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April 18, 2024
Recognizing Detroit's Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
We celebrated the accomplishments of the 2024 class of winners April 18 at the Detroit Smart Business Dealmakers Conference. Together, they provide a strong picture of the Detroit business community....
By SBN Staff
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 14, 2024
Announcing Dallas' Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
Here are the Dallas Dealmaker of the Year Award honorees and Hall of Famers we're recognizing this year! ...
By SBN Staff
March 7, 2024
Announcing St. Louis' Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
We're celebrating the accomplishments of the 2024 class of winners March 14 at the St. Louis Smart Business Dealmakers Conference. Together, they provide a strong picture of the St. Louis business community....
By SBN Staff
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 21, 2024
Announcing Pittsburgh's Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
Here are the Pittsburgh Dealmaker of the Year Award honorees and Hall of Famers we're recognizing this year!...
By SBN Staff
February 15, 2024
Announcing Nashville's Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year Awards and Hall of Fame recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in Nashville....
By SBN Staff
February 9, 2024
Raising Capital And Competing With Unicorns
Hungry Planet CEO Todd Boyman talks about launching Hungry Planet and why it raised modest capital compared to its unicorn competitors....
By Michael Marzec
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 19, 2024
Cavs CEO Nic Barlage On Creating A Winning Culture
Nic Barlage, CEO of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group, discusses talent acquisition and development, building a winning culture, and the importance of leadership on the Smart Business Dealmakers Podcast....
By Michael Marzec
January 18, 2024
Hafeezah Muhammad On People and Analytics In Deals
Hafeezah Muhammad's company Backpack Healthcare recently acquired two companies. At the 2023 Chicago Smart Business Dealmakers Conference, she talked about how the business has supercharged its...
By Adam Burroughs
January 18, 2024
How Acquisitions Help Babson Farms Diversify Revenue
Taylor Kirkpatrick is generation four of Babson Farms, a family enterprise that started originally with dairy equipment manufacturing — the largest in the world, he says — until they sold the business...
By Adam Burroughs
January 18, 2024
Capital Considerations To Maximize Flexibility
When capital was really plentiful, CFO Ron Oertell says for his company, Purchasing Power, the focus was on making sure they had many options. "We established separate SPVs, we established staggered...
By Adam Burroughs
January 18, 2024
Sally Hughes On Letting Go
Sally Hughes founded Caster Connection in 1987 when she started selling chair casters out of the trunk of her car. Over 36 years, she built the business up to include some 3,000 different products,...
By Adam Burroughs
January 12, 2024
Why Health Care Startups Fail
Jumpstart Capital founder and managing partner Vic Gatto has been investing in early-stage health care businesses for nearly a decade. His organization — Jumpstart Foundry, Jumpstart Health Investors...
By Adam Burroughs
January 12, 2024
Financial Issues To Consider When Doing International Acquisitions
Gentherm closed two deals in July of 2022. One was a German multinational that added to the company's automotive space. The other was a domestic acquisition in China for its medical business. The deal...
By Adam Burroughs
January 5, 2024
Exploring Capital Options In A Challenging Market
Working within the commercial real estate space, Spencer Pisczak, president and founding Member of Premier Development Partners, says the current climate is in many ways a challenge. "The big problem...
By Adam Burroughs
January 5, 2024
Even With Experience, Selling A Family Business Can Be A Challenge
Recently, Jeff Gershman, Chairman of the Board, of Gershman Mortgage & Gershman Investment Corp., sold Gershman Commercial Real Estate, a brokerage and property management company. Through his law...
By Adam Burroughs
January 5, 2024
AgroFresh Solutions' Clinton Lewis, Jr. On Taking The Public Company Private
AgroFresh Solutions Inc. was spunoff into a stand-alone public company, listed on NASDAQ, after Dow Chemical acquired Rohm and Haas, of which it had originally been a part. Clinton A. Lewis, Jr....
By Adam Burroughs
December 7, 2023
Building a Bridge of Opportunity from Corner to Corner
Compelled by Jesus’ invitation to ‘love our neighbors as we love ourselves,’ Corner to Corner was founded by Will and Tiffany Acuff in 2011. The young couple wanted to create a relationship-centered...
By Dan Pender
November 17, 2023
For SCLogic, Time Is Ticking For An Exit
Mike Saldi, founder and CEO of SCLogic, feels he's running out of time. And that in part why his company began running a process. "At 60 years old, I've got to figure out what's next," Saldi said at...
By Adam Burroughs
November 3, 2023
Ven Raju On Investor Opportunities In Pittsburgh
After years of investing in early-stage companies in the SaaS, robotics, Internet of Things, health and fin tech spaces, Ven Raju has taken his talents from New York to Pittsburgh where he now heads...
By Adam Burroughs
November 3, 2023
Putting Your Superpower To Work Post Exit
It's always a good time to start thinking about life after the sale of a business, says North Coast Ventures Managing Director Todd Federman. That, he says, can help business owners avoid being one of...
By Adam Burroughs
November 3, 2023
Greater Diligence Means Greater Deal Prep
In the market today, there's been a change in availability of debt and the cost of that debt, says Mereo Capital Partners Managing Partner John O'Hare. There's also an issue of meeting seller...
By Adam Burroughs
October 27, 2023
Deeper Diligence Puts More Onus On Sellers
Macroeconomic factors are driving due diligence that is much deeper, taking longer and is more important to deal making, says Mark Kessler, a partner at Palmares Capital Partners. Looking across the...
By Adam Burroughs
October 27, 2023
Announcing Minneapolis' Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2023 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year Awards recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in Minneapolis. In addition, The Minneapolis...
By Dan Pender
October 27, 2023
The Search For Clean Deals
No deal is perfect, but Dan Weingartz, CEO of W&P Management, says that it's just gotten to where there needs to be cleanliness across everything — the financials, the strategy, the leadership and...
By Adam Burroughs
October 20, 2023
Cleveland Deal Activity: Rise In Bankruptcies Drive Distressed M&A Activity
Throughout 2023, the U.S. M&A landscape has been significantly shaped by a notable rise in distressed M&A transactions. According to bankruptcy filings from the U.S. Courts, the number of Chapter 11...
By Mike Kostandaras
October 20, 2023
Charlotte M&A Honorees Announced!
The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year Awards recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in Charlotte. The 2023 class of winners — who will...
By Dan Pender
October 20, 2023
Buying What's Not In The Numbers
Randy Overton says in health care M&A in recent years, he's seen all kinds of books. "All of the sudden, everybody is the most valuable company in the world," says Overton, CFO of FastPace Health....
By Adam Burroughs
October 20, 2023
Steve Ball On Growing Zesty Paws Ahead Of Its $610M Sale
Steve Ball, the former CEO and board member of Zesty Paws, helped lead the pet supplements company to extraordinary growth that eventually led to its sale to Health & Happiness (H&H) Group...
By Adam Burroughs
October 13, 2023
In This Market, Creative Dealmakers Thrive
Slow M&A deal flow in 2022 has trickled into 2023 as more people are standing on the sidelines concerned about rising interest rates and the perpetual threat of a recession. Though deal flow as picked...
By Adam Burroughs
October 13, 2023
Midwest Values Bouy Businesses When Fundamentals Are The Focus
The Chicago Smart Business Dealmakers Conference kicked off with insights and strategies for navigating the post-exit landscape, as well as the speakers' perspective on what's been a tricky M&A...
By Adam Burroughs
October 6, 2023
Interest Rates Effect Strategy, But Multiples Remain Insulated
Interest rates have an impact on a variety of factors — not just in M&A, but in business in general. That's causing businesses to develop strategies to minimize the impact of those rising rates to...
By Adam Burroughs
September 29, 2023
Chicago M&A Honorees Named
The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year awards recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in Greater Chicago. The 2023 class of winners —...
By Dan Pender
September 29, 2023
Optimism For Better M&A Times Is On The Horizon
Headlines of articles covering the M&A market over the past couple of months and years have painted a challenging picture, says UBS Market Executive, Philadelphia & DC Market Julie Fox. However, they...
By Adam Burroughs
September 29, 2023
The 15-Year Process Of Selling CollabraSpace
CollabraSpace Co-Founder Ray Schwemmer says he would get cold calls all the time from people looking to buy his software company. "We basically just ignored them," he said at the Baltimore Smart...
By Adam Burroughs
September 22, 2023
Increasing investment in Central Ohio
On the heels of the Intel announcement that created much buzz in Central Ohio, Chris Michael a partner at Ice Miller LLP, led the kickoff panel at the Columbus Smart Business Dealmakers Conference...
By Adam Burroughs
September 22, 2023
How Not Listening To Advice Benefitted SkySpecs
SkySpecs CEO Danny Ellis has raised a few rounds of funding — six in total — and has learned several lessons from the experience. "A lot of mistakes in the early days," Ellis says. "We probably over...
By Adam Burroughs
September 8, 2023
Cleveland Deal Activity: Navigating M&A deal structures in a tightened debt market
As interest rates and borrowing costs move in parallel, buyers are faced with the challenge of navigating increasing costs of debt to finance acquisitions, especially in deals where the seller has...
By Andrew J. Chalhoub
September 8, 2023
Philadelphia's 2023 Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners: Trailblazers in Business and Innovation
The 2023 Smart Business Network Philadelphia Dealmaker Awards have recognized exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in the City of Brotherly Love. These...
By Dan Pender
August 25, 2023
Deals Can Be Like A Marriage, But Also Like A Divorce
Christy Brown has had multiple entrepreneurial journeys. For each, there are three common factors that ultimately led to the sale of each. "One was typically I was looking for a strategic partner for...
By Adam Burroughs
August 25, 2023
People On A Deal P&L
As Detroit Manufacturing Systems sets out to make acquisitions, people are top of mind, says then CFO, now EVP of Sales, Purchasing and Strategy Scott Cieslak. "One of the first things we had to do...
By Adam Burroughs
July 21, 2023
Luke Haverhals' Company Is Working To Solve The World's Biggest Problem
Luke Haverhals, founder and CEO of Natural Fiber Welding, says he's an accidental entrepreneur. As the former chemistry professor at the United States Naval Academy tells it, he was fortunate to be in...
By Adam Burroughs
July 14, 2023
Robert H. Schottenstein On How He Diligences Land, Company Acquisitions
M/I Homes, Inc. started in Columbus in 1976, and today is one of the largest home builders in the U.S. Chairman and CEO Robert H. Schottenstein's dad was one of the co-founders of a business that...
By Adam Burroughs
July 14, 2023
View Deal Risk Within The Larger Context
John “Ozzie” Nelson Jr., Chairman and CEO of NELSON Worldwide, has led the award-winning design, architecture, branding, and consulting services organization's hypergrowth from one-office to more than...
By Adam Burroughs
July 7, 2023
John Cerasuolo On Making The Leap To A New Industry Focus
John Cerasuolo leads incredibly acquisitive companies. At ADS Security, he led the business through 45 acquisitions in a direct-to-owner model that relied on relationships and an internal team to...
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 29, 2023
Prepare At The Beginning For The Best End
Harold Green launched Chamberlain Contractors, an asphalt paving company, back in 1975, and sold it to Pavement Partners, a portfolio company of Shoreline Equity Partners, in January 2022. While he...
By Adam Burroughs
June 9, 2023
Superstar CEO Roundtable Kicks Off Cleveland Conference
Kicking off the 2023 Cleveland Smart Business Dealmakers Conference were several of the region’s top executives talking with moderator Jeff Bechtel, President - Cleveland Region, First National Bank,...
By Adam Burroughs
