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

Tranice Watts co-founded Lifting Lucy when she was in her early twenties, working in an industry not known for much diversity. The idea came to Watts — the first Black woman to co-own and operate a craft brewery in the state of Maryland — when she was on a subcommittee of the Craft Brewers Conference. Lifting Lucy has since grown into a national organization that supports under-represented communities within the brewing industry by helping finance opportunities for exposure and inclusion.

Silas Deane founded VendEngine, a financial tech software solution for inmates and their families, when he realized there were serious issues with correctional facilities in regard to money transfers. He discusses the founding of the company, how COVID-19 played a critical role in the firm's path, and how he ended up selling the business to Tyler Technologies.

Selling a closely held business is a unique and taxing challenge. When an owner's eyes are focused too intensely on how much they'll get and how to keep it away from the IRS, there's a lot they can miss. Jon Eesley, who has been a part of many M&A transactions both as an accountant and as a financial adviser, talks about the personal toll a process can take, how to emotionally prepare for an event, and where to get objective advice.

Guy Friedman is Co-Founder, President and CEO of SteadyMD, a B2B telehealth infrastructure provider that enables telehealth patient experiences in all 50 states. He spoke on the Dealmakers Podcast about how he built SteadyMD as a direct-to-consumer offering, but quickly realized it's value to other businesses.

Years back, Sanjay Singh lead a company through a challenging integration after acquiring an industry competitor. Those first 100 days were critical to the deal's success. Sanjay, now Chairman and CEO of Mace Security International, talks about the deal, and how he walked the companies through the post-deal work, in what could be called a tense environment, to move the needle, and how his integration process has evolved since.

IRA record keeping and technology solutions provider IRALOGIX raised an $11 million expansion of its Series B in 2021 and $22 million Series C funding in 2022. In this episode, Founding Partner Joe Hipsky talks about those raises and some things he might do differently looking back.

Halo Investing's vision and execution has propelled it to one of the top FinTechs in the U.S. That success also allowed it to easily raise capital to further its long-term goal of making structured notes accessible for just one dollar. Jason Barsema, co-founder and president, joined the Dealmakers Podcast to talk about how they built the company to where it is today and what we can expect in the future.

Andrew Ashur's Lucid Drone Technologies is a robotics company that's outfitting flying drones to soft-wash buildings. After bootstrapping to get to proof of concept, the design caught the eye of Y Combinator, leading not only to a significant capital raise but also an informative stint with the influential accelerator. Andrew talks about how his company and his fundraising tactics have evolved, and traces the growth of the business since its launch in 2018.

Citizens Financial Group has released its 2023 M&A Outlook, its annual survey of 400 leaders at U.S. middle-market companies and private equity firms. David Dunstan, managing director in the Citizen's M&A Group, talks about the results — that despite some caution because of macroeconomic uncertainty, pre-pandemic norms are the expectation in the 2023 M&A environment — and what that could mean for both sellers and buyers.

Dr. Patrick Hines is CEO and Founder of Functional Fluidics, a company that has developed a testing platform that can assess the health of red blood cells. The company recently raised a $3.1 million bridge round and, at the time of this interview, was in the process of working to secure a Series A that would help it expand its reach into the market. Dr. Hines shares the story of his mission to develop the diagnostic tools to help people with serious health conditions resulting from abnormal red blood cell function receive the right care.