Private Market Insights

In this episode of Private Market Insights, Josh Levine interviews pricing expert Mark Stiving. They discuss the challenges of raising prices and the fear that comes with it. Mark explains that people are afraid to raise prices because they are uncertain about the future and worry about losing customers or facing negative feedback. However, he emphasizes that raising prices can significantly incre...

In this episode of  @privatemarketinsights  , host Josh Levine celebrates the 30th episode of the podcast and discusses the trends and challenges in the Canadian small business market. He is joined by Jessica Cullen, a traditional searcher and professional triathlete, and Scott Duke, the founder and lead M&A advisor at OpnRoad, a Canada-focused sell-side advisory firm. They discuss the importa...

In this episode of Private Market Insights, host Josh Levine interviews Tristan Maher, an expert in international SMB acquisitions. They discuss the topic of international M&A and the challenges and differences compared to deals in the US. Maher emphasizes the importance of being integrated into the local culture and community, as well as understanding the legal and financial landscape of the...

In this episode of Private Market Insights, Josh Levine interviews Brad Englert, a technologist, leadership expert, consultant, and author of the book "Spheres of Influence." They discuss the importance of building professional relationships and effective communication in leadership and management. Brad emphasizes the need to understand the goals and aspirations of others, manage expectations, and...

Buying and operating a small business can be a challenging and lonely experience. People who are successful often find company in tight communities of entrepreneurs going through the same struggles. For this episode of Private Market Insights, I am talking with master community builder Karen Spencer, a founder of Searchfunder and current Managing Partner of Fetch Strategies. We talk about building...

The SMB M&A space has cyclical trends: certain industries become hot, spurring interest, increased activity, and heightened multiples. Longtime market observers can point to trends in dental office and home service M&A rollups as clear examples. Our next guest on Private Market Insights believes that law firms will be the next hot M&A industry due to shifting regulation, spurred by cha...

Our guest for Private Market Insights is entering our space with one of the most interesting angles yet: he’s an active professional football player, most recently as a quarterback with the Cleveland Browns. Jeff Driskel believes that acquiring small businesses can be a meaningful pathway for professional athletes and can serve as a way to help them preserve and build wealth long after they retire...

Even the most experienced investors and dealmakers hire legal counsel to help with their SMB acquisitions. This makes building the right legal team for your search an especially important task when it comes to due diligence. However, things don't always go well: people hire attorneys that are inexperienced with small business M&A or stymie deals with excessive redlining. To shed some light on...

Getting started with a search can be intimidating - there are numerous information sources, tons of conflicting information, and limited tactical insights when it comes to planning your exact moves (apart from this podcast). Helping people learn how to search is the topic for our next episode of Private Market Insights. We interviewed Chandler Reed, an SMB owner who has a deep understanding of wha...

For sellers, figuring out what your business is worth and how to go about selling it can be very challenging. The lack of transparency around this process can also confuse buyers and lead to misunderstandings at the start of the negotiation process. Fortunately, we're hosting Tom Taulli, M&A expert, author, and founder of BizEquity to help make sense of this process. Tune in to hear Tom discus...

In this podcast episode, Josh Levine interviews Lisa Forrest and Sarah Andrews from Live Oak Bank about changes to the SBA 7(a) program and what to expect in 2024. They discuss the implementation process of the changes, the impact on buyers looking to get an SBA loan, and the interpretation of the new rules by different lenders. They also highlight some of the key changes, such as the equity injec...

In this episode of Private Market Insights, Josh Levine, the co-founder and CEO of Private Market Labs, announces a new partnership with Roman Beylin, the founder of DueDilio. DueDilio is a marketplace that helps people assemble deal teams for the small business M&A due diligence process. Through this partnership, Private Market Labs users will be able to request high-quality vetted due dilige...

SMB Acquisitions can be an attractive pathway to professional success for people with private equity, management/operations, and industry-specific backgrounds. Corporate Development, internal teams within corporations search for and execute on M&A objectives, takes a specific eye and point of view. Our guest for Private Market Insights 19 is Bakari Akil, who used his corporate development skil...

The SMB acquisitions story often feels like one of consistent success. People acquire cashflowing companies, implement some upgrades, and reap the benefits. This story is about what happens when deals go bad. Hunter Durham's business went bankrupt. He's been transparent and vulnerable online over the last month and is now here to share nuts and bolts lessons from his experience. (00:00) Private Ma...

This episode of Private Market Insights is a special one - our Chief Product Officer, Titus Capilnean will join the podcast to talk about the release of the Private Market Labs platform, how it fits into our mission, and people can experience it for themselves. (00:00) - Introduction to Private Market Labs (06:26) - Venturing into Business Ownership (10:57) - Understanding Credit Analysis and Unde...

This month's episode of Private Market Insights will feature Whitney Shepherd, an ex-chemist who is in the middle of her journey to acquire a small business. She'll share her search process so far and we'll speak about her advocacy to increase the number of women in our space. Whitney is an exceptionally insightful person and has lent her voice to women in search through her online presence. This...

We know the adage that "time kills deals". However, there are many additional (and more specific) things that kill small business M&A deals besides time. Join us as we discuss the top reasons deals die prematurely with two longtime industry experts, Jared Johnson, SBA lender at First Internet Bank, and Jarryd Osborne, Advisor at ReVera Capital. They'll be sharing some of their experiences over...

In this episode of Private Market Insights, we will explore the topic of Search Fund Investors from a variety of angles - how to find investors, how to manage relationships with them, and how to start investing in search funds yourself. Our guest is prolific investor Saumil Jariwala, Founder of Feta Fund. Saumil has been investing in search funds since 2016, when he was a member of Trilogy Search...

New changes to the SBA 7a program take effect soon and we'll be talking with industry leader Heather Endresen, Owner of Viso Business Capital to break down what this means for SMB acquisitions. Make sure to come with questions - Heather is one of the best in the business and this is a great opportunity to learn about the future of our industry! 🔗 Check out the Private Market Labs website: https:/...

We spoke with the Brydon Group's Steve Ressler for this episode of Private Market Insights, our series providing support for search funds, business brokers, business owners, and anyone else engaging in the small business M&A space. We spoke about the pros and cons of using brokered search versus proprietary search, delving into topics such as competition deal sourcing, as well as the costs and...

For our February 2023 Private Market Insights conversation, we have invited Sarah Goodman - President, Co-Founder at Eminence M&A Strategies - to talk about some of the most successful strategies buyers can employ when working with business brokers in the SMB space. For nearly 20 years, Sarah has worked with public and private companies, in a range of leadership capacities.  Following an accom...

This is Private Market Insights, a Twitter Spaces series where we host detailed and tactical conversations about small business mergers and acquisitions with our community here on Twitter. This is the second episode in a mini series about the first 100 days after acquiring a small business. The first 100 days after acquiring a small business are critical. During this time, the new owners need to l...

The state of the economy, specifically interest rates, has a pronounced effect on SBA lending and dealmaking in the small to medium-sized business (SMB) space. As rates increase, businesses become less willing to take on additional debt, and bank lending to SMBs tightens. In contrast, low rates make borrowing more attractive and can encourage M&A activity as buyers have greater access to capit...

We’re thrilled to present our latest Private Market Insights Spaces, where we’re going to talk about the critical months following a business acquisition with Justin Vogt, an SMB Twitter regular, and someone who recently acquired a business and has gone through this phase. The first 100 days after an acquisition are extremely important to achieving the deal thesis a buyer set out with. It’s a time...

We’re excited to present our latest Private Market Insights Spaces, where we’re going to talk about a new way to buy and own a small business, with the help of its employees. Join us for a conversation with Eduardo Cabral, Corporate Development Manager at Obran Cooperative, to talk about the co-op model for acquiring a small business. This series is designed to share details about the technical el...