Wellist is a consumer navigation company that started by helping to connect patients to services largely outside their care plan — connecting with an acupuncturist, a place to get a wig or someone to clean the house. The company has since opened up its offerings to employees, and in the process has been able to leverage the data it collects to help employers provide better support to their employees and reduce costs. Founder and CEO Ashley Reid talks about growing into the company's now national...
Sep 01, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shaun Stimpson left a nearly 20-year career in wealth management to launch North Iron Holdings. The purpose of North Iron was to be a vehicle to acquire an industrial distribution company. After an 18-month search, he bought Mitten Fluidpower Corp., which he now runs as CEO. Shaun talks about the move, the acquisition, life as an operator, building a board and his plans for growth.
Aug 18, 2023•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Barry Sandweiss has co-founded 7 startups, including Lenders One, a company that became the largest mortgage-banking cooperative in the U.S., which he eventually sold. Now he's with Cultivation Capital, a VC firm in St. Louis, sitting on the other side of the investment table. Barry talks about his experience as an entrepreneur, how it's informed his approach to investing, the urge to use his experience to help others and how his entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found yet another business in...
Aug 02, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Cerasuolo leads incredibly acquisitive companies. At ADS Security, he led the business through 45 acquisitions in a direct-to-owner model that relied on relationships and an internal team to buy-up companies. Now, with Leap Partners, he's hoping to do the same in the plumbing and HVAC sectors. Already the company he's launched is off to a fast start with 5 acquisitions already complete and a pipeline that could help him realize 20 more this year. John talks about starting the business and h...
Jul 06, 2023•22 min•Ep 249•Transcript available on Metacast Massachusetts-based technology advisory firms ROI Communications, Blue Front Technology Group and allConnex joined forces in late 2022 to form Amplix. CEO Joe DeStefano says the three long-time, mutually respectful competitors had a familiarity with each other that made the merger a smooth process. When it took less than two hours to put together a proforma balance sheet, they knew they had a great organization.
Jul 06, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1985, Sanjiv Singh worked on the first autonomous ground vehicles to operate outdoors. By 2010, he led a team that demonstrated the first autonomous full-scale helicopter flight. Now he's with Near Earth Autonomy, pushing the envelope in autonomy for aerial vehicles both manned and unmanned. He talks about the evolution of the technology, the company's fundraising and the obstacles that must be conquered in order to reach broader commercial adoption of autonomous flight technology.
Jun 29, 2023•23 min•Ep 247•Transcript available on Metacast Harold Green launched Chamberlain Contractors, an asphalt paving company, in 1975 and sold it to Pavement Partners, a portfolio company of Shoreline Equity Partners, in January 2022. While he always had the end in mind, he brought on a partner who didn't share the same goals. Green talks about selling the business, how he resolved the issue with his partner, and his more recent venture that he's hoping to more aggressively grow as he transitions out of Chamberlain....
Jun 29, 2023•20 min•Ep 246•Transcript available on Metacast Jai Shekhawat is the founder and former CEO of Fieldglass, a cloud-based vendor management software platform that grew to encompass users in 150 countries and more than $60 billion in annual spend, making it the largest such firm in the world. He sold a majority stake in the company to Madison Dearborn Partners, which helped expand the business before selling it to SAP for $1 billion in 2014. Jai talks about the experience from soup to nuts — fundraising, growth, selling and life after.
Jun 16, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2022, Labcorp paid a reported $450 million to acquire Personal Genome Diagnostics, known as PGDx, a genomic testing company. Megan Bailey, who was CEO of PGDx, stops by the pod to offer a peek inside the deal — what it was like building the deal team, getting buy-in, how they chose Labcorp and why they pursued a sale after successfully raising a $103 million Series C earlier that same year.
Jun 02, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Marc Bernstein is scaling fast and having fun at Balto, a SaaS platform designed to provide real-time guidance to contact center agents. That’s even after the founder and CEO added multiple investors to the mix and recently raised $37.5 million in capital. Marc talks about launching the company, how he's maintaining the culture as he's added layers to his management team, and how the typical characterization of investors-as-bosses is all wrong.
Jun 02, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Biju Kulathakal is the co-founder and CEO of Halo Investing, the first independent multi-issuer technology platform for Structured Notes, connecting investment advisors and their clients to the world’s largest banks. He talks about launching the company, pitching to investors and growing the business from an idea to more than 200 employees working in five countries.
May 18, 2023•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast James Peisker launched Porter Road with what could be considered an ambitious goal: to change the world. What started as a single butcher shop in Nashville selling meat direct from the farm has spread out across multiple states and, through its thriving online business, is now selling across the nation. James shares how the business got started, why banks hesitated to fund it and how the introduction of not just capital but ideas from VC and PE has led to the company's remarkable growth.
May 12, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sean Kennedy launched TRG in 2002 and has since grown it from a three-person team to more than 300. In addition to its impressive organic growth, the company has expanded through acquisitions, bringing on companies from the U.S., Canada and the UK as it works to become an international player in the managed solutions space. Kennedy talks about the company's growth, the differences between its domestic and international acquisitions, as well as the process of integrating teams that come from much...
Apr 26, 2023•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast What's going on in M&A today? Is it a buyers' or a sellers' market? What are the macro factors having the most impact on dealmaking and who's taking most of the hit? Gavin Slader, head of the investment bank for JMP, a Citizens company, offers his state of M&A — an overview of the conditions dealmakers are facing and predictions for how the 2023 deal year finishes up.
Apr 26, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dennis Barsema has had a storied career leading numerous telecommunications, software and optical networking companies. He's engaged in myriad capital raises, mergers and several acquisitions. As the CEO of Redback Networks, he led the company through one of the most successful IPOs in Wall Street history and completed a multi-billion-dollar acquisition. Dennis talks about his experience with Redback, the issue that almost prevented him from taking the company public, and how his path eventually...
Apr 21, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan Dane, founder of Defiant Capital Group, discusses the launch of his asset management firm in 2020 and how the turbulence of that year helped shape the business. He also shares his perspective on how the investor mindset has changed over the years since, and offers tips on post-business investment life.
Apr 21, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jifiti, a buy-now-pay-later white-label point-of-sale financing system for eCommerce, evolved from a gift registry business idea into a thriving company. Under the direction of co-founder & CEO Yaacov Martin, the company has leveraged financial backing with major retailers and retail holding companies to find a sweet spot in a growing industry. Yaacov shares the story of the company's founding, it's pivot of sorts into by now pay later, and how the company has grown since.
Apr 12, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast For many years, Juan Garzón's work has given him a broad view of the Charlotte startup community. He leads Innovate Charlotte and PitchBreakfast, founded and ran StartCharlotte, which became Charlotte Inno, and The Garzón Company works with entrepreneurs on marketing. Juan talks about his perspective on the Charlotte startup scene, its strengths, its gaps and the progress it's made and still needs to make.
Apr 11, 2023•19 min•Ep 235•Transcript available on Metacast When Suzanne Yoon launched the private equity firm Kinzie Capital Partners back in 2017, it was one of the scariest things she's ever done. Gaining traction meant overcoming significant obstacles in a highly competitive environment, but it's helped her better understand the entrepreneurial founders she now represents in the lower middle market. Suzanne talks about why she set out on her own, how she gained traction in the market, and why she's active with organizations that work to get and suppo...
Apr 06, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hugh Slater struck out on his own after years in operational roles and leading divisions to assemble investors in a search fund and acquire EGC Enterprises in Chardon, Ohio. Pulled by the entrepreneurial spirit, he grew the business organically, made an acquisition and eventually sold it to CDI Energy this year. Hugh talks about the process soup to nuts and what he plans to do next.
Apr 06, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ali Ahmadi cofounded TCARE, a business that helps organizations battle caregiver burnout for those caring for loved ones. The team has grown from two to more than 170 and, after its recent $17 million Series A from a group of 12 investors, is looking to add 100 more as it expands in the market. Ahmadi talks about the evolution of the company, what he's learned about fundraising, and how he's adapting to managing a rapidly growing business.
Apr 05, 2023•19 min•Ep 232•Transcript available on Metacast Sylvester Hester, a 30-year veteran of the automotive industry, has recently launched LM Manufacturing, a company that provides manufacturing, assembly, sequencing, supply chain and logistics management primarily in the automotive vertical. It's a joint venture with Magna International, a $40 billion mobility technology company that has thrown its support behind LM, which expects to generate some 400 jobs as it lays down roots in Detroit. Hester talks about the process of launching the business,...
Mar 31, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Financial Health Network opens the financial services industry to underserved consumers across economic, geographic and cultural spectrums. Founder, President and CEO Jennifer Tescher talks about FHN’s Financial Solutions Lab Accelerator, its cultivated network and its investment in 50-plus finhealth solutions.
Mar 24, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vytalize Health has been raising funds successively and successfully for the past few years, drawing in $5.5 in 2020, $17 million in 2021, $50 million April 2022, and now a $100m Series B in February. Company CEO and co-founder Faris Ghawi and Chief Marketing Officer Matt Buder Shapiro stop by to talk about the big raise, how they'll apply it, the growth its perpetuating and what comes next.
Mar 24, 2023•12 min•Ep 229•Transcript available on Metacast Setting the appropriate working capital target is a significant part of any deal, and it's often something sellers just don't understand. Tony Montanaro, partner in the forensic, litigation & valuation department at Louis Plung & Company, talks about the intricacies of working capital in an M&A deal.
Mar 24, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast John Estafanous is leading RallyBright, the second company he's founded. He's recently raised investor capital — his first experience with the process — as he looks to accelerate growth for the company, which offers a software platform designed to improve team performance. John stops by the pod to talk about how founding the first company has informed building the second, what he learned selling that first business, his experience raising capital, and the importance of connecting with the right ...
Mar 24, 2023•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Liana Douillet Guzmán joined, FOLX Health as CEO in February 2022 and was tasked with growing the business to all 50 states. FOLX Health, operator of a digital health company intended to serve the LGBTQ+ community, has raised nearly $60 million since its founding through seed, Series A and Series B rounds, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $95 million. Guzmán discussing the growth of FOLX and how raising capital has changed dramatically in the past two years.
Mar 16, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Eric Satz is the co-founder, president and CEO of Alto, developer of an alternative asset investment platform intended to connect everyday investors to alternative investment opportunities. Satz and his team raised $39.94 million of Series B venture funding in 2022, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $250 million. He talks about the capital-raising process and what the future holds for Alto.
Mar 16, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Provide, an integrated suite of financial products for healthcare practitioners, was acquired by Fifth Third in 2021. Launched in 2013, the company made its way through pivots and financing rounds to ultimately become an independent business line of the bank in a deal that could accelerate the growth of an already growing company. Provide Chief Business Officer Andrew Bennett stops by to talk about the acquisition and what it means for the future.
Mar 16, 2023•16 min•Ep 224•Transcript available on Metacast Dave Tolmie is a senior partner at The Edgewater Funds, a private equity firm he co-founded in 2001 and has helped grow to more than $3 billion in committed capital. The former CEO of Yesmail, Inc., a company he led through a successful IPO and subsequent sale for $720 million, and previous Senior Vice President of Operations for Bally Total Fitness, a company he joined after building and selling a regional health club to Bally for $90 million, talks about what he looks for in the entrepreneurs ...
Mar 10, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
