Archangel Protective Services started out with just three people. Today, it has more than 270 employees. Founder and CEO Ken Thomas attributes that exponential growth to his work with the Nashville Business Incubation Center. Now he's paying it forward as an Entrepreneur in Residence at NBIC, sharing the lessons he's learned to help the next generation of business owners unlock their potential.
Having a relationship before the start of the pandemic helped a lot of deals get done, and that was the case when Vytalize Health acquired MedPilot back in February 2021. Vytalize Health CFO Kevin Murphy and MedPilot founder Matt Buder Shapiro, now CMO of Vytalize, talk about the transaction, doing the deal during a pandemic, and what they learned through the process.
Great Day Improvements has executed a series of deals that put it among the fastest-growing private mid-market companies in Ohio. It's grown from 12 market locations at the beginning of 2018 to over 115 locations in 77 US markets and over 2,200 employees today. Ed Weinfurtner, chairman of Blue Olive Partners, discusses the initial acquisition and its growth through the years, including two major acquisitions it closed near the end of 2021.
412 Venture Fund has only been around a few years, but its founders and managing partners bring decades of experience to investing in early-stage ventures that have a Pittsburgh connection. In this episode, Managing Partner Ilana Diamond talks about the fund, its first exit, the advantage of launching during the pandemic and some of the lessons she passes on based on her years of management, advisory, chair and investor experience.
Liturgical Publications is in its 50th year as a faith-based print advertising company. About 10 years ago, LPi leadership decided to dip their toes into software as a service and created a closed social network for churches to promote events. Somewhere early in the process, a customer asked if a donation mechanism could be added to their closed network. From there, the We Share We Gather arms of LPi took off, eventually processing nearly a third of a billion dollars a year and later selling to ...
Mykolas Rambus is a serial entrepreneur who founded and sold two previous companies, including Wealth-X, where he served as CEO until its 2016 sale for more than $20 million. Last year, he raised early-stage rounds of capital to build out Hush, a company that offers cybersecurity services. Though the capital raise process went well, Mykolas talks about how better pitch materials would have made for a smoother raise.
Despite market turbulence and some handwringing over uncertainty, the deal year looks as if it will be just as strong as it was in 2021. Dave Dunstan, managing director of Citizens M&A Advisory Group, talks about what he's seeing in the market, based in part on feedback from the bank's Middle Market M&A Outlook, a survey of 400 leaders at U.S. middle market companies and private equity firms.
KeraLink International CEO Ngu Morcho has more than 20 years of experience in early-stage technology development working in Africa and across India and Southeast Asia. Today, Morcho’s mission is to end corneal blindness globally as the head of operations at KeraLink. To fund this mission, KeraLink uses a blended finance model — a combination of grants, concessional equity and debt that is used together to develop a sustainable business model.
Co-Pilot is an online coaching platform designed to provide a one-on-one fitness coaching experience that pairs individuals with a dedicated coach. The company raised nearly $6 million in January, which followed a more-than $4 million raise back in 2021. Co-founder and CEO Matt Spettel talks about the company's growth, fundraising, and expanding the team.
Supply chain issues are a real problem for buyers. Jonathan Hatch, president of Little Mountain Industries, says diligence now has to be much more thorough, which means the indepdendent sponsor group has become pickier with its targets. Hatch talks about buying manufacturing companies at a time when labor shortages and supply chain hang ups change the M&A math.
Compass Group Equity Partners goes into every investment with a 100-day plan. They’re ready and prepared to move quickly, which they did when they purchased Sunpro Solar in 2020. Compass Group’s playbook includes augmenting the team and building a board deck with metrics and key performance indicators and having a written strategic plan. John Huhn, founder and managing partner of Compass Group, talks about how that plan enabled the independent sponsor to buy and sell Sunpro at a several time mul...
Early on in his career, Stu Clark downplayed concepts like culture and team when it came to strategic acquisitions, opting instead for a finance- and execution-driven mindset. But he's since changed his mind. Today, the CEO of Premise Health says culture is key, so much so that he'd rather spend more on a company with a great team than get a bargain on a company that has a poor culture. In this episode, Clark talks about this change in thinking, and why strong teams are critical to a Premise Hea...
There are a number of important steps that happen between the time a seller is ready to take their company to market and when buyer diligence starts. One of the tools used in the negotiation process at that stage is a letter of intent. Signet Enterprises Chairman and CEO Anthony Manna breaks down this early stage of the deal and what choices sellers need to make as they take their company to market.
Amid the pandemic, Milwaukee-based A. O. Smith closed the acquisition of Canada's Giant Factories — a deal nearly a decade in the making. Although the deal went smoothly, there were some interesting aspects about it that kept both sides on their toes, says Jim Stern, executive vice president and general counsel of A.O. Smith.
Cor Hoekstra co-founded fintech company Amicus.io to align the incentives of donors, financial institutions, corporations and philanthropic organizations for charitable giving at scale. Shortly before selling the business to TIFIN in 2022, we sat down with Cor to talk about attracting investors and how his work for tech giants such as Oracle and IBM informed the venture.
Lou Schneeberger, Executive Chairman of Proformex, has been buying and selling companies for years. Today he is seeing what he calls a COVID backlog. Companies that were looking to sell but struggled during the pandemic chose to wait until the market stabilized. Now, many of those companies' M&A aspirations are waking up from their pandemic hibernation. Lou talks about those companies and how they're preparing to capitalize on their highest potential valuations.
Brand President Cesar Gueikian discusses Gibson Brands' 2021 acquisition of well-known guitar amp manufacturer Mesa/Boogie, as well as how he is helping to move Gibson forward by identifying its purpose.
CEO Matt Mastarone and the TTG Imaging Solutions team started a search for a new capital partner in January of 2021. By May, they were in New York City doing early-look meetings with potential private equity firms its investment banker thought would be interested. In August, the molecular Imaging company had narrowed the search to two firms and were close to getting a deal done; however, supply chain concerns scared those two firms off. As a result, TTG had to come up with a thorough study on it...
Perimeter Solutions CEO Edward Goldberg worked with EverArc Holdings to complete in just a few months a merger process that normally would take years. And to make things even more problematic was the fact that they did it primarily in a virtual world.
The M&A market continues to be red hot with buyers competing for deals and sellers benefiting in the process. But what does it take to get your company ready for a sale? What is a quality of earnings report and how might it benefit sellers to get one done? Tony Montanaro, a partner with Louis Plung & Co., offers a look at deals from a buyer's perspective: what they like to see in diligence that speeds a deal to close, and what they don't like to find — problems that could mean they walk away....
The pandemic has been a major factor in the commercial real estate market. It's had an impact on everything from where companies are based to how long it takes to get things built. Paul Larson, CEO of Larson Financial Holdings, sits down to give his characterization of the market, where opportunities and challenges exist, and his advice for those looking to invest this year.
When it comes to the timing of a sale, there are things you can control, such as preparing your management team or tidying up your books, and there are things you can't, such as buyer appetite. Scott Bushkie, managing partner and founder of Cornerstone Business Services, says timing may be the most important element of a sale, and offers both his insight and advice on how sellers can leverage timing to their advantage.
Andy Vollmer, managing director of Bellmark Partners, discusses the record level of M&A activity in 2021, the factors driving that dealmaking, the consequences for buyers and sellers, and what we can expect throughout 2022.
COVID was a game wrecker for those in the entertainment business. Pyrotecnico President & CEO Stephen Vitale saw this firsthand when his special effects and fireworks display company had to make major cuts to remain operational. But amid the chaos, he also saw opportunity. He found a financial partner and made five acquisitions that helped Pyrotecnico grow significantly. We talked with Vitale, as well as his outside council Bill Buck, about the 132-year-old family business and its very busy deal...
Bob Norton, founder and CEO of AirTight Management, has been a serial entrepreneur for more than 30 years. In that time, he's seen startups launch, grow, succeed and fail. He talks about what separates those who succeed from those who don't, what investors are looking for at the earliest stages, and how insisting that your buddy from college remains your CTO for life might not be the best strategy for winning that Series A.
Daniel Walsh formed Citymark Capital with the intent of acquiring properties in numerous high-growth markets across the nation. But before he could do that, he had to build the initial fund. Walsh talks about the real estate investment platform he launched in 2018, its progress so far and his plans for its future
When Chris Molaro returned home after a five-year stint in the U.S. Army, he saw firsthand the gaps in the behavioral mental health system. So the West Point and Wharton MBA grad created NeuroFlow, an app that helped healthcare providers better assess the mental health of vets and civilians. Chris shares his thoughts on changing the way mental health care is delivered, his most recent M&A deal and the company’s future.
As COO of WinTrust Financial, Paul Carlisle has a front-row seat to the financial concerns of CEOs feeling their way through continued market uncertainty. Despite significant disruptions, Carlisle sees a market that’s ripe with liquidity and subject to generationally low interest rates. That's why he says it’s a great time to get deals done. Carlisle gives his sense of the challenges facing the market, the state of capital, and the conditions dealmakers could expect for the remainder of the deal...
The challenges facing minority-owned businesses are many, including access to capital. By the time many reach $20 million in sales they have a misaligned debt-to-equity ratio. Della Clark, CEO of The Enterprise Center, has been on a mission to change that dynamic and has spent decades working to help provide minority business owners better access to early- and mid-stage capital. She shares her thoughts on leveling the playing field and her most recent venture — an SBIC Fund aimed at doing just t...
Independent sponsors are experiencing somewhat of a resurgence in the M&A market. That’s a little strange, specifically because they more often play a role when markets are sluggish — something this market certainly is not. George Nemphos, founding partner and attorney at Nemphos Braue, talks about Independent Sponsors — their recent resurgence, their role in a deal and how they can help sellers, as well as how they’ve become a factor in this high-deal environment.
