From $7M to $50M via 14 Acquisitions: A Consolidation Success Story With Jay Davis & Jason Pananos

My Guests After graduating from business school in 2008, Jay Davis & Jason Pananos acquired Vector Disease Control, a company that they grew from ~$7M to ~$50M in revenue in 7 years through successfully executing on 14 bolt-on acquisitions. They were able to grow the business by a 43% compounded annual growth rate before sellingContinue reading “From $7M to $50M via 14 Acquisitions: A Consolidation Success Story With Jay Davis & Jason Pananos”

Why You May Be Ignoring Brokered Deals at Your Peril

My Guest My guest today is Ryan Farkas, a Partner, Managing Director and the Practice Leader in M&A and Capital Markets in BDO’s Central Canada region. Ryan has successfully closed countless sell-side advisory transactions in various industries spanning manufacturing, consumer discretionary, construction, engineering, automotive and information technology. Ryan has also worked on several large performanceContinue reading “Why You May Be Ignoring Brokered Deals at Your Peril”

Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback: Educators, Mentors, and Leaders Within the SMB Community

My Guests Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback are both professors at the Harvard Business School, and co-teach two wildly popular courses called The Financial Management of Smaller Firms and Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, both of which focus on how to acquire, finance and operate your own smaller firm. In 2017 they also co-published the widely readContinue reading “Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback: Educators, Mentors, and Leaders Within the SMB Community”

Jeff Stevens & A.J. Wasserstein on The Future of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

My Guests A.J. Wasserstein is the Eugene F. Williams, Jr. Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management. His research, writing, and teaching concentrates on search funds, entrepreneurship, programmatic acquisitions, and small businesses. In addition to his role as an educator, A.J. is also a private investor in lower middle-market businesses.Continue reading “Jeff Stevens & A.J. Wasserstein on The Future of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition”

Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer Before Buying (or Selling) a Small Business

Listen to this Blog Post It likely goes without saying that every transaction is different: Every company, industry, searcher, and investment opportunity presents unique considerations that in turn give rise to unique questions and areas for further due diligence. With that said, over many years of evaluating countless acquisition targets alongside searchers, I’ve found thatContinue reading “Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer Before Buying (or Selling) a Small Business”

Dr. Victoria Medvec on the Art and Science of High Stakes Negotiations

My Guest Dr. Victoria Medvec is the Adeline Barry Davee Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In addition to her professorship, Dr. Medvec is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the Center for Executive Women at the Kellogg School and the CEO of Medvec and Associates,Continue reading “Dr. Victoria Medvec on the Art and Science of High Stakes Negotiations”

Peter Lehrman, Founder & CEO of Axial, The Largest Online Marketplace to Buy & Sell SMBs

My Guest Peter Lehrman is the Founder and CEO of Axial, North America’s #1 online platform connecting buyers and sellers of small and medium sized businesses. Axial is used by over 20,000 investors, M&A advisors and CEOs, allowing them to connect on a confidential basis to explore potential M&A, debt, buyout, and growth equity transactions,Continue reading “Peter Lehrman, Founder & CEO of Axial, The Largest Online Marketplace to Buy & Sell SMBs”

Lessons Learned From 400+ Post-Exit Entrepreneurs: John Warrillow, Host of Built to Sell Radio

My Guest My guest today is John Warrillow, author of the bestselling book Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You, and Founder & CEO of The Value Builder System, a sales and marketing software tool for business advisors to find, win and keep their best clients. Built to Sell was recognizedContinue reading “Lessons Learned From 400+ Post-Exit Entrepreneurs: John Warrillow, Host of Built to Sell Radio”

When Search Funds Don’t Go As Planned (Part 2): Trends & Observations With Jim Sharpe

My Guest My guest today is Jim Sharpe, somebody who I’ve been fortunate enough to call a mentor and friend for over 10 years now. This is Jim’s second appearance on In The Trenches (you can access the first episode here) In this week’s episode, we build upon the first-hand accounts presented in episode 1Continue reading “When Search Funds Don’t Go As Planned (Part 2): Trends & Observations With Jim Sharpe”

The State of Lower-Middle Market Credit: Two Major Bank Failures, Rising Interest Rates, and a Looming Recession

My Guests To say that it’s been an active 6-18 months in the banking sector would be an understatement: Beginning as recently as January, 2022, we’ve seen the US Federal Funds rate increase from .08% to 4.83%, which, at least in part, precipitated the rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and the rescue of FirstContinue reading “The State of Lower-Middle Market Credit: Two Major Bank Failures, Rising Interest Rates, and a Looming Recession”