Buyers and Builders

What makes a family office choose to back an independent sponsor, and how can that first investment become a partnership that lasts for decades?

I sit down with James Bohannon, a Principal at Belzberg & Co., a New York City-based multifamily office and merchant bank.

We explore how family offices choose whom to back, what makes flexible capital valuable, and why talent and incentives are central to investment decisions. James explains what he looks for in independent sponsors, how to build relationships with family offices, and why investors on both sides of a deal need to...

What does it really take to build a successful private equity firm from scratch, and what can 30 years and more than 150 transactions teach you about investing?

I sit down with James Andersen, co-founder of Clearview Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm managing approximately $2 billion in assets, to unpack the journey of building the firm since 1999. James shares how Clearview navigated difficult early investments, turned one healthcare investment into a 29x return and developed an investment philosophy built around backing exceptional people.

We also explore why the golden era of private equity may be...

At 27, he had $0 in assets under management. By 32, he had raised $180 million. Today, Marc Stad's Dragoneer Investment Group manages over $40 billion.

How did he do it?

From getting rejected by TPG to being mentored by its legendary co-founder, David Bonderman, pitching Jeff Bezos in a bathroom, turning a $1 million investment into $4 million, and assembling a multibillion-dollar Uber deal with Warren Buffett, Marc Stad's story is a masterclass in ambition, persistence, relationships, and creative dealmaking.

In this episode of Buyers and Builders, we break down the extraordinary career of Dragoneer's founder, the principles behind...

What does it take to acquire companies, build a serial acquisition platform, and never sell?

My guest today is Giuseppe Balzano, founder of Novaterra, an Italian permanent capital holding company acquiring niche industrial businesses with defensible technology and intellectual property.

At just 30, Giuseppe has secured $25 million in equity commitments, pursued two acquisitions, and set out to build an industrial group that could endure for generations.

We discuss why Italy's overlooked industrial champions present an extraordinary opportunity, how to find businesses with near-monopoly positions, the realities of raising permanent capital, and why patience may...

What does it actually take to build a world-class roll-up?

After spending a day at the RollUpEurope Serial Acquirers Summit with some of Europe’s most active serial acquirers, we break down the operating playbooks behind groups that have completed hundreds of acquisitions—and the lessons that matter whether you’re pursuing acquisition #1 or #50.

This episode covers how great acquirers choose markets, build proprietary deal flow, win sellers without simply paying the highest price, keep founders engaged after closing, integrate without destroying what made a business special, and eventually turn a collection of companies into an ins...

My guests today are Deiya and Dean Pernas, founders of Pernas Research, who have compounded capital at roughly 30% annually over the past nine years.

We explore their private equity-like approach to public markets: understanding businesses from the inside out, judging management teams and capital allocation, and finding inflection points before they show up in the financials.

We also discuss their “motor” investing framework, why trajectory matters more than absolute quality, lessons from poker and bankroll management, and how they think about position sizing, averaging down, and knowing when a thesis is broken.

TIMESTAMPS
...

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 Wa...

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...

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: bu...

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 cr...

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, an...

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...

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 en...

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 ho...

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 o...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 St...

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<...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 inve...

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 ac...

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...

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 co...

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...

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

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...

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:

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
...

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

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...

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

Th...

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

This podcast is for...

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...