Smart Business Dealmakers: The Middle-Market M&A Podcast

412 Venture Fund has only been around a few years, but its founders and managing partners bring decades of experience to investing in early-stage ventures that have a Pittsburgh connection. In this episode, Managing Partner Ilana Diamond talks about the fund, its first exit, the advantage of launching during the pandemic and some of the lessons she passes on based on her years of management, advisory, chair and investor experience.

Liturgical Publications is in its 50th year as a faith-based print advertising company. About 10 years ago, LPi leadership decided to dip their toes into software as a service and created a closed social network for churches to promote events. Somewhere early in the process, a customer asked if a donation mechanism could be added to their closed network. From there, the We Share We Gather arms of LPi took off, eventually processing nearly a third of a billion dollars a year and later selling to Ministry Brands in a high, eight-figure deal. CEO Joe Luedtke talks about the many long nights it took to get the deal to the finish line.

Mykolas Rambus is a serial entrepreneur who founded and sold two previous companies, including Wealth-X, where he served as CEO until its 2016 sale for more than $20 million. Last year, he raised early-stage rounds of capital to build out Hush, a company that offers cybersecurity services. Though the capital raise process went well, Mykolas talks about how better pitch materials would have made for a smoother raise.

Despite market turbulence and some handwringing over uncertainty, the deal year looks as if it will be just as strong as it was in 2021. Dave Dunstan, managing director of Citizens M&A Advisory Group, talks about what he's seeing in the market, based in part on feedback from the bank's Middle Market M&A Outlook, a survey of 400 leaders at U.S. middle market companies and private equity firms.

KeraLink International CEO Ngu Morcho has more than 20 years of experience in early-stage technology development working in Africa and across India and Southeast Asia. Today, Morcho's mission is to end corneal blindness globally as the head of operations at KeraLink. To fund this mission, KeraLink uses a blended finance model — a combination of grants, concessional equity and debt that is used together to develop a sustainable business model.

Co-Pilot is an online coaching platform designed to provide a one-on-one fitness coaching experience that pairs individuals with a dedicated coach. The company raised nearly $6 million in January, which followed a more-than $4 million raise back in 2021. Co-founder and CEO Matt Spettel talks about the company's growth, fundraising, and expanding the team.

Supply chain issues are a real problem for buyers. Jonathan Hatch, president of Little Mountain Industries, says diligence now has to be much more thorough, which means the indepdendent sponsor group has become pickier with its targets. Hatch talks about buying manufacturing companies at a time when labor shortages and supply chain hang ups change the M&A math.

Compass Group Equity Partners goes into every investment with a 100-day plan. They're ready and prepared to move quickly, which they did when they purchased Sunpro Solar in 2020. Compass Group's playbook includes augmenting the team and building a board deck with metrics and key performance indicators and having a written strategic plan. John Huhn, founder and managing partner of Compass Group, talks about how that plan enabled the independent sponsor to buy and sell Sunpro at a several time multiple in less than a year.

Early on in his career, Stu Clark downplayed concepts like culture and team when it came to strategic acquisitions, opting instead for a finance- and execution-driven mindset. But he's since changed his mind. Today, the CEO of Premise Health says culture is key, so much so that he'd rather spend more on a company with a great team than get a bargain on a company that has a poor culture. In this episode, Clark talks about this change in thinking, and why strong teams are critical to a Premise Health acquisition.

There are a number of important steps that happen between the time a seller is ready to take their company to market and when buyer diligence starts. One of the tools used in the negotiation process at that stage is a letter of intent. Signet Enterprises Chairman and CEO Anthony Manna breaks down this early stage of the deal and what choices sellers need to make as they take their company to market.