Today’s conversation is with Ryan Sullivan, Managing Director and Co-Founder at North Park Group (https://northparkgroup.com/), a Chicago-based private investment firm focused on acquiring and operating US-based manufacturing and distribution businesses for the very long-term.

Ryan was a multi-chapter manufacturing operator and CEO and North Park Group reflects this operator DNA. He shares his experience and investment perspectives on the resilience and adaptability of US-based manufacturing, how he and his team get comfortable taking an extremely long-term view of U.S. manufacturing, his unconventional approach to personal guarantees and leverage, LP liquidity, and the importance of taking care of every employee.

The key topics we cover in this 60-minute conversation include:

• Manufacturing in America in 2040 — A 15+ Year View

• What Separates Winners and Losers in the U.S. Manufacturing Space

• The North Park Model: De-Risking Transactions and Taking the Conservative Approach

• The Labor Spectrum and Why Every Employee Counts

• The Emotional Impact of M&A: Why an Anti-Climatic Transition is the Best Transition

Today’s conversation is with Tom Barber, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at SBJ Capital (https://www.sbjcap.com), a California-based private equity firm investing into the consumer and business services verticals.

In this episode, Tom dives into how he and his team continue to build SBJ Capital, paying special attention to some of the firm’s most unconventional beliefs and organizational design decisions. Tom is remarkably and refreshingly an “open book” about how he and SBJ have gone about building and differentiating their firm.

In this 50-minute conversation, we cover the following topics:

• What it Took to “Win” in the 2000s vs. What it Takes Today
• The Evolution of Teams & Talent in Private Equity
• How to Avoid Unintended Consequences with the Operating Partner Model
• SBJ Capital’s “Sourcing Partner” Program
• Investing in the “Boring” Supply Chain That Power Consumer Brands

And then we go into two case studies and some advice for young professionals

• The Perfect Purée: A Case Study in Substantial Growth via GTM and Sales Channels
• Troy Lee Designs: Tripling EBITDA in a Hyper-Niche Consumer Market
• How the Perfect Private Equity Resume is Changing for Young Professionals

Masters in Small Business M&A (sign up for podcast drops here) is produced by its host Peter Lehrman and the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially explore growth capital and exit transactions with top-ranked lower middle market M&A advisors and professional capital partners. In every episode, we explore the dynamic world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, acquirers, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.

If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where we make available the Axial member directories, downloadable tools for dealmakers, the Axial quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, the SMB M&A pipeline report, and other useful information. If you’re a business owner, professional acquirer, or M&A advisor, you can start using Axial for free at Axial.com.

Subscribe to Masters in Small Business M&A

Resources:

Peter Lehrman on LinkedIn

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Today’s guest is Marshall Lockton. Marshall spent 15 years in sales, sales strategy and sales training roles within his family’s storied private insurance brokerage business (Lockton) before leaving to acquire his first business. In October 2023, he acquired Knight Agency, a specialized consultancy that helps organizations unlock performance by uniquely connecting a company’s purpose, story, values, people and products.

Marshall’s journey as an acquirer is just beginning, but his prior career building sales and sales training programs inside one of the most successful private insurance brokerage companies gives him a mid-career operator’s advantage over many newly minted MBAs pursuing EtA.

Marshall discusses his experiences in the family business, the personal considerations he had to weigh by joining the business, the value of establishing purpose before investing, and the lessons learned at Lockton around culture, autonomy, and nailing sales incentives.

The conversation concludes with Marshall getting into the details of the Knight Agency acquisition, highlighting the strategic importance of long-term vision, building relationships, and shared focus on people and purpose-driven work.

Discussion Points:

• Marshall’s decision to join the family-owned insurance brokerage
• Family business dynamics, honest feedback, growth, and community
• Establishing your personal core and opus ~ identity, values, principles, and vision
• Marshall's purpose-driven approach in starting Meraki Investments
• How Private Equity misses the opportunity to unlock purpose after the acquisition
• Impact of connecting culture, purpose and employees to create business success

Masters in Small Business M&A (sign up for podcast drops here) is produced by the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially discover, research and connect with top-ranked M&A advisors and professional capital partners. In every episode, we explore the dynamic world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, acquirers, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.

If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where we make available the Axial member directories, downloadable tools for dealmakers, the Axial quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, the SMB M&A pipeline report, and other useful information. If you’re a business owner, professional acquirer, or M&A advisor, you can start using Axial for free at Axial.com.

Resources:

Today’s guest is Rafael "Rafa" Quinn, co-founder and President of Alternative Holdings, a diversified holding company with subsidiaries in food services, retail, industrial sales, and business process outsourcing.

Rafa’s origin story has already been covered in other podcasts, so we instead begin in 2011 with his first deal, an industrial sales distribution company in Panama. Rafa shares how that first deal helped shape his long-term philosophy on evaluating companies, including the two recent water business acquisitions.

We then proceed to cover topics such as the horizontal Holdco model, advantages of vertical integration, and playing to your strengths as an investor. We close out the conversation with Rafa emphasizing how his strong partnership with his business partner has been critical in both overcoming obstacles and sustaining his ongoing passion and dedication to a career as an investor.

Discussion points:

• Rafael’s first deal and establishing HQ in Panama
• Adapting to market changes in energy sources
• Inventory consignment vs distribution model
• Horizontal holding companies vs. vertical integration
• Warren Buffett’s approach to post-acquisition incentive alignment
• The practical application of zero-cost budgeting
• Adding value without being needed in the day-to-day
• Rafael’s philosophy on long-term growth strategies and investment
• Intangible qualities of good business brokers
• Benefits of finding the right business partner

Masters in Small Business M&A (Subscribe to Masters in Small Business M&A) is produced by the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially discover, research and connect with top-ranked M&A advisors and professional capital partners. In every episode, we explore the dynamic world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, acquirers, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.

If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where we make available the Axial member directories, downloadable tools for dealmakers, the Axial quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, the SMB M&A pipeline report, and other useful information. If you’re a busine

Today’s guest is Matt Plooster, founder and CEO of Bridgepoint, a boutique investment bank based in Omaha, Nebraska. We start the conversation with a background on private credit and its origins. From there we proceed to cover its growth, its arrival in the lower middle market, and how business owners can think about its features, risks, utility and applicability. We close out the conversation by getting into specific lower middle market transactions where private credit has been central to the outcome.

Discussion points:

• The rise of private credit in the private market
• How non-bank financing has evolved post-2008 crisis
• Mezzanine vs. unitranche debt
• Comparing private credit to traditional bank lending
• Non-control transaction success with private capital

In this episode, we interview Bob Falahee, the recently exited founder of SunPro Motorized Awnings & Screens.

Bob’s entrepreneurial origin story starts in Michigan, where he was a sales leader for a semi-truck trailer manufacturer. Bob and his family left behind the cold winters of Michigan for Florida, where he founded SunPro with $36,000 in seed capital. He went on to expand SunPro from a local retractable awning business to a wholesale manufacturing leader in the category.

The conversation reviews SunPro's founding story, its strategic growth and his daughters' pivotal involvement on the finance and retail sides of the business. We also dive into the mind of the founder on the exit process. When did Bob start thinking about exiting? What drove his timing and thinking? How did he start learning about what goes into a successful exit? Bob recounts the impact of cultural fit in selecting an investment banker and walk through how he thought about strategic succession planning and M&A preparation.

Discussion points:

• Bob’s first exit from a successful Michigan semi-trailer business
• Family relocation to Florida and the search for a small business
• Turning a partnership with a local awning business into a new company

In this episode, Glenn Oken, Managing Director at Mangrove Equity Partners, sits down with host Peter Lehrman to discuss the evolution of Small Business M&A, from the late ‘80s to present day.

The conversation starts with Glenn’s entry into the M&A scene, and the challenges and opportunities of closing transactions before the internet. Glenn shares his insights on the major changes in deal sourcing methods over his career, valuation drift, and the growth of sell-side M&A advisory in the lower middle market. The conversation wraps up with a deep dive into the operating partner model, how early Mangrove was in institutionalizing this model, and how significantly it has influenced the firm’s culture and way of partnering with business owners.

Additional Discussion Points:

• The birth of Florida Capital Partners
• Closing deals in the 90s
• Evolution of private equity investing
• The impact of internal operating partners
• The power of add-on acquisitions
• Integration strategies and dual branding
• Leveraging reputation in competitive transactions
• Sourcing strategies
• Complexities and opportunities in deals
• Advice for young professionals exploring private equity

This podcast is produced by the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially research and connect with top-ranked M&A advisors and capital partners via a trusted online platform. In every episode, we seek to explore the vast world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, investors, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.

If you enjoy the podcast, give us a review on Apple or Spotify. If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where there are dozens of recorded Axial member roundtables, downloadable tools for dealmakers, quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, and other useful information. If you’re a business owner, professional acquirer, or M&A advisor, you can start using Axial for free at Axial.com.

Resources:

Glenn Oken LinkedIn

Peter Lehrman LinkedIn

Axial X

Axial Website

Today’s guest is Clint Fiore, a small business operator turned M&A broker and the President of Bison Business, a Texas-based business brokerage transacting in both Main Street deals and the lower middle market.

Clint lays out his four different archetypes of business brokers, what makes them tick, and how private equity investors and SMB acquirers can best modify their approaches to successfully close deals with any of them.

Discussion points:

• Why Clint decided to starting his own business brokerage
• The 80/20 rule of brokers
• LOI language tweaks that will resonate with owners and business brokers
• Building relationships to get an angle on a broker’s deals
• How to handle real estate brokers moonlighting as M&A brokers
• The future of M&A brokerage
• Ensuring trust, reliability, and cost-effectiveness in deals

This podcast is produced by the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially research and connect with top-ranked M&A advisors and capital partners via a trusted online platform. I am your host, Peter Lehrman, founder and CEO of Axial. In every episode, we explore the vast world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, investors, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.

If you enjoy the podcast, give us a review on Apple or Spotify. If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where there are dozens of recorded Axial member roundtables, downloadable tools for dealmakers, quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, and other useful information. If you’re a business owner, professional acquirer, or M&A advisor, you can start using Axial for free at Axial.com.

Resources:

Clint Fiore LinkedIn

Clint Fiore X

Peter Lehrman LinkedIn

Peter Lehrman X

Axial Website