GovCon M&A Talk

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies, and M&A SME, talks with Aaron Moak of PingWind about growing an SDVOSB company with the help of several acquisitions. Topics covered: How organic growth can power inorganic growth How to look for the right strategic acquisition Integration and people as key assets Acquisitions as “growth vehicles” To conn...

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies, and M&A SME, talks with lawyer Richard Arnholt of Bass Berry & Sims about the future of the set-aside market and the impact the new Administration has had on M&A. Topics covered: ● Changes to 8A and what's likely ahead ● The future of small business contracting goals ● Keeping designation talk out...

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies, and M&A SME, talks with Dave Barber about what it takes to scale a GovCon business, find your unique niche, and plan that important sale. Topics covered: ● Strategy on inorganic growth  ● Learning from your customers' pain points  ● Putting yourself in the shoes of the warfighter ● Preparing for sale and...

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies and M&A SME, talks with Brandon Muniz  about what it takes for a young veteran to buy a small government contracting business in today's unsteady climate. Topics covered: ● Developing requirements for the business you will buy ● How to handle buyers' risk and stay married ● How to cobble together financing...

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies and M&A SME, talks with Heidi Gerding, one of the first women to graduate from the Naval Academy, about selling a service disabled veteran owned small business. Topics covered: ● Planning your sale ● Putting senior management in place ● Coping with DOGE risks ● Choosing your M&A team To connect with He...

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies and M&A SME, talks with Kelly Kunkle about the software industry. Kelly is a new M&A advisor at sbLiftOff focused on technology, from software to SaaS, robotics and more. Topics covered: ● Strategic buyers and software roll-ups ●Direction of the Software Industry in the future ● How software companies...

Sharon Heaton , the founder of sbLiftOff and a leading small business, growth strategies and M&A SME, talks with Christine Williamson about the GAUGE Report (Government compliance, Accounting, Utilization, Growth, Efficiency), the annual review of government contracting put out each year by CohnReznick and Unanet. This year’s GAUGE Report,  titled “Mastering Resource Planning and Project Execu...

Sharon Heaton talks with Brad Palmer about growing a GovCon company and selling it. A successful entrepreneur, Brad built B3 and planned the sale of his company in advance. Topics covered:  Why Brad decided to bring in a partner Knowing the right time to sell your business Moving from veteran, set-aside contracts to full and open contracts Surprising components of the sales process Brad’s advice t...

Sharon Heaton talks with Joseph Dalton of Arsenal Enterprise Capital about what’s new with aerospace and defense. A successful veteran who grew a company and sold it he says GovCon isn’t going away. Today Arsenal invests in public and private lower middle market companies that offer the government new capacities to defend against evolving threats.  Topics covered:  Bidding for and winning full and...

Sharon Heaton talks with investor Matt Dean , the founder of Scare the Bear (STB) Capital, who is focused on non-controlling investments in lower middle market GovCon businesses. Hear what Matt thinks buyers are thinking about today’s churning GovCon M&A market. Topics covered:  What private equity knows and doesn’t know Smart capital on steroids – the PE mindset The “founder mentality” and re...

Sharon Heaton talks with legendary banker Joe Humphries of Atlantic Union, who brings decades of experience in GovCon M&A. Joe gives advice to sellers about planning and provides perspective on how today’s changes, from DOGE cuts to agency configurations, fit into a history of ever evolving federal procurement appetites. Hear what Joe has to say about what banks see as good M&A opportuniti...

Sharon Heaton talks with M&A advisor and software expert Shaunna Balady – a woman who has completed over 100  transactions totaling over $20 billion in enterprise value across 5 continents. Shaunna also helped grow and recently sell a GovCon software services firm. She donates most of her earnings to favorite charities, doing good by doing well. Hear what this amazing software and SaaS expert...

Sharon Heaton talks with GovCon leader Bob Eisminger who founded Knight Point Systems and sold it for an impressive sum. A graduate of West Point, Bob used his knowledge of the military to grow his GovCon company. Realizing that as a VAR, Knight Point systems wouldn’t be worth more than a low multiple of profits, Bob pivoted. As a managed services provider with a $1.2 billion backlog on its books,...

A serial entrepreneur since his boyhood in India, Gautam Ijoor founded AlphaOmega in 2016. An agile supplier of DevSecOps, cloud engineering and cybersecurity solutions, the company has grown 40% year after year. In 2020 Gautam decided to bolt on a robotics firm, Confiance Group.  This January, 2025, he closed two new acquisitions on the same day. Hear what a successful tech entrepreneur says abou...

Winning at GovCon M&A requires providing unique value to government agencies. Cos DiMaggio, a successful serial entrepreneur, shares his tips on science, technology and disruption. Cos founded The Tauri Group with two colleagues and focused on critical areas of homeland security, national defense, resilience, and rapid capability development. Cos’s growth strategy? Compressing the distance bet...

SBA regs dropped last December are still roiling the set-aside GovCon market. Some experts disagree on the regulation's impact with most already in effect and certain M&A provisions set to take effect on January 17, 2026. Hear the experts decode the debate.   Topics covered:   Overview of new rules – defining a disqualifying recertification and discussion of impact Differences in treatment for...

Deal value is in the eye of the beholder. What are large companies looking for when they eye small GovCon for acquisition? David Troung of PSI shares his experience on what he as a larger entity looks for when he shops for acquisitions of set-aside companies. Learn more about OrangeSlices AI here .

In Episode 3 Sharon interviews Merry Korn, a GovCon owner who started her Ohio company after she was fired from a job. After years of growth it was time to hand off the baton. Merry shares the ups and downs of her recent sale process and the secrets to a successful GovCon M&A transaction.

In Episode 2, Sharon Heaton interviews Cy Alba of PilieroMazza about a set of new regulations from the SBA that will shake up GovCon M&A for years to come. The new SBA regulations will significantly affect the value of many set-aside small businesses companies, decreasing the amount owners may be able to get for their entities after January 17, 2026, the date the new SBA regulations take effec...

In our first episode, Sharon interviews Bob Kipps, the legendary dealmaker and founder of the GovCon M&A firm KippsDeSanto. Not only does Bob tell his own story of being a client in an M&A process, he talks about what is coming down the pike in aerospace, defense, and intelligence this year. Bob reviews market trends over the last few years, assesses the impact of the new Trump Administrat...