
Top M&A Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Top M&A Entrepreneurs – your go-to resource for inspiration, insight, and actionable advice on business buying. Each episode features engaging conversations with business buyers who share their “why” and industry service providers who break down the “how.” Learn from the pros and take your next step toward a successful acquisition with confidence.
Latest episodes

Feb 27, 2022 • 46min
9 Acquisitions, $0 to $25 Million in One year - headed to Inc. 5000 E:48 Scott Shannon Top M&A Entrepreneur
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → 9 Acquisitions, $0 to $25 Million in One year - headed to Inc. 5000 E:48 Scott Shannon Top M&A Entrepreneur

Feb 14, 2022 • 56min
1st Acquisition, 100% No Money Down Earn In E:46 Gia Cilento & Eric Gesinski Top M&A Entrepreneurs
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → 1st Acquisition, 100% No Money Down Earn In E:46 Gia Cilento & Eric Gesinski Top M&A Entrepreneurs00:20 Intro to Gia and Eric - why they joined forces08:20 How they decided on Acquisition Niche12:15 getting into Jay Abraham15:00 Breadth of optionality in M&A 18:00 Failing at business - why the goldfish have 10 second memory22:45 How? (versus envy)25:59 How much deal source did they do?29:00 What M&A skills / deal stack did they apply to this acquisition41:34 Did earn out, change / hurt cash flow - 2X growth?43:48 Pulling out salary or percentage of profits?47:42 Was first acquisition hub or spoke?50:12 Offers out

Feb 14, 2022 • 52min
2 Acquisitions and marching towards $25 Million in Revenue E:47 Peter Oykhman Top M&A Entrepreneur
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → 2 Acquisitions and marching towards $25 Million in Revenue E:47 Peter Oykhman Top M&A Entrepreneur00:04 Intro to Peter Oykhman, originally from Russia02:01 How big is Core Partners - story of 1st acquisition05:22 Buying a similar product line08:50 Why didn't seller go to auction10:01 What was capital stack for 1st acquisition12:55 what was ROI on acquisition13:37 How clean was code16:08 Why did they sell / motivation?18:10 Integration issues?19:18 How did acquisition change his thinking about M&A?21:48 2nd Acquisition Story36:20 Legal structure of acquisitions39:20 Working on 3rd for diversification42:00 Russia Russia Russia 49:20 Working on 3rd is it easier?

Feb 6, 2022 • 58min
45 Acquisitions & Global Citizen Sebastian Amieva Top M&A Entrepreneur E:45
🚀 Get My Free Book! 📖 How to Buy Your First Million Dollar BusinessE: 45 Top M&A Entrepreneur - Sebastian Amieva 45 Acquisitions Global CitizenInvestor | Mentor | M&A Expert00:05 Sponsor DueDilio00:36 Intro to Sebastian Amieva calling in from Uruguay 09:46 Can we seller trust financial statements - only with hard assets16:02 How he start acquiring companies (at 24 years old)22:35 Number of deals, How he helps them23:22 How he helps clients with 1st acquisition - is it all about the money?26:25 How he partners with clients28:30 His best break out student33:14 Helping clients without experience in industry they are acquiring36:39 What is exit plan for students?38:32 Picking superstar students - characteristics for best chance to succeed 43:42 What questions does he ask seller?47:13 How much time does he spend on valuation with asset heavy business?49:00 What industries he avoids?53:00 What types of deals is Sebastian working on now - in India?54:00 Working with Deliotte and Attorney - his deal team

Feb 1, 2022 • 55min
Worked on 117 Acquisitions over career $5 Billion value , Nick Bradley E:44 Top M&A Entrepreneurs
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → 00:07 Sponsor - DueDilio00:34 Intro to Nick Bradley he has worked on 117 Acquisitions over career03:37 How do you EXIT a business06:47 Breaking CEO's mind by pitching idea to grow by 50% to 100% per year11:10 Stories to tell to help CEO's grow. Creating A Life-Changing Number Exit17:01 Numbers on businesses sold -what is your highest value?23:30 What you want to reach out to your buyer 12 month before selling26:10 As soon as you start to scale...do this...27:13 PE firms are notorious for shadow valuation LOIs - How to flip with script34:30 Buying a company from PE and VCs37:55 Not cheap if you are walking away with $10 to $20 million - how you get there39:59 Who he goes to for inspiration - 90 day cadence42:41 67 marathons45:02 Why worry twice 52:00 Goals for 2022

Jan 23, 2022 • 33min
E:43 Joseph B. Anderson 13 Acquisitions with Revenues over $1.3 billion
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → Joseph B Anderson. WestPoint graduate, Vietnam Veteran Served 13 years in Army, Featured in the movie “The Anderson Platoon”. After Vietnam, became plant manager for GM - responsible for $1 billion in revenue. Left GM to buy his first acquisition, Chivas Products Limited. Inherited a lot of debt, leveraged everything, sought bankruptcy protection. From that experience, Developed a signature turn around strategy. Chairman and CEO of Tag Holdings. Started in 2001. Holding company for Wolverine Industries & Baron Industries. Profiled on CNBC's "Blue Collar Millionaires". 13 Acquisitions with Revenues over $1.3 billion 00:00 Sponsor - DueDilio00:31 Intro to Joseph B. Anderson01:44 His first acquisition in 1994 of Chivas Products Limited03:19 Balance sheets, what did too much debt teach him04:32 Hard lessons learned - Making same mistake says something about you05:05 2nd Acquisition Acquires Vibration Control Technologies, LLC, majority owner – divested in Mar 2010. 06:27 What life lessons - what is worse could happen - learned from Battlefield07:29 How transparent are you with all your employees - what is leader responsible for?09:04 What did he do with - Chivas Products Limited?09:44 In 2003 acquires a unit of Dongsuh, in Korea - lessons learned from a distance11:59 Who was his mentor at West Point?12:28 Acquired In 2003 North American Assemblies, Sold to long time General Manager - Value of your business is only nice on paper only real when you sell it. Mentoring / Creating Opportunities15:55 Acquired Wolverine Assemblies - Joint Ventures in the Auto Industry 18:40 Helping others, can't spend it till you sell it. Owning it nice. Having owned it is better19:35 Identifying superstars - the right people. Some people do not work out. 20:34 Acquired Shared Vision LLC. Customer caught cold he caught pneumonia Lesson Customer Concentration21:20 Acquired Baron Industries - one of his best success story - did so well not going to tell you. 22:32 Divest from Aircasters - not doing so well sold without exciting returns23:13 Learning from failures - what was his biggest one - avoid these characteristics - hard decisions about people. 25:24 Turning down opportunities - reality checks27:24 Do you like being CEO of a holding company?28:02 How does he improve his skills?28:55 What is his future plan for Tag Holdings?29:50 Did he ever step in and take over as CEO of one of his companies?30:32 What Advice would he give to someone entering M&A world31:22 What about his favorite phrase, "It is what it is"

Jan 16, 2022 • 53min
E:42 Top M&A Entrepreneurs - Tom Shipley raised $100 million for ecommerce acquisitions - Add a ZERO
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → Great conversation with Tom Shipley. Tom sold $2billion through Atlantic Coast Brands and raised $100 million for ecommerce acquisitions - Why you need to Add a ZERO to your opportunity. 00:09 Sponsor DueDilio com00:43 Introduction to Tom Shipley Launched Foundry, Atlantic Coast Brands01:43 Major shift in life - moved to Israel and joined Israel Special Forces03:01 Learning the "Power of the Impossible" Focus and Clarity: same in Special Forces as in Business04:41 Started with $100 in pocket. What is worse that can happen. 05:54 How do you create or transfer the "Special Forces" life experience - if you don't join military 07:09 Why Ego kills the culture - taking calculating risks (adding a Zero) Why playing small is soul crushing11:20 How they bought a $15mm with $1mm in Ebidta business when theirs was only doing $300k and in one year took both to $35 million14:10 Getting into Amazon Aggregation, Thrasio, The World has changed - the start of Foundry15:49 Taking Roland Frasier's EPIC course - everyone should crafting their skill sets - sharpen sword17:14 Launching his next Billion dollar business with Peter Lang18:10 Why the number one job is "Recruiting"19:42 Speed and Culture - Hiring Stars / Superstars - Trust - How you do Extraordinary things24:09 Raising $100 million acquisition fund, how he picked the capital sources - what was important in a funding partner - what are people like when things go bad - asking "and then what?"34:23 Integrating Digital Agencies through M&A - rolling up 10 at time38:22 Solving the Cultural issue with the new Digital Agency Acquisitions - setting up SOPs/Culture Bibles40:51 What are skills & tools to "add a zeros" Having a bigger vision - 1. What would have to be true for this to happen? 2. If we solve this, so what?45:40 The Book will come when I have time. 47:40 Impact investment project - NFTs, crypto raising $30billion - no clowns49:25 Who he seeks out for inspiration - listening to our gut50:49 Its a game but how many lives have you impacted.

Jan 9, 2022 • 59min
E: 41 Top M&A Entrepreneurs - Trish Higgins, 30+ Acquisitions Partner at Chenmark Capital Mgmt.
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → 00:11 Our First Podcast Sponsor DueDilio00:53 Intro to Trish Higgins01:23 What Chenmark Capital Mgmt. does...and how05:38 Clarifying the Ebidta requirement07:09 Are Investors throwing money at Chenmark?09:48 Who / what idea or company are you modelling - 20 year horizon?12:59 How many companies have you acquired, who was first? 15:44 1st Acquisition - Seabreeze Properties - How did you find it, where, how was process, offer, broker deal, financing stack?26:01 Seller financing - how was that structured?27:14 How did you make up for a lack of "Operations" expertise? 29:16 Did sellers exit early?29:55 Learning / Finding / Growing the C-Suite to run their companies - How Chenmark does it36:53 Graduates of your leadership training, what are they seeing - who enrolls?40:20 How often do your portfolio CEOs communicate with HQ?42:45 Is the financial software & reporting standardized throughout your portfolio?44:59 What about capital allocation decisions? 46:35 What happens if sales / profits are down 5% or costs up 5%?49:52 What does Chenmark have in place for the CEO to grow their skills?53:45 Chenmark Core Values 54:26 Chasing your better self54:46 What do you know now that you did not know then? 56:14 How is decision made on CEOs?

Dec 27, 2021 • 1h 3min
E:40 Top M&A Entrepreneurs Roman Beylin, 1 Acquisition to launching DueDilio, Due Diligence for M&A
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → Roman Beylin is the founder of DueDilio, an M&A due diligence marketplace as well as publisher of The Business Inquirer newsletter. He began his career in investment management and moved to investment banking. In 2013 he caught the entrepreneurial bug and co-founded one of the first alternative data consulting firms counting some of the most well-known hedge funds as clients. After a few years, he sold that business and since then has been active in the Entrepreneurs through Acquisition space working full-time on DueDilio, The Business Inquirer as well as some smaller projects. He resides in Boston, MA. Questions to Roman / Chapters Time Stamps00:00 Intro to Top M&A Entrepreneurs 00:37 Intro to our guest: Roman Beylin founder of DueDilio - No Deal Better than Bad Deal02:00 How he started DueDilio & The Business Inquirer05:00 His first acquisition - a resume business - due diligence on acquisition06:18 Marketplace's - Airbnb, LinkedIn, eBay - how is it going with DueDilio07:30 The process of finding a DD service provider on DueDilio09:40 What will we spend on Due Diligence...and timing?11:11 Does buyer have blanket NDA with service provider or do they sign one with seller too - who handles the DD requests with seller?13:40 Does service provider provide opinion (go/no go) on business?14:50 What type of analysis / research does DD service provider offer - most requested?16:15 How long does due diligence take - high end / low end?17:25 How detailed does Due Diligence Service Provider get with financials?19:28 When is a full Quality of Earnings required - what revenue level?22:17 Can you circumvent DueDilio after first order - second sale?25:44 Repeat customers? 27:35 Is DueDilio Ideal for Searchfunder backed by PE or Independent Sponsor? 28:16 What size of business, revenue, is most common due diligence requests?29:25 What is market forces are driving the due diligence requests?30:12 Are Family Offices or Private Equity firms good source of DD requests?31:35 What are "Subject Matter Experts" on DueDilio?33:45 Does DueDilio collect post DD information?34:49 How long does it take to hire, data transfer, due diligence completed?36:11 When sellers start sending pieces of the financials37:11 Can DueDilio offer Service providers to do DD on International companies?40:53 How do I "use" or "grade" the due diligence from the Service Provider?42:15 My experience not doing reputation DD on an ecommerce business - doing DD on buyer43:42 What are KPIs and Drivers / Levers for DueDilio?45:26 What is long term goal for DueDilio?47:16 Do Service Providers get "scored /rated" on DueDilio?48:43 What industry do you see most DD requests on DueDilio - demand from offline or online?52:10 Where do you think DueDilio could grow to? 53:50 What does DueDilio need to grow? 55:32 When does buyer pay on DueDilio? Who Pays? 57:02 Does DueDilio help buyers get smarter with acquisitions ?58:03 Has the "Why" question already been answered by buyer? 59:30 What is a "Deal Sherpa"?

Dec 19, 2021 • 56min
E39: Top M&A Entrepreneurs - Callum Laing 27 Acquisitions, dividend yielding stock since day ONE
Take the Business Buyer Readiness Assessment → Callum is founder and CEO of MBH Corporation PLC, an agglomeration of 27 acquisitions, small, profitable companies from around the world. By leveraging the Agglomeration strategy, MBH Corporation plc is able to create substantial shareholder value through the consistent and accretive acquisition of excellent companies MBH Corporation plc is listed on the Frankfurt and Dusseldorf Stock Exchanges and the OTCQX in New York (MBHCF). 00:00 Intro to Callum Laing00:28 What a agglomeration is and what MBH does - partner to Jeremy Harbour - benefits of agglomeration05:46 Comparison to Berkshire Hathaway. 07:12 How is controlling interest / stock and equity structured with agglomeration acquisitions - ultimate mastermind group09:03 Where do the profits flow up to - all acquisitions pay a management fee plus dividend to shareholders - buying a boring 60 year old Caravan company14:48 What is assets / leverage to you bring to an acquisition proposal - difficulty for SMBs to break through glass ceiling - the balance sheet unfair advantage of an agglomeration - 1000 applications a year now19:27 How he started with the idea - starting / partnering with Jeremy Harbour - solving SMB exit issues25:00 How the agglomeration gets contracts - SMBs are great problem solvers27:47 How did the first acquisition happen - what where the challenges - how did the early "pitches" go?33:18 What are the characteristics of the motivated seller - what are needs of seller37:14 Arbitrage Multiples - the Master Minded Effect and Covid - working through challenges39:52 Adjacent "tactical" Acquisitions - teaching his acquisitions to grow through acquisitions43:12 Landscaping like a SaaS business - recurring revenue 44:57 Working on the strategy for 6 years - biggest obstacle - internal biggest hurdle to Callum -financial markets - huge learning curve - how they communicate / transparency with everyone50:08 Challenges with OTC markets - 15C-211 purge / International trade volume issues. 54:26 What is best investment he made to change his life.