Why We Like It

Fire and life safety is one of the hottest sectors in the lower middle market, with over 240 deals in 2025 alone, roughly 50 acquisitions a quarter, and a total addressable market now pegged at $35 to $40 billion. So why is capital piling in now, and how much runway is actually left? In this episode of “Why We Like It”, Sam sits down with two people who see the sector from opposite sides of the ta...

Accounting has been around for five thousand years. The modern profession has been around for one hundred. And for most of that century, almost nothing about it has actually changed. Then in five years, it all moved at once. Over $200 billion of private equity capital across roughly 150 deals. Eleven of the top thirty US firms now PE-backed. AI absorbing workflows that hadn't been touched in a gen...

Conference realignment. The transfer portal. A $20.5M-per-school revenue-sharing mandate that didn't exist two years ago. Streaming platforms spending north of $14B on rights. Sports is being rebuilt from the ground up and on this episode, Sam talks to two people whose careers have shaped many of the defining moments along the way. Chris Bevilacqua built the proof of concept that became every conf...

Every year, the private equity industry gets more competitive. More capital chasing a similar supply of deals. Valuations staying firm. The arbitrages of buying low and selling high evaporating. For over a decade, outcomes were supported by multiple expansion and leverage. That era is over. Performance now depends on operational improvement and revenue growth, and the firms that can deliver real v...

The car wash industry is far larger, more sophisticated, and more structurally attractive than most people realize. In North America alone, it generates over $15 billion in annual revenue across more than 60,000 locations. What was once a transactional, cash-based business has quietly evolved into a recurring-revenue, asset-intensive consumer infrastructure platform powered by subscriptions, densi...

Infrastructure is often discussed through megaprojects and headline spending. In this episode of Why We Like It, we look beneath the surface at one of the most essential, and most underestimated, parts of the U.S. economy: asphalt. Sam is joined by Shawn Godwin , CEO , and Craig Berkey , President of Palmetto , one of the most respected paving operators in the United States. Drawing on decades of...

Aviation doesn’t run on headlines or hype, it runs on maintenance, execution, and the people who keep complex systems moving every day. In this episode of Why We Like It, we go inside the engine room of the aviation industry with three leaders who have spent their careers operating at its most demanding edges: Greg Smith (G2 Equity Partners), Leanne Caret (former CEO of Boeing Defense, Space &...

College sports, the NFL, and the broader sports economy are entering the most disruptive decade in their history. Media rights are being rewritten. NIL is reshaping athlete value. Conferences are realigning. Teams are becoming tech companies. And fans behave more like digital consumers than ever before. In this episode of Why We Like It, we sit down with three leaders operating at the center of th...

Private equity’s future won’t be defined by capital; it will be defined by capability. In the debut episode of Why We Like It, the Access Holdings podcast exploring the ideas, industries, and inflection points shaping the lower middle market, host Sam Tidswell-Norrish sits down with two of the most respected voices in artificial intelligence: Marc Porat (technology pioneer and former co-founder of...