This episode features guests Royce Yudkoff and Richard (Rick) Ruback, co-authors of the Harvard Business Review Guide to Buying a Small Business, and professors at Harvard Business School (HBS). Royce and Rick have spent more than 15 years teaching Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (EtA) and have witnessed the category evolve from a niche MBA pursuit into a mainstream career path for mid-career professionals and beyond. The conversation covers how EtA has expanded beyond elite MBA programs, t...
Mar 06, 2025•57 min•Ep. 36
Do you love your home “IT and AV guy”? We didn’t think so. In this episode, Peter Lehrman sits down with Hagan Kappler, co-founder of Daisy, an emerging national player leader in home technology installation, integration, and servicing. Daisy has acquired eight companies in roughly 12 months, and is beginning to integrate franchise opportunities into the buy-and-build M&A playbook. The conversation is all about Hagan, her team, her authentic history of operating and transacting in related ca...
Jan 30, 2025•54 min•Ep. 35
In this episode, Peter Lehrman sits down with Adam Breslawsky, founding partner and managing director of lower middle market investment bank Oberon Securities. Adam shares Oberon's origin story, detailing its humble beginnings, initial challenges, early clients and eventual growth into what is now a firm of 80 bankers across the U.S. The conversation dives into the intricacies of recruiting and retaining top investment bankers, the evolving art and science of investment banking, the transformati...
Jan 07, 2025•58 min•Ep. 34
In this episode, Peter Lehrman sits down with Sam Rosati, founder of Pursuant Capital and the original sponsor of Perimeter Solutions Group (PSG), to explore his approach to scaling a single commercial fencing business in the Tampa, FL region and scaling growth across the sunbelt stages through five acquisitions and meaningful organic growth. Sam gets into the unique dynamics of the commercial fencing industry, the importance of aligning with strong operational teams, and Sam’s orientation to ba...
Dec 05, 2024•41 min•Ep. 33
In this episode, Peter Lehrman sits down with Michael Arrieta, founder of Garden City, to discuss his unique journey from a successful career in tech with companies like DocuSign to founding a people-first holding company focused on service-based businesses. Michael shares insights into his decision to leave tech, the principles guiding Garden City, and the impact of a values-driven approach to business acquisition and management. The conversation also examines Garden City's investment thesis, f...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 32
Today’s conversation is with Ryan Sullivan, Managing Director and Co-Founder at North Park Group (https://northparkgroup.com/), a Chicago-based private investment firm focused on acquiring and operating US-based manufacturing and distribution businesses for the very long-term. Ryan was a multi-chapter manufacturing operator and CEO and North Park Group reflects this operator DNA. He shares his experience and investment perspectives on the resilience and adaptability of US-based manufacturing, ho...
Aug 15, 2024•59 min•Ep. 31
Today’s conversation is with Tom Barber, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at SBJ Capital (https://www.sbjcap.com), a California-based private equity firm investing into the consumer and business services verticals. In this episode, Tom dives into how he and his team continue to build SBJ Capital, paying special attention to some of the firm’s most unconventional beliefs and organizational design decisions. Tom is remarkably and refreshingly an “open book” about how he and SBJ have gone about buil...
Jul 18, 2024•53 min
Today’s guest is Marshall Lockton . Marshall spent 15 years in sales, sales strategy and sales training roles within his family’s storied private insurance brokerage business ( Lockton ) before leaving to acquire his first business. In October 2023, he acquired Knight Agency, a specialized consultancy that helps organizations unlock performance by uniquely connecting a company’s purpose, story, values, people and products. Marshall’s journey as an acquirer is just beginning, but his prior career...
Jun 04, 2024•45 min
Today’s guest is Rafael "Rafa" Quinn, co-founder and President of Alternative Holdings, a diversified holding company with subsidiaries in food services, retail, industrial sales, and business process outsourcing. Rafa’s origin story has already been covered in other podcasts, so we instead begin in 2011 with his first deal, an industrial sales distribution company in Panama. Rafa shares how that first deal helped shape his long-term philosophy on evaluating companies, including the two recent w...
May 21, 2024•56 min
Today’s guest is Matt Plooster, founder and CEO of Bridgepoint, a boutique investment bank based in Omaha, Nebraska. We start the conversation with a background on private credit and its origins. From there we proceed to cover its growth, its arrival in the lower middle market, and how business owners can think about its features, risks, utility and applicability. We close out the conversation by getting into specific lower middle market transactions where private credit has been central to the ...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min
In this episode, we interview Bob Falahee, the recently exited founder of SunPro Motorized Awnings & Screens. Bob’s entrepreneurial origin story starts in Michigan, where he was a sales leader for a semi-truck trailer manufacturer. Bob and his family left behind the cold winters of Michigan for Florida, where he founded SunPro with $36,000 in seed capital. He went on to expand SunPro from a local retractable awning business to a wholesale manufacturing leader in the category. The conversatio...
Mar 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min
In this episode, Glenn Oken, Managing Director at Mangrove Equity Partners, sits down with host Peter Lehrman to discuss the evolution of Small Business M&A, from the late ‘80s to present day. The conversation starts with Glenn’s entry into the M&A scene, and the challenges and opportunities of closing transactions before the internet. Glenn shares his insights on the major changes in deal sourcing methods over his career, valuation drift, and the growth of sell-side M&A advisory in ...
Jan 31, 2024•59 min•Ep. 25
Today’s guest is Clint Fiore, a small business operator turned M&A broker and the President of Bison Business, a Texas-based business brokerage transacting in both Main Street deals and the lower middle market. Clint lays out his four different archetypes of business brokers, what makes them tick, and how private equity investors and SMB acquirers can best modify their approaches to successfully close deals with any of them. Discussion points: Why Clint decided to starting his own business b...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 24
In this episode, Mike Botkin, founder and CEO of OneOutdoor Holdings sits down with Peter Lehrman. The conversation starts with the OneOutdoor Holdings origin story (hint: Mike was in bed at the time). Mike goes into how and where he sourced his first deal, how he structured the deal, and OneOutdoor’s strategic shift from residential to commercial landscaping businesses. From there, Mike reveals how he kept his acquisitions on track with a simple “main thing” due diligence playbook, focusing on ...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 23
Today Peter Lehrman speaks with Emily Holdman, the Managing Director at Permanent Equity, about the intricacies of due diligence. The conversation delves into the importance of creating a powerful diligence team when preparing to sell a business, highlighting the roles of an M&A attorney and an M&A advisor. Emily also discusses the concept of internal diligence and the importance of forging strong relationships in buyer-seller dynamics. She emphasizes the significance of trust-building a...
Oct 10, 2023•56 min•Ep. 22
In today’s episode, Peter Lehrman sits down with Chris Gallagher, CEO of Gallagher Fluid Seals, a family-owned distributor and manufacturer of fluid sealing products. Chris worked in the family business on the factory floor in his teens and returned to the business after a significant chapter in strategy consulting. In January 2017, the company executed the next phase of its succession plan, with Chris’ uncle retiring and Chris becoming Gallagher’s next CEO. In a wide-ranging and highly authenti...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 21
Today, we’re publishing Peter Lehrman’s conversation with Max Artz, a search fund expert and Partner at Peterson Search Partners, a professional investment firm focused on backing the top search fund talent. Max shares insights on the world of small business mergers and acquisitions including strategies for securing the best deals, the importance of understanding an owner's willingness to sell, and how traditional bidding techniques have evolved. He also highlights the crucial role of trust and ...
Aug 22, 2023•44 min•Ep. 20
Today Peter Lehrman sits down with Dzmitry Miranovich and Dr Bill Wagner, co-founders of Associated Veterinary Partners (AVP), a holding company rollup acquiring and partnering with American veterinary clinics. Dr. Wagner Dzmitry share their approach, structures and key decisions rolling up independently owned and operated American veterinary clinics. They delve into the financial structure, partnership incentives and incentive design, the operational investments that enable a more repeatable pr...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 19
Today Peter Lehrman welcomes Accordion’s CEO and founder Nick Leopard onto the podcast. Nick started Accordion after prior chapters in investment banking and private equity / mezzanine lending. Accordion has become a leading financial consulting firm focused exclusively on serving the office of the private equity-backed CFO. Their clients, which include investment leaders Bain, Apollo, Hellman & Friedman, Golden Gate, Thoma Bravo, and many others, speaks for itself. Nick and Peter dive deep ...
Jun 27, 2023•52 min•Ep. 18
In this episode, host Peter Lehrman sits down with Brad Smith, Co-Founder and Managing Director of specialist healthcare investment bank Vertess Advisors. Brad shares his journey from employee to CEO of a durable medical equipment provider to co-founding Vertess. We discuss the challenges entrepreneurs face in the complex industry of healthcare mergers and acquisitions. Smith highlights the importance of home care, the potential opportunities in fragmented markets, and the necessity for managing...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 17
In this episode, Peter Lehrman sits down with Walker Deibel, a serial acquisition entrepreneur, successful small business M&A advisor and author of the canonical work Buy Then Build, How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game. Walker is also the founder of Acquisition Lab , an acquisition entrepreneur incubator. He has acquired seven companies over ten years and co-founded several startups. His bestselling book, Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup ...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 16
My guest today is David Eshaghian, Founder of Panther Equity Group. Panther Equity pursues investments in lower middle market businesses generally providing mission-critical services, products, and solutions. David’s responsibilities at Panther include deal sourcing and qualification, transaction execution, firm strategy, portfolio management, and investor relations. Before Panther Equity Group, David was the CEO of a Managed IT Services Provider (MSP), formerly known as The Tech Info Group (‘TT...
Apr 04, 2023•55 min•Ep. 15
My guest today is Nathan Chandrasekaran, Co-Founder and Partner at Columbia River Partners (CRP). We start by discussing the impetus that pushed Nathan to leave behind a comfortable and prestigious career path in NYC at middle market private equity firm TZP Group. From there, we hear all about the entrepreneurial risks, opportunities and considerations associated with building an independent private equity sponsor. You’ll hear about the point at which Nathan decided to start his own firm, advice...
Mar 14, 2023•50 min•Ep. 14
My guest today is Linda Rose, of RoseBiz, Inc. A tax accountant by training, Linda left the accounting world behind early in her career and became a repeat entrepreneur with multiple exits in the world of IT Services. After her last exit, Linda wrote the book “ Get Acquired for Millions ,” in which she laid out many of her lessons learned from her three exits. The book accidentally spawned Linda’s third major career chapter as a specialized M&A Advisor advising IT Services entrepreneurs. It ...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 13
My guest today is Tarrus Richardson, Founder, And CEO of IMB Partners. Tarrus has 25 years of private equity experience, has invested over $500 million of capital, and completed over 20 lower middle market acquisitions. In this episode, you’ll hear why Tarrus and IMB decided to acquire companies with unusually high levels of customer concentration in the utility services sector, why diversity is a proven source of outperformance and competitive advantage in all their companies, and advice for an...
Jan 24, 2023•38 min•Ep. 12
