RolyPoly

Most PE funds pick a sector then hunt for companies. Strada Partners flipped it: they back the team first, then build the roll-up. Nicholas De Poorter (investment team, Strada Partners) joins Dylan to break down how a Belgian PE fund runs 15 buy-and-build platforms across Europe. Topics covered: • Why Strada backs teams with a thesis, not deals • Lighthouse deals vs carpet bombing on the first acq...

He sold 6 companies, watched a billion-dollar IPO walk out the door, and bought a 116-year-old Spanish football club. Mac Lackey on how to actually win an exit. Mac Lackey (founder, Exit DNA) joins Dylan to discuss why most founders leave life-changing money on the table - and how to be irresistible to buyers. Topics covered: • Why AI today is the early internet of 1995 • The integration mistake t...

The brutal question every VC asks an AI roll-up founder: where's the headcount going to drop? Sam Hields breaks down what separates a venture case from a financial engineering pitch. Sam Hields (Partner, OpenOcean) joins Dylan to discuss why services will eat software in the AI era and what VCs actually look for in roll-up founders. Topics covered: Why services is a 10x bigger market than software...

EVE found 400 missed leads in one founder's inbox and closed six-figure deals from them. Vadim Rogovskiy explains how AI is rewriting the acquisition playbook. Vadim Rogovskiy (CEO, EVE / Founding Partner, Rebel Capital) joins Dylan to discuss acquiring legacy businesses, layering AI to unlock hidden revenue, and why roll-ups are just getting started. Topics covered: Exit timing mistakes and why f...

Most acquirers treat deal sourcing like a numbers game. Andrew Ofori left Goldman Sachs to prove there's a better way. Andrew Ofori (CEO & Founder, Bloomvine) joins Dylan to discuss strategic deal sourcing for PE-backed roll-ups and acquisitive corporates. Topics covered: • Why your first 2-3 acquisitions determine the success of your entire roll-up • How culture and language shape cross-borde...

Italy has 12,000 HVAC companies and no national player. Andrea Allegrini from Lindbergh is building the first one — 14 acquisitions in two years, zero competition. Andrea Allegrini (Head of Waste Management & IR, Lindbergh S.p. A.) joins Dylan to discuss how a logistics company became Italy's first HVAC roll-up. Topics covered: Buying "a little of everything" to share workforce across heating...

Network Plus is a £700M+ UK utilities contractor that acquires complementary services — fencing, vegetation, wastewater — and cross-sells them into the clients they already serve. Ryan Imison (Head of M&A, Network Plus) joins Dylan to talk about what integration actually looks like when you're adding new capabilities to an existing platform — from onboarding 300 people overnight to sending exe...

Sam Turner's first acquisition went to zero. Here's how he rebuilt a £30M portfolio — self-funded, no PE. Sam Turner (Founder & Group CEO, Advantos Group) joins Dylan to discuss roll-up integration strategy, self-funding acquisitions, and what most operators miss in due diligence. Topics covered: Why keeping acquired businesses separate failed The first acquisition disaster and what it taught...

Roll-ups don't fail because of bad deals. They fail because finance can't keep up. Pavleta Pavlova (Founder & CEO, PPHF) joins Dylan to discuss what actually breaks in a roll-up's finance function — and how to fix it before audit season. Topics covered: The most expensive mistake: not standardizing your chart of accounts early Why a fractional CFO should start 30 days before your first deal cl...

87% of deal failures are cultural. So why does nobody measure it before closing? Simone Vascotto (Founder, Humanaq) joins Dylan to discuss why M&A culture assessments are broken — and how AI-powered behavioral analysis is changing the game for acquirers and roll-ups. Topics covered: The invisible culture that kills deals — and how to surface it Why "assuming" is the #1 post-merger integration...