x return to Series A investors in 5 years. In this keynote conversation moderated by Chicago Booth alum Alex Hodgkin, Eric reflects on hi...
Mar 12, 2020•57 min
This episode of the ETA podcast features Nick Somers, MBA ’88, managing partner of Somers Investment Partners. After getting his start in investment banking, Nick transitioned to private equity in quite an entrepreneurial way. He reflects on lessons learned in building out teams and capabilities, his approach to investing and evaluating companies, and exciting trends ahead in the ETA landscape.
Mar 12, 2020•41 min
This edition of the ETA podcast features Booth alum Shamus Hines, CEO of Applied Data Corporation (ADC), a fresh item management software company. Featured on the podcast in 2016 while in the thick of his search, Shamus returns to update on his search, diligence, acquisition, and his transition to CEO. Shamus discusses the unexpected challenges and surprises he encountered, how he approached composing ADC’s board, and what the future holds.
Feb 15, 2020•32 min
This episode of the ETA podcast features Ryan Jones, CEO of Dynamic Growth Dental Support, a dental support organization that was formed to provide the business resources and support dentists need to focus on quality dental care. Having launched his business five years out of business school, Ryan speaks to the importance of pairing with the right investors and how his focused approach and strong thesis helped him navigate the increasing competition in the search fund landscape, ultimately leadi...
Dec 11, 2019•39 min
Chicago Booth alums Erick Laseca and Giovanni Barbat discuss their partnered search experience and the important characteristics of their team that led them to the acquisition of American Vision Group, a leading eyecare services platform. In addition to addressing the challenges of consolidating three disparate companies at time of acquisition, Erick and Giovanni discuss healthcare rollups and their strategic plan behind vertical integration.
Oct 16, 2019•30 min
