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”
Tag Archives: financing
The Merits, Risks, and Possible Unintended Consequences of Earn-Outs
Listen to this Blog Post When acquiring small to medium sized businesses, buyers often utilize a tool called an “earn-out”, which is a form of contingent consideration that sellers may receive at some point in the future in addition to the cash that they stand to receive at closing. Though earn-outs can be useful andContinue reading “The Merits, Risks, and Possible Unintended Consequences of Earn-Outs”
The Current State of the Debt Capital Markets
My Guests My guests today are Cory Kaiser and Timothy Eaton, Vice President & Associate Vice President respectively within TD’s Commercial Banking Group. Between them, they have over 40 years of experience lending to lower-middle market businesses not just to finance their acquisitions, but also to finance growth initiatives, day-to-day working capital needs, and leveragedContinue reading “The Current State of the Debt Capital Markets”
Evaluating 5 Very Different Approaches to Acquiring a Software Company
Listen to This Blog Post Enterprise software is considered to be among the world’s best business models, and for good reason: Revenue tends to be highly recurring. Switching costs, pricing power and customer retention rates are often high. And businesses have the ability to scale in a non-linear fashion owing to the fact that additionalContinue reading “Evaluating 5 Very Different Approaches to Acquiring a Software Company”
The CEO as Chief Capital Allocator
Listen to This Blog Post In his book, The Outsiders, William Thorndike makes a comprehensive and compelling case that effective capital allocation is one of the most important skills that any CEO can possess in their pursuit of value creation. Some very influential people seem to agree, with both Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger includingContinue reading “The CEO as Chief Capital Allocator”
Sell-Side M&A Advisors: How to Choose One, How Much They Cost, and The Importance of the “Fine Print”
My Guest John Carvalho is the President of Stone Oak Capital, an M&A advisory firm that focuses exclusively on middle market businesses, with a specific focus on transactions between $10 and $100 million. Among other things, Stone Oak offers acquisition, divestitures, corporate finance and valuations services for its clients. John is also the Founder ofContinue reading “Sell-Side M&A Advisors: How to Choose One, How Much They Cost, and The Importance of the “Fine Print””
All Things Finance & Accounting: Managing Liquidity, Employee Financial Literacy, Capital Allocation, Macroeconomic Uncertainty, and Hiring Your First CFO
My Guest Nicholas Andrews is the Founder of Aspen Consulting Group, a company that performs finance, accounting, and operations consulting for a wide range of small and medium sized businesses. Aspen’s services include technical accounting, corporate finance, valuations, operations planning and M&A due diligence, among others. Prior to founding the Aspen Consulting group, Nick wasContinue reading “All Things Finance & Accounting: Managing Liquidity, Employee Financial Literacy, Capital Allocation, Macroeconomic Uncertainty, and Hiring Your First CFO”
Having Hard Conversations (Live Panel Discussion from 2022 MIT Sloan Search Fund Summit)
In this week’s episode, we discuss the importance of having difficult conversations, something that CEOs find themselves doing on a near-daily basis. We discuss three primary types of difficult conversations, including: Hard conversations around internal company dynamics (eg: terminations); Hard conversations about dynamics external to the company (eg: politics and global affairs); Difficult conversations thatContinue reading “Having Hard Conversations (Live Panel Discussion from 2022 MIT Sloan Search Fund Summit)”
Quality of Earnings Analysis: What You Need to Know Before Buying a Business
My Guest My guest today is Chris Hutchinson, a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Transaction Advisory Services Group. Chris has over 15 years of experience advising clients on M&A, financings, valuation projects, and due diligence mandates, with a specific focus on private lower-middle-market businesses. Chris and his team have completed an untold number of QualityContinue reading “Quality of Earnings Analysis: What You Need to Know Before Buying a Business”
Lessons Learned in Capitalizing an Acquisition
Listen to This Blog Post Among the myriad variables that must be carefully considered when acquiring a business is the question of how the acquisition is going to be financed. My intent in the material that follows is not to cover the countless options available to acquirors stemming from this question (that wouldn’t be possibleContinue reading “Lessons Learned in Capitalizing an Acquisition”