Poised for Exit

Next Level Collaboration in Exit Planning: Dealmakers and Manufacturers Team up for Better Owner Outcomes! We had the pleasure of welcoming two guests, representing two different industries, but working together to achieve better outcomes for their manufacturing business clients. Kevin Szozda , Director of Strategic Relationships with Sunbelt Business Advisors and True North M&A , and Steve Ka...

Using Data to Drive Decisions for Growth, Acquisitions and Exit Our guest for this episode is Luke Komiskey , Founder and CEO of DataDrive , a data analytics company who enables its clients to make fast, informed decisions through the use of data and AI ! Luke says he's always been an entrepreneur at heart and has enjoyed the challenge of starting and growing companies. And he's helped n...

 A Story of two Brothers, their Music and their Give-Back Mission It all started for Julie when she attended a Christmas Concert by the O'Neill Brothers that impressed her so much, she decided to invite them to be on the show. Both brothers are accomplished musicians; mostly piano, and have had their music downloaded over 2 Billion times worldwide!  They've been inducted into the MInneso...

A Financial Advisor’s Journey from Global M&A to Private Business Clients Today we had the pleasure of interviewing Jeremy Weston , a financial advisor with Edward Jones whose unique background sets him apart in the financial advisory space. Jeremy's education in Business Finance first led him to work for large manufacturing corporations, primarily as an auditor for Mergers and Acquisitio...

A Partnership Exit Strategy where Everyone Wins Our guest Host for today was Chris Jones , President of True North M&A . Chris interviewed his firms' advisor, Tim Schinke and Tim's client, Dan Sundin. Dan is the co-founder and CEO of Innovative Technology Partners (ITP) , a managed services tech company in the Twin Cities.  Dan and his partners, Andy and Mark founded the business in...

Building our  "All Star Network" with Cathy Paper Cathy Paper has been teaching best practices in meaningful connections for many years and we were happy to have her on the show again today, because we know that Business Development and building a network that fosters it can be very challenging; regardless of the industry!   If you have sales people or other professionals whose job it is...

Kendall Qualls and TakeChargeMN: Making Black Lives Better! It's been a few years since Kendall Qualls was in the studio, so it was great to have him back again. Kendall is the Founder and President of TakeChargeMN , a nonprofit described as "a Coalition supporting Blacks in the pursuit of American core principles" .  Their foundational approach includes fostering free enterprise, e...

CFO of YTS companies Shares their ESOP Journey, with Guest Host, Kyla Hanson of JAK CPA's! Our episode today featured a guest co-host with Kyla Hansen , Partner at JAK CPA's and Sponsor of the Poised for Exit Show! Kyla's client, YTS Companies , became an ESOP in 2021 with the help of JAK's team and Kyla's expertise. Kyla invited YTS CFO, Andy Yetzer to share the story of...

Selling a Financial Advisory Practice: A Former Financial Advisor Shares Tips and Advice Our guest today was Steve Juetten , CFP and Founder of Bridgegate Partners , a firm who specializes in succession and exit for owners of financial advisory practices. Steve's background in M&A prior to becoming a CFP really gave him a great window on how to prepare when the time came for him to sell h...

Tiger 21: Your Personal Board of Directors Our guest today was Bonnie Speer McGrath , Chair of the Minneapolis chapter of Tiger 21 , a ultra-high net-worth peer group for entrepreneurs, investors and executives .  Bonnie's background and role as a peer group facilitator are quite different from the typical facilitator profile, since her members are all ultra wealthy individuals. As she said,...

Misbeliefs about Private Equity Partnership: Success Stories Revealed! We had the pleasure of hosting Shane Slominski on today's episode, who is a partner with Tonka Bay Private Equity Partners in the Twin Cities. Shane has been in the PE space with Tonka Bay for 18 years, and prior to that was a practicing CPA in the M&A space with Arthur Anderson and Deloitte. During those years, he wor...

How CEO Peer Groups can get you "Poised for Exit" Our guest for this episode is John Palen , CEO and Founder of Allied Executives , a long running executive peer group in the Twin Cities. When John's career led him to a place where he sought his own peer group for some professional guidance and feedback , he couldn't find what he was looking for. With necessity truly being the...

Rise of the Non-Technical Entrepreneur We had the great pleasure of interviewing Colin Hirdman in today's show. Colin and his partners founded Monkey Island Ventures , and their mission is to create as many successful founders as possible !  Colin and his partners are entrepreneurs themselves, obviously, so their work is more than just a way to make a living. They love what the do and the dif...

Arrowhead Promotion’s Bud Schneider: Pointing the way toward a new generation of leadership! Today’s episode featured the long time leader of a family business in its 3rd generation. The Arrowhead Promotion Company is going strong and looking to the future, as Bud Schneider mentors and guides the new leadership to take over. As a non-family member of a family owned company, Bud truly embraced the...

True Story of Rapid, Strategic Growth Supported by Fractional Marketing Services We had the opportunity to have Luke Riordan , Founder and Partner of Dayta Marketing in the studio today as our guest host! Luke invited a long-time client, Tim Kraemer , President of TKI to share his story of rapid growth, that was largely due to the strategic marketing partnership his company has had with Dayta.  Th...

"Our Advisor had our Back" A Nigerian Entrepreneur's Success Secret   Being a visionary entrepreneur with a constant flow of ideas requires you're surrounded by a solid team of leaders you can delegate to. Wale Banjoko is that kind of entrepreneur . He's currently seeking investment capital for his most recent initiative and we had the pleasure of hearing all about it. As...

Replacing Fear with Courage: A Fresh Look at Employee Development Sarah Line , CEO of Boredroom Breakouts joined us in this episode and how intriguing was our conversation! Sarah's background as a Mission Trip coordinator and leader provided the foundation for the work she does now as a corporate change management expert . Many corporate leaders struggle with how to equip their teams with str...

Funny Tales and Effective Tactics from an Estate Planner! We had the honor today of hosting Christopher Burns , partner with Henson and Efron Law Firm . Christopher's practice primarily focuses on Estate and Tax Planning , and he advises and counsels owners of privately held companies on how best to reduce their tax liability and increase their peace of mind by orchestrating comprehensive est...

Entrepreneurs' Organization: A Tribe to Thrive With Patrick Donahue , Chapter President of the Entrepreneurs' Organization in MN joined us to talk about EO; its origins, benefits, success stories and how it has transformed the lives of so many members across the globe.  The criteria to become a member is a short list and mostly tied to revenue. Members must be majority shareholders of th...

Stephen Covey was Right!" We had the honor of featuring a long time colleague of Julie's, Ken Saddler , with B2B CFO.  Ken's expertise in building enterprise value and helping owners understand their numbers and how they correlate to value was the topic of our conversation.  Ken is a partner with B2B CFO, a firm that specializes in fractional CFO services for small to mid size compa...

Why Acquisition Entrepreneurs Should Know Pari Passu (who?) We had John Thwing , "The SBA Guy" in the studio today to talk about SBA financing for acquisitions of small businesses. When it comes to entrepreneurship , John says "don't start one, buy one!"   When the deal makes sense from all the fundamental angles , John says it's always better to buy a business that h...

Digital Transformation Strategy: Creating Digital Solutions to Scale Your Business We featured a returning guest in this episode; Dr. Theresa Ashby , who is and author, podcaster and the co-founder of Kaleidoscope Media Services . Kaleidoscope specializes in producing digital content and courses that work to scale your business, regardless of industry!  Theresa (Dr. T) says that in this digital ag...

How to Break Through Your Plateaus and Scale Your Business! Our guest in today's show is Zarir Erani , Partner with StratWiser, a firm which specializes in helping owners break through their growth plateaus and scale to their potential.   Zarir's background was built over years spent in numerous industries, giving him a background that's so unique, yet so valuable. One of his many s...

You Can't Scale Your Business without a Proven Sales System Our guest today was Mike Huey , President of Scalable Sales Solutions , a company that builds sales systems and processes for companies looking to scale and set their sales people up for success.  If there's one thing we know, not all sales people actually sell much, and that's not always the fault of the sales person. Mike...

The Birthday Show! Julie Keyes is interviewed on her birthday in this episode! Bob stepped up to ask the questions; here's what they covered. Julie talked about a couple of client success stories that occured recently. One was a family owned transition to the 3rd generation that's near completion. The 2nd gen owners are taking a lot of time off and allowing the 3rd Gen to run the busines...