In The Trenches

Dr. Victoria Medvec, a negotiation expert and Kellogg School of Management professor, shares her insights on high-stakes negotiations. She emphasizes the importance of understanding BATNA—Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement—and finding ways to analyze both parties' weaknesses. Listeners learn about the intricacies of M&A negotiations, the benefits of making the first offer, and overcoming common pitfalls like deal fatigue. Medvec also addresses generational differences in negotiation styles and the importance of face-to-face communication for success.

The podcast discusses the founder of Axial, a platform for M&A transactions, challenges in sourcing lower middle market deals, revenue model evolution, technical due diligence importance, and navigating the transition to a transaction-based model.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community * Kaley Klemp is a highly sought after CEO coach, YPO forum facilitator, and best-selling author. In 2015, Kaley co-authored The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, a book that was met with instant critical and commercial success, and followed that up in 2021 with The 80/80 Marriage, a book about how to strengthen and build relationships between spouses using some of the tools, techniques and ideas that she had previously employed with her executive coaching clients. Within the Young Presidents Organization (“YPO”), Kaley has facilitated retreats for more than 200 member and spouse forums throughout the world, and is a highly sought after speaker, recently having presented at Google alongside her husband, and with her TED Talk, “Stop Trying to Change”, racking up over 20 thousand views on YouTube. Prior to her coaching, speaking, and facilitator roles, Kaley was a management consultant with Deloitte, and prior to that she was a student at Stanford University, where she earned a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in Sociology, with a focus on Organizational Behaviour.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. ⁠⁠⁠Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * My guest today is Brent Belzberg, Founder and Senior Managing Partner of TorQuest, a middle market private equity firm that he founded in 2002 that has since grown to ~$5.5B in assets under management. In 2018, Brent was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honor, for his work as a business leader and philanthropist. He also received Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2023 for his significant contribution to Canada and the province of Alberta.

Explore the characteristics and complexities of anxiety, including different types, triggers, and manifestations. Gain valuable insights and strategies for managing anxiety effectively, as well as understanding its correlation with desirable traits and circumstances. Learn from the speaker's personal journey and their experiences with over-solution as a coping mechanism.

This podcast explores compensation plans for CEOs and entrepreneurs, including aligning compensation with customer desires. It discusses an innovative compensation system in the furniture moving industry and the challenge of prioritizing customer demands. The importance of fair compensation based on productivity and performance is emphasized, along with the significance of finalizing compensation before the year starts. Giving options or profit sharing to management teams and employees is also discussed.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. On September 8th, 2023, Symphony will be live-streaming a webinar on searchfunder.com all about the technical due diligence process when acquiring a software company. Use this link to sign up: ⁠https://www.searchfunder.com/event/view/1200⁠. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. ⁠Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by ⁠⁠August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community * I have spent the past several weeks going through almost 3 years of In The Trenches archives to tease out all of the best insights that we’ve been able to collect from each of our guests specific to Hiring. I won’t need to convince any CEO of how important the hiring process is, and how fraught with peril it can be when it isn’t done right. Below is a list of our guests and topics, which include timestamps, so you can skip between the segments that are most interesting to you: (3:30) Randy Street: Co-author of Who: The A Method for Hiring, which introduced the Topgrading hiring method to the world (22:39) Verne Harnish: Founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (“EO”), & author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up (37:43) AJ Wasserstein: Professor at the Yale School of Management. Prior 2x CEO and active SMB investor (43:40) Mike Zani: CEO of The Predictive Index, and author of The Science of Dream Teams (52:27) Steve Divitkos: Hiring Your Senior Management Team: Founder of Mineola Search Partners (1:12:50) Anthemos Georgiades: Hiring in High Growth Environments: Founder and CEO of Zumper, an apartment rental platform that boasts 250 employees, 75 million active users, and 17 million app visits per month (1:27:09) Nicholas Andrews: Hiring for the Finance & Accounting Function: Founder of The Aspen Consulting Group (1:42:40) Rich Mironov: Hiring in Product Management: One of North America’s preeminent Product Management thought leaders, having spent 40 years in the software industry in numerous capacities (1:55:20) Dave Prusinski: Hiring in Sales: Former EVP of FleetComplete. Grew annual revenue by ~25x, achieving a ~50% revenue CAGR for 9 of his 10 years

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by ⁠⁠⁠August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. On September 8th, 2023, Symphony will be live-streaming a webinar on searchfunder.com all about the technical due diligence process when acquiring a software company. Use this link to sign up: ⁠https://www.searchfunder.com/event/view/1200⁠. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. ⁠Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * My guest today is Dr. William Irvine, author of the best-selling book A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, and one of the world's most influential writers on, and practitioners of, stoic philosophy. Dr. Irvine spent 38 years teaching at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, having recently earned Professor Emeritus status there. Dr. Irvine earned his BA in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Michigan and an MA and PhD in Philosophy at UCLA.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. On September 8th, 2023, Symphony will be live-streaming a webinar on searchfunder.com all about the technical due diligence process when acquiring a software company. Use this link to sign up: https://www.searchfunder.com/event/view/1200. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by ⁠August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community * Recently, searchers have voiced an increasing level of interest in targeting “VC orphan” companies as acquisition targets: These tend to be healthy and modestly growing companies that have raised at least one round of institutional venture capital, have achieved product/market fit, but have failed to produce the triple-digit growth rates that are all but required for them to continue to command the time, attention, and capital of their VC-backers. Might searchers also consider this very different company profile, in addition to that which has served as the foundation of the Search Fund investment vehicle over the past three decades? Today's episode attempts to explore this question, presenting observations that both support and refute the thesis.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community. * Today’s episode is the second in a two-part series on when search funds don’t go as originally planned. On last week’s episode, we spoke with four entrepreneurs to get a first-hand account of how and why their paths deviated from their original plans. In today’s episode, we look to compliment those first-hand accounts with reflections from Jim Sharpe, a highly respected search fund investor of almost 20 years, and himself a former Searcher and CEO. Today we ask Jim to discusses the trends, commonalities, and themes that he has observed among searchers who failed to consummate an acquisition, and also those who did consummate an acquisition, but failed to "thrive" thereafter, either commercially or personally. Please enjoy!