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April 10, 2024

Start With The End In Mind

Volato's Phil Michaels on the importance of starting with the end in mind....

By Adam Burroughs

April 4, 2024

How to Maximize PE Value Creation by Better Assessing Growth Potential in Due Diligence

Chief Outsiders Managing Partner, Private Equity, Slade Kobran outlines and approach to value creation that starts in due diligence....

By Slade Kobran

March 21, 2024

CCA Global Partners Howard Brodsky On The Outsized Impact Of Delivering The Unexpected

CCA Global Partners Howard Brodsky on the common traits of the some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and the outsized impact delivering the unexpected can yield for a business....

By SBN Staff

March 7, 2024

AI Trends for the Progressive CEO: Navigating the Transformative Landscape

Chief Outsiders' Ed Valdez and Angus Robertson rank the eight most important factors in the AI scene to pay attention to right now....

By Ed Valdez and Angus Robertson

February 29, 2024

Announcing Boston's Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!

Here are the Boston Dealmaker of the Year Award honorees and Hall of Famers we're recognizing this year! ...

By Adam Burroughs

February 2, 2024

Why CEOs at Midsize Firms Must Embrace Tech to Compete

Committing to gradual modernization now is infinitely better than a panicked scramble for reinvention when the markets force your hand....

By Mark Kirschner

January 26, 2024

Failure Is OK — And Other Lessons From Rob Hale

Rob Hale became a billionaire and lost it all by the age of 35. But he rebounded from that failure to co-found Granite Telecommunications, which made him a billionaire again and made it possible for him to become a co-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics. He shares 3 lessons he learned along the way....

By Michael Marzec

January 18, 2024

Tune Your PE Growth Engine With These 4 Principles

Chief Outsiders columnist Jack Bowen outlines how to optimize portfolio-company performance and maximize growth opportunities....

By Jack Bowen

January 5, 2024

Navigating The Journey From Diligence To Exit In Private Equity

Chief Outsiders' Slade Kobran shares some key considerations from PE operating partners that ought to be taken from diligence to exit, and the go-to-market strategies they’ve used to foster success....

By Slade Kobran

September 1, 2023

Wellist Founder Ashley Reid On The Importance Of Perspective

Wellist Founder and CEO Ashley Reid discusses growing into the company's national presence, what outside board seats have taught her about running her own business and the evolution of the company's fundraising....

By Adam Burroughs

August 18, 2023

Shaun Stimpson On Buying A Business And Becoming An Operator

Shaun Stimpson left a nearly 20-year career in wealth management to launch North Iron Holdings. The purpose of North Iron was to be a vehicle to acquire an industrial distribution company. After an...

By Adam Burroughs

July 7, 2023

How Three Long-Time Competitors Merged

Massachusetts-based technology advisory firms ROI Communications, Blue Front Technology Group and allConnex joined forces in late 2022 under one banner as Amplix. The three agencies — long-time, mutually respectful competitors — agreed to a merger backed by Gemspring Capital ManagemenT. The deal has worked for all three, and now a fourth major player, NET7, has joined the team. ...

By Dan Pender

June 9, 2023

Ray Pineault On Expanding The Brand

From a property in Connecticut that quickly became one of the world’s largest casinos, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment has grown exponentially through a combination of organic and inorganic...

By Adam Burroughs

April 26, 2023

The 180° Turn of M&A Conditions

Gavin Slader, head of the investment bank for JMP, a Citizens company, offers his state of M&A — an overview of the conditions dealmakers are facing and predictions for how the 2023 deal year finishes up....

By Adam Burroughs

April 14, 2023

The Deal Environment In Turbulent Times

Accel International Holdings' Tony Oh, Boston Celtics Co-Owner Rob Hale, and Citizens' David Dunstan and Jerry Sargent on what CEOs are saying about today’s climate for dealmaking and their experiences on the front lines....

By Adam Burroughs

March 16, 2023

FOLX Health Looks to Expand

CEO Liana Douillet Guzmán on raising capital in frothy times versus during a return-to-normal environment. ...

By Dan Pender

March 3, 2023

The Consequences Of A Shifting Market

Co-Founder and CEO of Sensorium Therapeutics Dick Simon on the company's mission and its search for the right investors. ...

By Adam Burroughs

February 3, 2023

Optimism For A Return To Normal Pervades In M&A For 2023

Dave Dunstan spoke on the Smart Business Dealmakers Podcast about the survey results and the expectation among buyers and sellers for the 2023 deal year. ...

By Adam Burroughs

January 20, 2023

Jared Paquette Examines His Firm With The Eyes Of An Investor

After 20 years working in private equity, Jared Paquette recently struck out on his own, launching Conanicut Capital, a PE firm focused on the lower middle-market. "I went to a great lower-middle-market firm for about 10 years. And what I found in going to the lower middle market is you get much closer to the founders and the owners of businesses," he says. "Some of the best deals that I've been a part of are ones in which you're really working as the first institutional pool of capital." ...

By Adam Burroughs

January 6, 2023

Trust But Verify Is An Important M&A Lesson To Learn

Eliassen Group CEO David MacKeen on what he's learned as a buyer and how he's applied that the company's acquisition process moving forward. ...

By Adam Burroughs

December 9, 2022

Chris Whelan On Selling Health Express Urgent Care

Health Express Urgent Care Owner Chris Whelan on selling his business to South Shore Health System....

By Adam Burroughs

November 11, 2022

WJ Connell's John Stephenson On What He's Leaving Behind

WJ Connell's John Stephenson on what he learned from his first job, how mentorship has impacted his career, his regrets and his motivations....

By Adam Burroughs

October 28, 2022

Economic Conditions Drive Buyer Creativity

Ouroboros Group General Partner Samantha Ory on buyer-seller alignment, her firm’s growth from independent sponsor into its first fund, and how the current economic conditions are affecting the M&A landscape. ...

By Adam Burroughs

October 14, 2022

Adjusting to a disrupted market

Heritage Holding's Alex de Pfyffer and IMB Partners' Tarrus Richardson on about buyers' and sellers' reaction to the changing M&A market....

By Adam Burroughs

September 30, 2022

Reprice? Or walk away?

Gray, Gray & Gray LLP's Derrick Rebello and McCarthy Capital's Bob Emmert, on the sell-side issues that give them pause in diligence. ...

By Adam Burroughs

September 15, 2022

Value Creation In The M&A Lifecycle

Congruity 360's Mark Shirman, ARK Behavioral Health’s Peter McLoughlin and Twelve Points Wealth Management’s David Clayman on value creation in the M&A lifecycle....

By Adam Burroughs

September 2, 2022

Build value through the team

Gray, Gray & Gray's Bryan Pearce on strategic business planning and building value in your organization....

By Adam Burroughs

August 19, 2022

Jonathan Kasen, Gordon Scott on buying Hilliards Chocolates

As investors, Gordon Scott and Jonathan Kasen were comfortable analyzing businesses. But to prepare to acquire a company, they went to textbooks....

By Adam Burroughs

August 5, 2022

Lessons learned selling the same company twice

What John Blyzinskyj learned from selling Elemica twice....

By Adam Burroughs

July 29, 2022

Seeing a deal as more than money

Ouroboros Group's Samantha Ory, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP Boston's Brian Moore, Dr. Dental's Alex Faigel, Mirus Capital Advisors' Brendan Kiernan and Cambridge Savings Bank's Stephen Leonard on financing business in the lower middle market....

By Adam Burroughs

July 22, 2022

When Three Little Pigs Went To Market

Village Gourmet's David Kemp and Gemini Investors' James Goodman on buying Three Little Pigs, growing it into Village Gourmet and taking that company to market....

By Adam Burroughs

July 14, 2022

Making Deals with Unprepared Participants

Charlie Saponaro, CEO, Medical Record Associates, is a long-standing veteran of the Boston M&A world, with more than 30 deals to his credit. In several of those transactions, Saponaro had to make it happen even though the sellers were not quite as sophisticated in the common practices of the M&A world. ...

By Dan Pender

July 6, 2022

BioDot's quick (and unexpected) second deal

BioDot's Tony Lemmo on the company's two significant deals in the last two years, including a leveraged buyout through Artemis Capital Partners back in 2020....

By Adam Burroughs

June 29, 2022

Navigating Deal Complexities

Mad River Associates' Andy Horne, Eliassen Group's David MacKeen, WJ Connell's John Stephenson and CMBG3 Law's John Gardella on how to effectively prepare yourself and your company to get deals done....

By Adam Burroughs

June 22, 2022

Build a good business and investors will find you

HYCU's Simon Taylor, Mintz's Kurt Steinkrauss, Health Express Urgent Care's Chris Whelan and First Republic Investment Management's Julie Rousseau on what you need to know about the personal and corporate side of readying your company for whatever tomorrow brings....

By Adam Burroughs

June 16, 2022

How Paperless Parts Overcame Early Stumbles To Find Success

Paperless Parts recently raised $30 million of Series B venture funding led by OpenView Venture Capital. Jason Ray, co-founder and CEO of Paperless says he had some entrepreneurial stumbles along his path to building Paperless into what it's become today. ...

By Adam Burroughs

June 10, 2022

Franklin Foster on Essex Bay Capital's Launch

Essex Bay Capital Co-founder Franklin Foster talks about launching Essex Bay Capital and the investments the company has made so far. ...

By Adam Burroughs

June 2, 2022

Seller Considerations Beyond Price

Capital Partners' Olly Forrer, HUB International's Marc Mingolelli, Goulston & Storrs' John Cushing, Stellex Capital Management's Irina Krasik and Copley Equity's Sean Sullivan on what truly differentiates winning buy-side transactions beyond the price....

By Adam Burroughs

May 26, 2022

How the middle-market M&A scene might play out for 2022

Based on analyst reports and Citizens Annual Middle Market M&A Outlook, 2022 is expected to be another high-paced deal year, says David Dunstan managing director in Citizens M&A Advisory Group....

By Adam Burroughs

May 19, 2022

Fundraising isn't an event. It's a process.

Kytopen CEO and co-founder Paulo Garcia talks about his company, it's progress and how he balances fundraising with advancing the business....

By Adam Burroughs

May 11, 2022

Determining the future of a family business

Robison Energy's Daniel Singer, along with Arent Fox's David Barbash, Hubbard-Hall's Molly Kellogg, R. Klein Consulting's Ruben Klein, and BankProv's Brent Mathews on determining the future of a family business....

By Adam Burroughs

May 6, 2022

Tips on buying distressed assets

General Management Group's Emmett McNulty on what to keep in mind when buying distressed companies....

By Adam Burroughs

April 28, 2022

How NOBULL builds a community of fans and attracts growth capital

NOBULL Co-Founder and CEO Marcus Wilson on the myriad lessons learned on his — and the company’s — whirlwind journey, including what investors bring to the table beyond funding and why building an engaged community of loyal customers has been the real key to success....

By Adam Burroughs

March 23, 2022

What entrepreneurs can learn from investor feedback patterns

WeSpire Founder and CEO Susan Hunt Stevens talks about her company and experience raising capital....

By Adam Burroughs

February 18, 2022

Prepare as if a sale could happen at any time

Environmental Partners' Paul Gabriel, Goodwin Procter LLP's Josh Zachariah, McCarthy Capital's Bob Emmert, and Gray, Gray & Gray's Derrick Rebello and James DeLeo on getting your business ready to sell, knowing the key areas that impact valuation, and putting your personal exit strategy into motion....

By Adam Burroughs

January 21, 2022

Expectations for M&A in 2022

Citizens' Jerry Sargent and Dave Dunstan, along with Safe Harbor Marinas' Baxter Underwood and Locus Robotics' Bruce Welty explore how executives are faring in the ongoing war for talent, the impact of current supply chain issues on dealmaking, and whether the frenzied M&A market will stay hot....

By Adam Burroughs