Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Buyers and Builders

My guest today is Sam Allsopp, co-founder of Neal Roofing and Waterproofing, a home services company he started with Andrew Neal in 2020 and has since grown from zero to roughly $50 million in annual revenue—all organically.

What makes Sam’s story interesting is that he didn’t come from roofing. Before starting Neal Roofing and Waterproofing, he ran a marketing agency and worked with more than a dozen roofing companies, where he began to see firsthand why some contractors could turn leads into profitable growth while others struggled. That experience eventually became the foundation for Neal Roofing and Waterproofing: build a world-class customer acquisition and sales machine, then pair it with excellent execution and fulfillment.

In this conversation, Sam breaks down how the business changed at every stage—from the first few million in revenue to building management layers, professionalizing the sales organization and eventually creating the systems required to operate at $50 million of scale. We go deep on marketing spend, lead generation, speed-to-lead, booking rates, sales capacity, one-call closes, compensation plans, hiring ahead of growth and the KPIs he watches every day.

We also explore how Neal Roofing and Waterproofing has remained profitable while growing aggressively, why Sam prefers opening new markets from scratch over acquiring competitors, how he thinks about incentives and accountability across the organization and why he believes the underlying playbook can work far beyond roofing.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 From zero to a $50M roofing company
1:11 The real business: customer acquisition + sales
3:25 $1M → $2.5M → $6M → $14M → $25M → $36M → $50M
8:33 What changes at every stage of growth
15:01 The KPIs Sam tracks to run the business
17:52 Facebook, PPC, LSA & the marketing mix
19:15 Why they contact leads in under a minute
23:15 Building the sales machine & one-call close
27:24 The operating system behind $50M of roofs
33:07 Growing fast while staying profitable
38:48 Hiring, incentives & performance pay
40:34 Why they prefer organic growth over M&A
46:14 How Sam actually learned sales & marketing

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

My guest today is Felix Jander, co-founder of Arsipa, a buy-and-build company focused on occupational health and safety.

Felix and Stefan began exploring the idea during COVID, studying roughly 60 niche industries before choosing a fragmented market with significant room for consolidation.

Arsipa went on to complete more than 40 acquisitions, grow to over 1,100 employees across 60+ locations, and surpass $100 million in annual revenue. In 2024, the company partnered with Warburg Pincus, with Felix remaining invested in the business.

We discuss how they chose their market, built proprietary deal flow, and used highly personalized outreach to generate reply rates as high as 80%. Felix explains why the first acquisition matters so much, how Arsipa financed its early deals, and the operational playbook behind recruiting, finance, pricing, integration and culture.

He also shares the story of splitting with his original co-founder, finding his next partner, and transitioning from operator to investor.

This is a practical conversation about acquisitions, capital allocation and building an institution from a collection of small businesses.

Please enjoy my conversation with Felix Jander.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 From zero to 40+ acquisitions and $100M+ in revenue
3:33 Why boring businesses beat venture-backed hypergrowth
5:08 How they chose one market from 60 niche industries
7:40 The 1% conversion math behind proprietary deal flow
11:08 Raising the first pool of acquisition capital
18:00 Buying businesses without brokers
20:41 The first acquisition changes everything
23:04 Equity first, debt later
24:58 Turning acquisitions into an operating company
28:13 Losing a co-founder in the middle of fundraising
32:27 Selling to Warburg Pincus and rolling equity
40:08 The roll-up integration and value-creation playbook
44:32 The economics of scaling a roll-up
48:06 What changes after a major private equity investment
51:24 Felix’s advice for aspiring buy-and-build founders
54:18 From operator to investor
56:12 Final lessons from building Arsipa

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

My guest today is Justin Escajeda, an entrepreneur who owns 12 trade businesses around Pittsburgh, employing roughly 250 people and generating more than $50 million in annual revenue.

What makes Justin’s story interesting is that he never set out to become an acquisition entrepreneur. He started in masonry, construction and real estate before buying his first roofing company which did $600k in SDE in 2018 for $846k. That acquisition changed how he thought about building businesses.

Today, Justin owns companies across masonry, roofing, insurance, material supply, general contracting, property management and luxury remodeling. His approach is unusually simple: buy businesses that already work, preserve what made them successful, put great operators in charge and resist the temptation to change things simply because you can.

We also explore how he manages 12 businesses without micromanaging them, the four KPIs he watches every day and why he stopped taking cash from portfolio companies to fund new acquisitions.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Building a $50M portfolio of trade businesses
1:24 The first acquisition that changed everything
4:34 Buying a roofing company for under $1M with an SBA loan
6:21 Why Justin never wants to start another company
8:15 Why he avoids changing businesses after buying them
12:24 Inside a portfolio of 12 trade businesses
15:00 The acquisition Justin overpaid for
16:49 SBA loans, cash, and why he prefers seller financing
22:25 Solving key-person risk after an acquisition
27:14 Growing companies without micromanaging operators
31:05 Why Justin went an entire year without buying anything
34:38 The four numbers he watches every day
37:42 A $300K mistake, liquidity, and why ownership isn’t passive

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In 2010, Robert Finkel wrote the book The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital: Management Lessons from the Pioneers of Private Investing

In this episode, I explore the ideas, decisions, successes, and failures of two people who helped define modern private equity: Joseph Rice, co-founder of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Warren Hellman, co-founder of Hellman & Friedman.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 The Masters of Private Equity
2:15 Private equity is more than buying and selling companies
5:42 What separates the best private equity investors
7:14 Joseph Rice: Building Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
10:13 Jack Welch’s advice during the 2008 crisis: “Hammer them”
15:23 The failed deal that changed how Rice invested forever
19:28 Lexmark: Turning an IBM division into an entrepreneurial company
22:06 Kinko’s, a total loss, and the danger of believing you can do anything
26:20 Joseph Rice’s five lessons from 40+ years in private equity
31:03 Warren Hellman: Building Hellman & Friedman
32:23 “This time is different” — the investing lesson Hellman never forgot
36:35 Every investment is guilty until proven innocent
39:51 Think like an owner, not an employee
42:38 Levi Strauss and the deal that put Hellman & Friedman on the map
45:34 Why a great security can still be a terrible investment
49:08 Warren Hellman’s five rules for investing

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Greg Geronemus bought a ~$5M EBITDA business with no operating experience, financed half the purchase price with a seller note, and spent his first year doing something most new owners struggle to do: almost nothing.

Four years later, the business was larger, professionally managed, dramatically delevered, and sold at roughly 9x EBITDA—producing just under a 5x net return and ~50% net IRR for investors.

Greg breaks down the entire journey: finding the deal, negotiating the structure, taking over from a deeply embedded founder, deciding what not to change, discovering the growth channels that actually worked, and ultimately selling the company.

Above all, this is an episode about buying well.

Because you can change your team, strategy, marketing, systems, and operations after closing. You cannot change the price you paid or the structure you agreed to.

For anyone searching for, buying, financing, or operating a business, this is a case study worth studying.

Timestamps:
0:00 From Private Equity to Buying a Business
5:12 The High-Volume Strategy for Finding Deals
7:42 The Unlikely Chain of Introductions That Found smarTours
10:01 The Deal: ~5x EBITDA and 50% Seller Financing
13:50 From First Meeting to a $29M Acquisition
17:18 What Made This Business So Attractive
23:14 How the $29M Acquisition Was Financed
25:21 The First 100 Days: Don’t Screw It Up
31:35 Why Great Buyers Go Slow Before They Go Fast
35:23 Modernizing the Business—and What Didn’t Work
39:39 The Growth Breakthrough Nobody Expected
44:12 Selling the Business, ~5x Returns

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Eric Tan and Patrick Grove are building one of Southeast Asia's most interesting serial acquirers. As CEO of Catcha Digital, they've completed 14 acquisitions while creating a permanent home for market-leading businesses across digital media, B2B exhibitions, and vertical software.

In this conversation, Eric shares why his failed startup became the foundation for Catcha Digital, how they evaluate hundreds of acquisition opportunities, why culture matters more than spreadsheets, and what he's learned from studying companies like Constellation Software, Danaher, Roper and Europe's leading compounders. We also dive deep into capital allocation, decentralized operations, buy-and-build strategies, and why live events may become even more valuable in the AI era.

Timestamps:
0:00 Building Southeast Asia's serial acquirer
1:00 From failed startup to Catcha Digital
8:20 How Catcha Digital operates a decentralized holding company
13:05 Why 99 out of 100 acquisition opportunities get rejected
15:25 Lessons from Sweden's best serial acquirers
24:00 Why B2B trade exhibitions are exceptional businesses
28:40 The software acquisition strategy inspired by Constellation Software
30:15 The buy-and-build playbook behind Catcha Digital's growth
39:00 Learning from Danaher, Roper, Constellation & other compounders
43:50 Why live events become more valuable in an AI world
47:00 Working with Patrick Grove & building an acquisition machine
51:00 Capital allocation, going public & balancing long-term thinking with quarterly results

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Frederik Brandis was one of the key minds behind Arsipa, a buy-and-build platform focused on acquiring occupational medicine and workplace safety consultancies. As one of the earliest investors and strategic partners, he helped scale the business through dozens of acquisitions before it achieved an exit to Warburg Pincus just three years after its founding.

Today, he is the Founder & General Partner of Aven Capital Partners, where he backs exceptional entrepreneurs before they even own a business—helping them acquire, integrate, and scale small companies into market-leading platforms.

In this conversation, we discuss what separates AAA entrepreneurs from everyone else, why emotional intelligence matters more than pedigree, how Frederik evaluates founders before they've built anything, why buy-and-build remains one of the most attractive opportunities in investing, and the biggest lessons from building one of Europe's most successful acquisition platforms.

We also explore:

• What makes an exceptional buy-and-build entrepreneur
• How to evaluate people before they've built a track record
• Why relationships outperform spreadsheets in acquisitions
• The biggest misconceptions about roll-ups and ETA
• When to sell—and why leaving value for the next owner matters
• The future of buy-and-build investing

Whether you're interested in private equity, entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA), search funds, capital allocation, or building businesses through acquisitions, I believe this episode is packed with practical insights.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The gap in private equity that led to Aven Capital Partners
06:04 What makes a true "AAA Entrepreneur"
09:00 How Frederik evaluates founders before they've built anything
13:34 Is now still the best time for buy-and-build?
16:43 The Arsipa story: from first investment to major exit
20:20 Why Frederik chose investing over becoming a searcher
27:00 Holding periods, exits & leaving upside for the next owner
32:50 Designing businesses that private equity actually wants to buy
37:16 How young entrepreneurs earn credibility without pedigree
43:25 Why many searchers and roll-up founders fail
46:06 Frederik vision for building Europe's operating system for buy-and-build

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Greg Geronemus is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Footbridge Partners, where he backs entrepreneurs pursuing search funds and other forms of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA).

Before becoming an investor, Greg lived the search fund journey himself. In 2013, Greg and his partner David acquired a tour operator generating roughly $5 million of EBITDA. Over the next four years, they grew EBITDA by approximately 50%, paid down most of the company's $20 million debt load, and ultimately exited the business at approximately 9x EBITDA—around four turns higher than their acquisition multiple.

In this episode, Greg and I explore how the search fund ecosystem has evolved from a tiny, relatively unknown corner of entrepreneurship into a rapidly growing asset class and career path.

We discuss why buying a great small business has become more competitive, the differences between traditional and self-funded search, and why owning a larger percentage of a smaller company doesn't necessarily create greater economic upside.

Timestamps:
0:00 Greg's acquisition story and introduction to ETA
1:03 How search funds have changed since 2010
6:40 Raising equity and debt when almost nobody understood search
10:40 Is buying businesses actually harder today?
17:30 The Harvard ETA course that changed the industry
24:42 The mindset required to survive a two-year search
27:16 Traditional search vs. self-funded search explained
35:33 The biggest misconception about ownership and wealth
40:22 Why committed capital vehicles are exploding
48:38 What Greg looks for when backing acquisition entrepreneurs
50:24 If you had $500k today—which path would you choose?
53:08 Greg's advice for future searchers

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Nathan Lindley is the CEO of Lindley Home Services, an HVAC platform that has completed 11 acquisitions across Texas.

But this story almost ended before it began...

After acquiring his first two companies with an SBA loan, Nathan watched revenue collapse, burned through his cash, nearly lost his father's retirement savings and came dangerously close to bankruptcy. The turning point was  a complete rethink of incentives, compensation, and how to build an acquisition platform that actually compounds.

In this conversation, Nathan shares the brutal reality behind his first acquisitions, the lessons that reshaped his operating philosophy, and why he now believes buying a business is really about buying opportunities—not revenue.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Nathan's 11 acquisitions and $16M run-rate HVAC platform
00:25 The acquisition timeline: from the first deal in 2020 to acquisition #11
01:24 From Christian book publishing to buying HVAC businesses
03:55 Selling real estate to fund the first acquisition
04:33 Buying a one-technician HVAC company—and the costly assumptions that followed
07:58 Losing 40% of revenue almost immediately after closing
10:26 Acquisition #2 makes every problem much bigger
11:20 Running out of cash—twice
14:18 The decision to put everyone on commission
15:15 Every employee quits on the same day
16:21 The Indeed hire who changed the entire business
18:59 The emotional toll: fear, alcohol, and nearly going bankrupt
23:13 One technician outperforms the rest of the company
25:52 Why Nathan waited a full year before doing acquisition #3
27:00 Acquisitions #3 and #4—and buying businesses the second time around
28:46 How his M&A due diligence completely changed
29:30 The "buying at-bats" framework for acquisitions
33:08 Why Lindley spends almost nothing on marketing
34:15 Turning acquired customer databases into new revenue
36:27 Hiring exceptional technicians and building repeatable systems
37:35 The company today: 50 employees across three markets
39:13 How Lindley integrates acquired businesses
42:38 Teaching acquired technicians to double their income
43:17 The acquisitions that didn't work—and why
46:47 Planning an exit and doing it all over again
49:04 Where to connect with Nathan

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Chris Rolls is the founder of PieLAB Capital, a holding company with nine portfolio companies built through 13 acquisitions.

After building and selling multiple businesses, Chris entered private equity to learn the investing side of the game. But he eventually became convinced that the traditional PE model forces investors to sell their best businesses too early. That realization led him to build a permanent capital holding company inspired by Berkshire Hathaway, Constellation Software, TransDigm and the Swedish serial acquirers.

In this conversation, Chris explains how PieLAB sources deals, why private markets offer advantages over public markets, how he evaluates recurring revenue businesses, lessons from growing Detector Inspector, and the three primary levers he uses to create value after an acquisition.

Timestamps:
0:00 From Entrepreneur to Investor
3:03 Trading Operational Help for Private Equity Experience
5:01 Why Chris Abandoned the Traditional PE Model
5:25 Discovering Constellation Software & Serial Acquirers
8:43 Why Private Markets Beat Public Markets
13:05 Building Australia's First Serial Acquirer
14:59 The Challenge of Permanent Capital & Investor Liquidity
16:24 How Detector Inspector Grew Into an Industry Leader
17:08 Why Chris Loves Compliance Businesses
20:41 The Three Levers of Value Creation
23:00 The Pricing Power Playbook
25:27 Using AI to Reduce Costs & Improve Operations
33:03 Why Every HoldCo Needs an AI Champion
41:07 Bolt-On Acquisitions vs Platform Acquisitions
43:38 Building a HoldCo for the Next 30 Years
46:06 Work-Life Balance, Curiosity & Long-Term Success

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, David Flickinger, founder of Vellm.ai, joins Mikk Markus to explain how his journey from Marine Corps officer to AI implementation shaped his perspective on technology, and how business owners, private equity professionals, search fund operators, and CEOs can move beyond using Claude and ChatGPT as a simple productivity tool and begin building AI infrastructure that creates real enterprise value.

Drawing on years of experience deploying AI solutions inside operating companies, David shares how AI agents can be connected directly into CRMs, ERPs, financial systems, proposal databases, and operating workflows to capture institutional knowledge, reduce key-man risk, improve decision-making, and dramatically increase productivity.

One of the most fascinating examples comes from a commercial roofing company where an AI system analyzed 47 building plans and produced a $6.5 million estimate in 23 minutes—nearly identical to the estimate produced by a senior estimator after two weeks of work.

We discuss:
0:00 Introduction: Why Most Business Owners Use AI Wrong
1:20 David Flickinger's Journey from Marine Officer to AI Operator
6:48 ChatGPT vs Real AI Infrastructure
0:24 The Roofing Company AI Case Study
6:17 How AI Learns Decades of Business Experience
20:39 Human Oversight, Trust & AI Decision-Making
25:30 What Happens to Junior Employees in an AI World?
28:07 How AI Doubled Revenue Without Hiring More Staff
32:17 AI, Key-Man Risk & Higher Business Valuations
39:02 The Biggest Risks of Implementing AI
45:05 The First AI Project Every Business Owner Should Start

David on X: https://x.com/DWFlickinger

David's firm - AI agents for the workflows that run your business: https://vellm.ai/

Brett Kelly is the founder and CEO of Kelly Partners Group. Since founding the firm in 2006, Brett has completed more than 90 acquisitions, compounded revenue at over 30% annually and built a business expected to generate roughly $50 million in EBITA in 2026.

Timestamps:
0:00 Brett Kelly's early years and losing his job at 22
3:57 Writing to 80 successful Australians while unemployed
9:13 The moment Brett decided to start his own firm
12:24 Launching Kelly Partners with a clear long-term vision
13:22 Inspired by Disney, McDonald's, Ritz-Carlton & Berkshire Hathaway
17:10 Choosing the right clients and creating a business system
18:36 The 204-step operating system behind Kelly Partners
19:01 The acquisition strategy: becoming #1 or #2 in local markets
24:05 Winning clients through a differentiated value proposition
28:27 Lessons learned from 95 acquisitions
29:06 Why the 51/49 ownership model works
31:39 What types of firms Kelly Partners acquires
32:59 Capital allocation and building a capital-efficient roll-up
34:30 Doubling profits after acquisitions: the biggest lever
35:18 AI, accounting, and the future of professional services
36:28 Permanent capital vs. traditional private equity
37:20 Brett's biggest challenge today: financing growth
37:53 Kelly Partners' 17-step hiring process
38:28 The future: building a global accounting platform
39:45 Focus, systems, and operating at world-class standards
41:17 Why passion and meaning matter in business
43:05 How accountants can genuinely improve people's lives
44:24 Final thoughts on leadership, culture, and making a difference
45:32 30% revenue CAGR, 35% book value growth & 90+ acquisitions

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Andrea Allegrini is one of the key operators behind one of Europe’s most fascinating small-cap acquisition stories.

Lindbergh is building what could become the country’s first national HVAC maintenance platform through a disciplined roll-up strategy focused on fragmented, family-owned businesses.

In this conversation, Andrea explains how Lindbergh evolved from a logistics operator into a serial acquirer, why Italy’s HVAC market is such an attractive hunting ground, how the company structures acquisitions, and why technician retention matters more than financial engineering.

Timestamps:
0:00 Lindbergh’s evolution from logistics to HVAC roll-up
2:51 Building a pan-European logistics platform
6:03 Why Lindbergh exited France and pivoted to HVAC
11:47 The massive opportunity in Italy’s fragmented HVAC market
13:17 Inside Lindbergh’s acquisition strategy and deal structures
18:29 Cross-selling, technician sharing, and operational synergies
20:05 How word-of-mouth became Lindbergh’s sourcing engine
23:22 Acquisition multiples, seller financing, and capital allocation
30:23 “More plumbers, less managers”
31:40 Retaining technicians and building an internal academy
35:24 How Lindbergh attracted long-term U.S. investors

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Ramsey Sahyoun shares how Evergreen grew from a Berkshire-inspired idea into a $1.5B revenue, $250M EBITDA HoldCo with 160 acquisitions.

We discuss proprietary sourcing, decentralization, talent, value creation, MSPs, and the lessons behind building one of America’s most interesting acquisition machines.

Timestamps:
0:00 Evergreen’s scale and long-term hold model
2:06 Discovering private equity and buying private companies
4:14 Meeting Jeff Totten at Alpine Investors
5:53 Evergreen’s first acquisition and current portfolio
8:14 How Berkshire Hathaway inspired Evergreen
10:23 Leaving Alpine and starting young
12:18 The first 6-18 months after closing
13:15 What went wrong with an early MSP roll-up
15:25 Why centralization hurt customer intimacy
18:44 Building Evergreen’s sourcing engine
22:27 Why Ramsey still talks to business owners himself
23:07 The value of having a large acquisition database
26:09 How to build trust with business owners
29:18 Why finding great deals is still the most important part of M&A
32:09 Higher valuations, higher rates, and value creation
34:02 Evergreen’s M&A, talent, and playbook flywheel
37:43 Why talent drives investing outcomes
39:17 Motivating founders vs. hired CEOs
41:54 Lessons from 160 acquisition post-mortems
44:22 Setting big goals and planning backward
47:16 Evergreen’s one-page plan and quarterly renewals
48:53 What Evergreen learned from Alpine and Graham Weaver
51:27 How Ramsey and Jeff’s roles changed as Evergreen scaled
54:21 What people misunderstand about Evergreen
55:07 How Ramsey’s view on managing people changed
56:48 Closing thoughts from Ramsey

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mark Sinatra has lived the full search fund journey: discovering ETA at Wharton, acquiring Staff One HR, surviving the 2008 crisis, scaling the business, selling to Oasis Outsourcing, and later helping build ETA Equity.

In this episode, Mark shares what he learned from nearly a decade as a search CEO, why talent unlocked the business, how he survived the hardest years, and what he now looks for after backing 80+ searchers and 35+ acquisitions.

Timestamps:
0:00 Mark Sinatra’s journey from searcher to ETA investor
1:21 Discovering search funds at Wharton
7:53 Raising a search fund and finding Staff One HR
13:17 How underwriting search deals has changed
18:34 Buying a business right before the financial crisis
21:14 When Mark finally felt like a real CEO
24:19 Hiring the right people and upgrading the team
31:38 Surviving the emotionally hardest years as CEO
37:30 Rebuilding Staff One and selling to Oasis
42:14 Starting ETA Equity
45:20 What Mark looks for in searchers today
51:20 Lessons from deals that did not go well
58:30 Jockey, horse, and barn: what really matters in ETA
1:01:50 How the search fund market has changed

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, Robert Irving of Buffalo Growth Partners shares what he learned from building a fire protection business from zero to $20M in revenue, selling it to private equity, rolling equity, and then helping execute a 137-company rollup.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why PE value creation is harder than it sounds
1:52 From fire protection operator to $20M in revenue
4:09 The three sales roles that drive B2B growth
6:25 Building hospitals, data centers, and complex fire systems
8:07 Selling the company and rolling equity into the platform
9:33 Going from one business to 12 offices and 800 people
11:21 The hidden pattern behind great acquisitions
13:53 Why integrations usually fail because of people
15:49 What 100+ acquisitions teach you that one or two never could
18:13 How to diligence small businesses without overcomplicating it
19:30 The danger of fast rollups and pure multiple arbitrage
23:39 Retaining owners and creating alignment after the deal
25:15 The real craft of off-market sourcing
31:00 Buffalo Growth Partners and the “guys in trucks” thesis
37:39 Reimagining private equity through operations
40:12 Small consistent improvements that compound into big results
42:06 Constraint-based growth and finding the real bottleneck
45:05 Meeting operators where they are with technology
48:51 Where to find Robert Irving and Buffalo Growth Partners

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Simon Plummer is the co-founder of Arbor Permanent Owners, a holding company built for long-term ownership.

In this episode, Simon drawing on his experience acquiring and operating three founder-led SMEs, he shares a practical playbook for the first year of ownership:
- how to settle a team,
- build trust,
- create momentum,
- improve sales,
- think about pricing,
- and know when to invest for growth.

We also discuss why investor alignment matters so much in small business, what makes founder-led companies different, and why simple strategy plus relentless execution usually beats sophistication.

Timestamps:
0:00 Simon on buying and building founder-led SMEs
1:19 Why Arbor chose 44 small-business-owner investors
3:32 Simon’s background: IPO journey, acquisitions, and operating experience
7:21 Small businesses are “loosely functioning disasters”
9:42 What Simon looks for before making an acquisition
13:21 What founder-led manufacturing businesses usually look like
15:25 Why the wrong investors can hurt a small business
19:11 The first 90 days: listen, communicate, and settle the business
22:42 Q2: deep dive into operations and build the sales platform
27:58 Q3: sell, review, improve - creating momentum with customers
31:48 What not to do: why “just implement AI” is bad post-acquisition advice
33:28 Q4: invest and scale once conviction is earned
35:27 Sales in small business: the hardest lever in value creation
47:29 Managing the board, reading recommendations, and final lessons on resilience

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Why networks are one of the most underrated advantages in the lower middle market, and how to build them.

We explore how trust, introductions, persistence, and long-term generosity can create better deal flow, stronger relationships, and a real competitive edge for buyers, builders, and investors.

This episode is heavily inspired by the wisdom of Alix Pasquet, a Managing Partner at Prime Macaya Capital Management.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Networks Matter More in a Crowded Lower Middle Market
1:09 Your Network as a Moat and an Alarm System
3:19 The Hidden Edge Behind Great Investors
6:00 The Private Whisper Network and Why Access Compounds
7:29 How Trust Scales Through Introductions
8:45 Building a Great Network Takes Years, Not Weeks
9:25 The Power of the Triad
10:25 The Buffett-Munger Introduction That Changed Everything
13:47 How to Build a Network Even If You Feel Unimportant
16:10 Shared Missions, Small Acts of Leverage, and Earning Attention
18:48 Persistence, Preparation, and Closing Thoughts on Playing the Long Game

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, I sit down with P.V. Ramanathan, or Ram, to unpack the story of how he helped lead a management buyout of a struggling cathodic protection business in 2003 and turned it into Corrosion Technology Services ( https://ctscp.com/ ). Himself local to Dubai, Ram's company, CTS, includes 10 companies operating across 8 countries and 3 regions.

The free cash flow generation gave Ram the ability to build Neeti Fund, a fund-of-funds built around a simple but highly selective strategy: backing a small group of high-quality long-only and long-short equity managers with aligned incentives, understandable philosophies, and meaningful personal capital invested alongside clients.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Ram calls his life “dull, boring, and unsexy”
5:09 Leaving India for Dubai with no passport
8:46 The accounting lessons that shaped his whole career
11:05 Learning the oilfield business from the rig floor
13:29 The turnaround opportunity that changed everything
16:07 Buying CTS through a leveraged management buyout
19:19 What Ram focused on after taking over the business
26:45 Why CTS refuses leverage and aggressive accounting
31:31 The case for a cash-heavy balance sheet
36:40 How Neeti Fund was born
43:16 Ram’s framework for picking elite fund managers
49:50 Red flags he’ll never ignore in an allocator
57:33 The story behind ValueX Middle East
1:08:52 Why money is an enabler, not the goal
1:11:05 Great allocators vs. average allocators

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Dan Lifshits, co-founder of Dwelly, explains how he is building an AI-enabled roll-up in the UK lettings market by acquiring independent agencies and modernizing them with software.

Dwelly has completed 9 acquisitions in just 24 months, combining a buy-and-build strategy with a technology-first operating model designed to improve service for landlords and tenants while making agency operations far more efficient.

In this episode, we go deep on why lettings is such an attractive category for consolidation, why organic growth is limited in this market, and why Dan believes acquisitions are the fastest way to build a modern property management platform.

We cover:

• Why lettings agencies are such attractive recurring-revenue businesses
• Why organic growth is structurally difficult in property management
• How Dwelly uses acquisitions to scale faster than traditional operators
• Why the business was hard for investors to categorize as either VC or private equity
• What actually changes after Dwelly acquires an agency
• How software and AI can improve visibility, communication, and efficiency
• What makes an ideal acquisition target in the lettings market
• Lessons from raising capital for a new kind of roll-up

Dan also shares the real story of Dwelly’s fundraising journey, including why so many investors passed at first and what it takes to keep going when the vision is unconventional.

If you are interested in roll-ups, vertical software, AI, private equity, or building a modern services business through acquisition, this episode is full of insight.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro: Dan Lifshits and Dwelly’s AI-enabled lettings rollup
1:34 The real fundraising story
2:02 Why the founders chose lettings after Uber and operational marketplace experience
5:06 Why acquisitions beat organic growth in property management
7:00 Why Dwelly was hard for investors to categorize as VC or private equity
10:01 How the founders evaluate industries and opportunities
11:45 Buying customers vs winning customers organically
16:26 Where rollups fail and why AI rollups are even harder
18:40 What actually happens after an acquisition and how integration works
25:34 Dwelly’s ideal acquisition target: size, recurring lettings revenue, and succession
32:18 Dan’s advice for founders struggling to raise capital

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, we break down IDUN Industrier, a Swedish serial acquirer that has completed 20 acquisitions to date and now trades at roughly a 65x P/E multiple — an extraordinary valuation for an industrial holding company.

What makes IDUN so interesting is that it is not simply buying businesses for scale. It is building a portfolio of niche leaders: small, often overlooked companies with high market share, strong customer dependence, and positions that are difficult to replicate.

We explore how IDUN creates value through disciplined acquisitions, decentralized operations, co-ownership, and long-term capital allocation — and why investors may be willing to pay such a premium for that model.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why IDUN Industrier deserves attention
1:19 The power of dominating tiny niche markets
3:13 Why the market gives IDUN a premium valuation
4:32 Buy relevance, not scale
5:54 Meet the niche leaders inside IDUN’s portfolio
7:44 How IDUN actually creates value
9:42 Why portfolio design matters
10:40 M&A discipline over deal volume
12:20 Why IDUN resembles the best serial acquirers
13:44 Lessons for investors, buyers, and operators
15:32 The biggest risks in the model
17:45 Final takeaway: a blueprint for durable compounding

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

#IDUNIndustrier #SerialAcquirer #HoldCo #PrivateEquity #CapitalAllocation #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #LongTermInvesting #BusinessAcquisition #MandA #Compounders

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks with Lacey Wismer of Hunter Search Capital ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceywismer/ ) about her journey from a family business background into investing in more than 100 search funds, backing operators, and building a platform around long-term business ownership.

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction: Lacey Wismer on permanent capital and long-term holds
0:30 Entrepreneurial upbringing: luck, simplicity, cash flow, and leverage
2:54 What changes when you buy to own for 30 years
5:26 Studying enduring businesses instead of trends
6:49 The anatomy of a 100x deal
8:40 Diamond Brands and the power of adjacent acquisitions
10:59 From family business buying to search fund investing
11:58 How ETA changed from 2010 to 2026
14:58 Why the entrepreneur matters more than the business
18:03 What Lacey looks for in founders
19:50 Unconsolidated niches and the “right to win”
23:21 Biggest mistakes: wrong partners, overpaying, overleverage
27:40 The upside and downside of permanent holds
30:37 Capital allocation without a planned exit
33:20 Raising permanent capital with patient investors
35:29 Finding operators for indefinite-hold businesses
39:12 What frugality looks like inside a company
42:01 U.S. vs Europe: fragmentation and entry multiples
45:13 How Hunter Search Capital wins without overpaying
51:33 Women in ETA and relationship-driven investing

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Why serial acquirers remain one of the most powerful business models in the world.

The best of them have acquired as many as 275 companies and traded at valuations as high as 65x earnings, yet most people still misunderstand what makes them so successful.

I explore why the best acquirers often start slow, how they solve the reinvestment problem, why balance sheet strength and specialization matter, and what investors look for when studying these businesses.

I also share why Evergreen Services Group may be building one of the most interesting HoldCo stories in America today.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Stockholm is the mecca of serial acquirers
2:37 The big ideas from 36 serial acquirers
3:36 Why slower can actually win early in serial acquisition
7:52 How great serial acquirers solve the reinvestment problem
13:02 The 7,500x return story
16:59 What actually drives compounding
20:01 How to truly study operators and companies
22:35 Why strong balance sheets and niche specialization matter in tough markets
25:50 Evergreen Services Group

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks with Eric Wiklendt of Speyside Equity ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericwiklendt/ ) about Eric's journey and how Speyside has built a highly operational lower-middle-market private equity firm with $937 million of assets under management, 38 total investments, 20 platform investments, operations across 19 countries, and portfolio companies generating approximately $2 billion in revenue.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Eric loves messy manufacturing deals
1:40 From Detroit operator to private equity investor
4:58 Building Speyside: Fund I, the continuation vehicle, and Fund II
7:35 How PE firms decide fund size and portfolio construction
10:24 Why Elliott backed Speyside's continuation vehicle
12:43 What LPs want now, and why PE is going through a reckoning
15:46 Operational value creation vs. financial engineering
20:03 Why sellers choose Speyside for complex situations
24:09 The red lines: positive EBITDA, size limits, and avoiding bad S-curves
33:34 The “fix and build” playbook
59:29 Independent sponsors, fund models, and the future of dealmaking

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks with Kaido Veske of Livonia Partners ( https://www.livoniapartners.com/ ) about Kaido’s journey from working at a mid-cap private equity firm in the US to returning to Europe, raising a fund that now manages nearly $200 million, and completing 16 acquisitions to date.

0:00 Why start a fund
2:56 Wharton and early US exposure
3:39 US finance years and coming back to Europe
6:03 Livonia today: focus and deal size
7:06 Minority and majority deals
7:23 Fundraising as a first-time GP
8:25 Early deals: structuring and fund size limits
10:08 Fund 1 vs Fund 2 evolution
13:38 Sourcing engine and “kill list”
16:00 Small market, big opportunity
20:32 Post-acquisition playbook and cadence
25:55 Thermory case: build, buy, exit
35:43 Mistakes: leverage and market calls
38:28 Fund size ceiling in the Baltics
46:54 Team lessons and alignment

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus (⁠ https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠ ) talks to Travis Jamison of CapitalPad ( https://capitalpad.com/ ) about building a deal-by-deal investing platform that’s already powered 10 acquisitions, with some deals projected to have an IRR of 25% or more.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:36 Why CapitalPad exists
3:08 Platform walkthrough
5:22 Lessons from the first 10 deals
7:16 What a typical deal looks like
9:10 Vetting sponsors/searchers
12:44 Investor improvement and portfolio construction
17:32 What top sponsors do differently

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Vic Keller of Experience Ventures ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickeller/ ) about building 17 companies over two decades with 9 exits, having businesses acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, and his operator-first approach to building durable, people-driven companies - including a vertically integrated car wash platform spanning manufacturing, chemistry, and service/maintenance.

0:00 Deal-by-Deal vs Fund Life
3:48 Operator Mindset in the Lower Middle Market
8:10 Buffett Lessons + Durability
18:36 Car Wash Playbook
23:46 HoldCo Structure
27:50 Recruiting A-Players
32:17 Co-Invest Partners
36:22 Bigger Deals: What Changes
39:28 Debt vs Equity
42:06 Founders: Recap vs Sell to PE
48:04 ETA/Search Funds: Post-Close Risk
55:10 People and Investing in Yourself

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Operators, independent sponsors, searchers, and lower middle market investors: this episode is about building repeatable deal flow in the $2-15M EBITDA range by making opportunities, talent, and capital come to you.

You’ll learn “relationship compounding” through two lenses: Larry Gagosian - the billionaire art dealer who engineers environments where influential people want to be (all in service of one goal: selling more art) - and TheRealEstateG6 ( https://x.com/TheRealEstateG6 ) on X, whose “yacht” framework shows how to stop restarting from zero and build platforms, venues, and proof that create real gravity.

Show notes:
0:00 Build “inbound” deal flow in the $2-15M EBITDA range
2:58 Why most relationships don’t compound (and how to fix it)
6:44 The first upgrade: become a “regular” and let familiarity stack
10:22 Gagosian’s flywheel: one gatekeeper unlocks the next layer
13:05 Build your “market map” (CRM mindset) before it pays you
16:09 “Create your own yacht”
19:28 Deal flow as a two-sided platform: owners + capital allocators
25:07 Modern yachts: Shark Tank, media, and flipping who chases who
31:59 The 5-question test for a real yacht
38:11 The whole thesis: manufacture situations where people come to you

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Millen Rastogi of UniversaCare ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/millenrastogi/ ) about leaving his analyst role at Deutsche Bank to build a healthcare roll-up and acquire five companies.

Show notes:
0:00 Millen Rastogi
1:05 From Deutsche Bank to home care
4:30 Walking into a mess
13:26 Funding the early years
19:54 Growth numbers + COVID hit
23:02 Margins and revenue
25:50 Building the platform to buy
27:17 First acquisition
30:56 Seller financing playbook
36:35 The “silver tsunami” sellers
41:50 Second acquisition
51:48 70% seller-financed deal example
1:09:09 Learning M&A with AI + X

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Reza Jafer of Second Bite Capital ( https://x.com/rezajafer ) about how he left private equity to acquire three companies in three months.

Show notes:
0:00 Independent sponsor jump
3:38 Origin story
8:04 First acquisition
10:15 The motor coach platform
14:36 Deal #1 terms
18:46 Early wins
26:22 Fundraising lesson
29:44 Deal #2 raise in chaos
35:17 Platform strategy
40:41 Endgame

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

The lower middle market runs on trust and relationship building.

In this episode, we explore Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co., the quiet Charlotte-based advisory firm that shaped how lower middle market M&A gets done. Before private equity was institutionalized asset class, BHC figured out how to turn founder-led businesses into transactions lenders could underwrite and capital could trust.

This is a story about credibility over capital, why bad packaging can kill deals, and how preparation - not promotion - closes deals in the lower middle market.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why great investing ecosystems can be traced back to a few hidden origins
1:10 How a small Charlotte firm became a training ground for middle-market M&A
3:27 What Erskine Bowles saw at Morgan Stanley in the 1960s
6:35 How BHC turned founder chaos into lender confidence
10:12 Why BHC became the default choice for family-owned businesses
14:22 The true job of a great lower-middle-market advisor
15:21 Cash flow as downside protection
19:17 How BHC helped fuel middle-market efficiency
21:08 Where BHC alumni show up today
22:07 Attention to detail, low ego, and a partnership mindset

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Luis Reyes of Iberian Ventures ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/luiz/ ) about how he has completed over 30 acquisitions in 4 years and is building a fire safety rollup in Europe.

Snow notes:
0:00 From rural Mexico to more than 30 acquisitions
4:00 Buy-and-build thesis
6:45 Funding the first deals
11:55 The 100-day integration playbook
19:00 Using AI to scale operations and service quality
32:05 Deal sourcing at scale without spam
37:05 Managing risk, customer concentration, and diligence
44:35 Takeaways for other buyers
53:00 Hold vs sell and capital discipline

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Christa Glassburn about how she joined a search fund, acquired seven companies and scaled revenue from $15 million to $200 million.

Snow notes:
0:00 Christa’s $15M to $200M scaling story
2:30 FBI operator lessons
3:37 Jump to a search fund and move to rural Virginia
11:51 First acquisition and integration learning curve
17:28 Culture reset and global expansion via acquisitions
20:05 Post acquisition playbook
23:08 7 total acquisitions and off market sourcing
30:25 Transition to launching Harbor Capital
39:36 How to find invisible small town deals

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

This episode breaks down how Jeremy Giffon ( https://x.com/jeremygiffon ) thinks about special situations, forced sellers, and overlooked businesses, showing why the best investments come from understanding incentives, human behavior, and coordination problems rather than complex models or market timing.

Show notes:
0:00 Special situations in the lower middle market
6:18 The perfect business is getting paid for your words and gaining access
9:44 Coordination problems and forced sellers create the best deals
11:44 Ghost ship companies and orphaned assets that VCs misunderstand
15:28 Patience and selectivity outperform constant deal activity
18:42 Negotiation and the 25 million LOI with a Ferrari 488
21:19 Six unconventional truths about making better business decisions

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Jeremy Yamaguchi ( https://x.com/jeremyyamaguchi ) about how he acquired 10 companies in 18 months.

Show notes:
0:00 How Jeremy built and exited 3 home services businesses
5:48 Why “boring” home services were a massive tech opportunity
8:11 Why he chose venture for Lawn Love + the YC story
12:41 Why home services are still wildly fragmented and why most founders misunderstand the space
13:59 Sponsor: CapitalPad (backing searchers + proprietary deal access)
17:36 Game selection
27:23 Cabana thesis: national pool brand via M&A + ops + vertical software
28:45 Sponsor: SpaceBar Studios (35,000 newsletter subs in 90 days guarantee)
34:48 10 deals in 18 months, 4x YoY growth
59:45 Only buy from good-faith sellers

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

This one hire is something all profitable, cash-flowing traditional businesses can do. Yes, it can be a significant investment -- great specialists aren’t cheap -- but in the right setup, it can completely change the trajectory of a company.

I share two real-world examples of owner-operated, non-glamorous businesses that hired a Chief Investment Officer to professionally manage excess cash. In both cases, capital allocation quietly became the dominant profit engine, generating the majority of group earnings while the core operations remained stable and conservative.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 The hidden problem of excess cash in profitable businesses
1:55 When reinvestment, M&A, and dividends all stop making sense
2:00 Hiring a Chief Investment Officer
3:10 Case study: a fruit importer that turned cash into its main profit engine
4:40 Case study: a family manufacturer where capital allocation drove 80% of profits
6:45 Why capital allocation becomes the real growth engine over time

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, Todd Saunders shares how one small group of customers with much better retention changed the direction of his entire business. Instead of chasing trends or going broader, he went deep into a simple, overlooked niche -- independent flooring retailers -- and ended up building the core software used across the industry.

Todd explains why brand and community mattered more than features, how Facebook groups and events became his main growth drivers, and how that approach helped him roll up 8 niche software companies, grow past $30M in revenue, and exit for $100M+.

Show notes:
0:00 From Google to flooring software
5:19 The retention data that changed everything
7:44 The bold pivot (and why revenue collapsed first)
8:37 8 acquisitions lead to a platform build
13:35 Sponsor: CapitalPad
15:40 51% brand, 49% product (the real moat)
18:58 The Facebook group engine
25:05 FloorCon: turning community into a movement
28:12 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
31:09 The “great idea” that nearly blew up the business
40:07 Buying niche software: relationships vs outreach
44:03 Integration: the stuff nobody tells you
57:47 His founder filter: “I know in 5 minutes”
59:22 Hospitality vs service (the lesson that explains everything)

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

We go deep on Justin Ishbia, co-founder and Managing Partner of Shore Capital Partners - one of the most successful lower-middle-market private equity firms in the U.S.

After inviting Justin on the podcast and being asked to reconnect in early 2026, I used the time to study Shore’s work more closely. This episode is the result: a synthesis of Justin’s long-form interviews, public commentary, and Shore’s operating history, focused on the systems behind their results.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Why to study Justin Ishbia
1:30 Buy small, professionalize, roll up, sell the platform
2:20 The numbers: Shore’s reported track record (platforms, exits, and why the median matters)
3:15 “I’m not smart, I just know who to copy”
4:30 How “luck” is earned through repetition
6:55 Reserving most capital for add-ons to create multiple paths to 3x - 8x outcomes
8:43 Sponsor CapitalPad: backing acquisition entrepreneurs buying real, unsexy businesses
9:47 Why “the system is the star”

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Steve Lawrence, the founder of Uncomplicated Group went from middle management at a $14B manufacturer to buying five businesses in a few short years -- now running two injection-molding factories, employing 45 people, and shipping 200M parts a year.

But this episode isn’t about the highlight reel. It’s about the real path: quitting his job for a deal that collapsed at the finish line, burning cash on diligence, watching funding evaporate, and learning what “the seller isn’t emotionally ready” actually means -- when the mortgage clock is ticking.

We dig into how Steve rebuilt his deal process from scratch, how he sold himself with zero acquisition track record, the red flags he now screens for, and the operating system (EOS) that changed everything post-close.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 From corporate manager to 5 acquisitions in manufacturing
1:06 The moment Steve knew he was done with corporate life
2:54 The “measured exit” that turned into months of uncertainty
4:59 The first deal: tiny business, bad structure, and a lucky failure
5:42 The seller starts ghosting -- and the deal unravels
7:01 Losing the deal, burning cash, and rebuilding his entire approach
8:57 Why most people shouldn’t pursue acquisitions (the “strong why” test)
9:55 Sponsor: CapitalPad -- backing real operators in overlooked markets
11:06 How to tell if a seller is actually ready to sell
14:02 The exact outreach message that landed his first acquisition
19:04 Structuring and closing the first deal + brutal first 90 days
20:57 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios — building newsletters for HoldCos & investors
23:18 Implementing EOS: turning chaos into an operating system
39:45 80/20 thinking in manufacturing: cutting noise, expanding margins

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

For the last 20 years, private equity followed a simple formula: buy with leverage, cut costs, rely on multiple expansion, exit at a higher valuation.

That playbook worked incredibly well.

But it no longer does.

In this episode, I break down why the old private equity model is structurally broken - not just cyclically - and why a new model is emerging. A model where cheap debt doesn’t save you, multiple expansion can’t be assumed, and real value creation matters more than spreadsheets.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Why the old private equity playbook is dead and why buy at 8x sell at 12x no longer works
02:05 What the old PE model was and why it worked for 20 years
06:25 Why the old playbook is failing structurally as rates rise and leverage weakens
09:18 The shift from capital deployment to capability deployment
11:00 How the industrial builder mindset creates real alpha today
14:10 Why specialization beats being a generalist buyer
18:30 How founders should diligence buyers in the new model
22:15 The opportunity for HoldCo builders and small buyers in the lower middle market

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, I’m joined by John Seiffer - the person investors, company buyers and operators call when growth starts getting expensive, messy, or fragile. John has spent decades across manufacturing, software, restaurants, chemicals, and professional services, and he sees the same pattern over and over: founders are great at the product and the sale… but the company can’t scale until the structure scales.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Deals are great, but the money is made in operations
02:15 The real business model: CAC, LTV, gross margin
07:06 What a “healthy company” looks like + why founders get stuck on structure
10:10 Sponsor: CapitalPad (back the next generation of business buyers)
11:09 The expectation gap: hiring for outputs + breaking sales into subdivisions
15:48 Scaling myth: reinvesting blindly (why ROIC and attribution matter)
20:22 “Exit without selling”: free your time, keep ownership benefits, serve your life
24:34 Sponsor: SpaceBar Studios ($0 newsletter build, limited spots)
33:13 Delegation done right: specify the output + schedule follow-ups (no surprises)
42:33 John’s 1-week playbook: “systems inventory” + 2 questions that reveal misalignment

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

The future of private equity talent is moving toward ownership.

We explore why the traditional PE career path is breaking, why carry no longer delivers the upside it once promised, and why more professionals are choosing to build - not wait - for real equity.

You will discover:
0:00 The Quiet Exodus Inside Private Equity
1:45 Carry That Never Materializes
2:56 “I Didn’t Join PE to Be an Operator”
3:38 No Real Path to Ownership
5:27 Where PE Talent Is Going Next

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, we break down a powerful idea from Jeffrey Walker, a private equity veteran who backed thousands of entrepreneurs and watched success and failure up close. His conclusion is uncomfortable but freeing: the people who win don’t follow a path, they create one.

You’ll hear why talent is overrated, why “perfect careers” quietly fail, how one pathless founder built a $200M company, and a practical framework for building a career or business that actually compounds over decades.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 The dangerous myth of “the path”
1:04 Jeffrey Walker’s core insight: there is no path
3:05 Talent is common, intentionality is rare
4:12 The banker assembly line trap
5:53 The perfect resume that led nowhere
7:01 The pathless entrepreneur who built a $200M company
8:34 Sponsor CapitalPad - Curated deal flow. Aligned sponsors. Simplified investing.
9:44 How building your own path changes everything
12:13 A practical framework for creating your own path
14:16 The real takeaway: paths only make sense in hindsight

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Today’s guest, David Dowda (Dowda Holdings), went from burned-out insurance salesman working 80-100 hour weeks to buying his first business doing just $30,000 a year - fully seller-financed.

Ten years later, he owns nine companies across multiple industries - all acquired with zero outside equity and often minimal cash down.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 How he bought a $30k revenue business with zero cash down
3:00 Rolling up a beach town with chairs, linens, golf carts and a coffee shop
8:03 Buying a construction company 6 hours away with no experience
10:31 Sponsor: CapitalPad - investing alongside small business buyers
11:58 Flipping the construction business for a 300% return in 18 months
17:19 Scaling a moving company
22:15 Sponsor: SpaceBar Studios - b2b newsletter
35:04 Creative M&A structures with 100% seller finance, bank debt and earnouts
42:57 Building teams, promoting from within and making businesses “transition ready”
52:05 Why he believes multiples will compress on Main Street
1:02:13 Managing personal guarantees, stress and four kids under five
1:06:20 Next chapter raising capital to buy $5-20M companies

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

How these serial acquirers generate 20-40% annual returns for decades?

They buy small, niche, profitable companies again and again.

In this episode, we break down the strategy, the structure, and what private buyers can learn from the greatest acquisition machines on earth.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Why tiny acquisitions beat big deals
1:12 21x, 120x, 375x: Lifco, Addtech, Constellation & Heico’s insane returns
2:07 The simple playbook: buying small boring companies again and again
3:56 Engine #1 - Organic growth in the “unsexy” corners of the economy
6:50 Engine #2 - Programmatic M&A: what these serial acquirers actually buy
13:07 Sponsor: CapitalPad - deal-by-deal private equity access for accredited investors
14:27 Owning 100+ companies: resilience, diversification & the 7-7-7 structure
16:00 What private buyers & HoldCo builders can apply immediately (7 acquisition principles)
19:35 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios - get your B2B newsletter built for $0 upfront
21:02 Don’t chase synergies: culture, dominant niches & promoting leaders from within
23:07 You’re playing the same game as Lifco & Constellation (long-term compounding mindset)

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, Cyrus Hessabi from Shore Capital Partners breaks down what it really looks like to build AI-enabled services, transition from VC to micro-cap private equity, and back searchers buying “boring” but powerful businesses.

Cyrus has lived every chapter of the operator-investor journey: aerospace engineering, Salesforce sales, venture capital, architecting AI rollups at OpenOcean, and now backing searchers at Shore Capital Partners.

We dive into how AI is transforming traditional service industries, where real opportunities (and risks) lie, how to evaluate founders, and why the best investing often happens in industries that don’t change.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Cyrus’s operator & investor journey
2:02 Spotting the tech gap in the traditional economy
3:43 Data infrastructure, MySQL roots & AI rollups at OpenOcean
5:15 Bridging VC, AI and micro-cap PE
7:35 Sponsor: Capitalpad - invest alongside vetted searchers
8:37 What AI-enabled services really are (with simple examples)
12:21 Inside OpenOcean’s AI-enabled services thesis & deal work
16:00 Joining Shore Capital & backing searchers and roll-ups
17:08 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios - done-for-you newsletters
18:14 How Cyrus evaluates AI risk and upside in real deals
31:01 Moving from VC to ETA/PE and key mindset shifts
45:46 Investing in what doesn’t change, AI as a tailwind & favorite book

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Most people in ETA quote the Stanford Search Fund Study, but almost no one looks at what investors actually earn. In this episode, we break down new Yale data from 1,192 investor-level outcomes and shows why access, not modeling, is the #1 driver of 10x MOIC, 30%+ IRR results.

You’ll learn why your portfolio will never be “the index”, how a tiny % of deals drive almost all returns, and what elite investors do differently to consistently catch those outliers. If you’re a searcher, investor, fund, or holdco, this is the episode that will change how you think about ETA returns forever.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Access as the #1 driver of outperformance & episode roadmap
0:40 Dinner scene: Stanford-slide searcher vs seasoned LP reality
2:15 Power laws, Magnificent Seven & how a few winners drive all returns
3:40 Yale study: 1,192 investor observations vs the Stanford search fund myth
5:35 Segment 1: The Illusion of the Stanford Index & why no one matches it
7:45 Segment 2: The Batting Cage Problem & why access determines investor outcomes
9:26 Segment 3: The Two-Stage Bet, broken searches, missing winners & 10x outcomes
14:13 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios - guaranteed 10,000 newsletter subscribers in 90 days
15:20 Elite ETA investor tier, access hierarchy & why “spray and pray” fails
17:51 Real odds for searchers, importance of elite access & final “respect the griffins” takeaway

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

#ETA #SearchFunds #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #SelfFundedSearch #TraditionalSearch #SearchFundInvestor #SearchAcquisition #BusinessAcquisition

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Sequoya Borgman has quietly built one of the most interesting retail-funded private equity machines in America. Since launching Borgman Capital in 2017, he’s acquired 20 companies across 8 platforms and raised deal-by-deal from 500+ individual investors instead of institutions.

In this episode, we break down how he sources mostly off-market deals in second-tier cities, structures conservative, over-capitalized balance sheets, manages messy founder transitions, and keeps hundreds of retail LPs aligned while staying oversubscribed on almost every deal.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Biggest risk in PE founder transitions and bad leadership fit
0:44 Why the “retail private equity” model
4:37 Working with PE as a CPA and deciding to start Borgman Capital in 2017
6:10 How uncertainty really hits lower middle-market companies
8:04 Biggest early mistakes: Hiring the wrong leaders and underestimating founders
11:35 Responsibility to employees, banks and LPs
13:10 Sponsor: CapitalPad - Backing business buyers and accessing proprietary small-business deals
14:12 First acquisition story
16:24 Why Borgman chose hundreds of retail LPs instead of a fund
20:45 Oversubscribed deals, memos, webinars and passthehat.com
29:09 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
30:23 State of private equity today: Fewer deals closing, lower leverage and patient sellers
32:34 Why Borgman fishes in second-tier cities
36:17 Deal flow: 1,500 deals a year, 2-minute financial test and what they actually buy
40:49 Adding 500k-1M of extra equity to protect against surprises
54:44 Risks of raising from regular investors
58:59 When to sell

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Akshay Ramachandran is a retired family office investor. In his last role, Akshay was the sole analyst at a New York-based single family office, reporting directly to the portfolio manager. Together they analyzed over 60 industries using a simple strategy: buy and hold great businesses run by great management teams. In this episode, he explains his biggest winner and covers the whole story.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:43 Defining retirement: cost of living vs net worth
3:04 Immigrant upbringing & discovering value investing
4:40 From NYU to Wall Street & joining a family office
7:58 Learning to analyze businesses & six key questions
10:33 Carvana deep dive: customer experience, lending & unit economics
17:03 Filtering noise, short reports & thinking in 10-year terms
22:21 Studying great long-term hedge funds & idea sourcing via 13F filings
25:17 Sponsor: Capitalpad - a marketplace for small business deals
26:19 What really matters: returns, time horizon & simple return math
36:16 When to sell: being wrong, better opportunities & thesis playing out
43:21 Leaving Wall Street for Buddhism & moving back to India
48:41 Enlightenment, meditation & inner transformation
55:21 Blending investing with spirituality, Substack & what’s next

Sponsored by CapitalPad:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

Discuss investment ideas with Akshay: https://substack.com/@realreturns

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

There’s a holding company that almost no one talks about, yet it might be one of the most efficient compounding engines.

RÖKO owns 29 niche, traditional businesses, runs 21% margins, generates 14.5% returns on capital and keeps acquiring new companies every quarter. And they do all of this with a headquarters team of just eight people.

In this episode, I break down the full story behind RÖKO and its 63-year-old founder Fredrik Karlsson, the former CEO of Lifco - one of Sweden’s legendary serial acquirers. After two decades mastering the art of permanent capital, Karlsson left to build his own vehicle. Six years later, RÖKO is worth billions.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 The hidden $2B holding company with 29 businesses
0:34 Who is Fredrik Karlsson? (Ex-Lifco CEO turned founder)
1:40 Röko’s launch: $20-25M founder capital + $200M raised
2:15 Portfolio breakdown: 29 companies across B2B and B2C
3:00 Q3 2025 results: 21% margins, 14.5% ROCE
4:46 How Röko scaled faster than any European serial acquirer
5:41 Why Röko only buys high-margin (15%+) asset-light companies
6:22 Sector-agnostic strategy and disciplined capital allocation
7:07 Risks Karlsson fears most: recession and bad managers
8:29 Röko HQ model: one Excel sheet, zero micromanagement

Sponsored by CapitalPad:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.