Poised for Exit

In this episode of Poised for Exit, we’re joined by Ruba Khairi and Ahmed Mousa , a dynamic husband-and-wife team of business brokers at Sunbelt Business Advisors. Their journey into business brokerage is anything but ordinary . In 2018, they were prospective buyers themselves , exploring business ownership before being drawn to the world of business brokerage . When COVID-19 disrupted their plans...

Our featured guest in this episode is Leslie Lauer , Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at RBC Wealth Management . Leslie specializes in ESOPs , and shared some highlights of her years of experience as a trusted advisor.   Leslie's background in banking and accounting was the foundation for her career path to advising on deal structure for ESOPs . She's also a former entrepre...

Our guest for this show is Rick Brimacomb , CEO and Founder of Brimacomb Capital and Club Entrepreneur. Rick has been involved in deal-making and Venture Capital investments for many years, and he shared how he has become so successful.  Rick's approach is as a side-by-side confidante and close colleague to the owners of the companies he invests in . He sees it as a relationship over a transa...

JTeleconnections , or "JTel" has been in business for nearly 30 years. We had the pleasure of hosting two of the partners in the company, who happen to be family members.  Mother and daughter team, Jody and Paige Weinberg joined us for this episode of Poised for Exit. We talked about how they are working toward Paige taking over the business in the future , and how Jody is delegating som...

From The Vault: Private Investigators and Dealmakers are Teaming up More Often than Ever! We covered an unusual topic in this episode, that we learned wasn't so unusual afterall. Private investigations within the M&A space . As buyers and sellers become more leary of the trustworthiness between them during dealmaking , the advisory team is completing the circle of trust by having what the...

From The Vault: 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...

In this episode of Poised for Exit, we had the honor of interviewing Mike Moroz , President and CEO of Walters Recycling and Refuse . A man with years of C level leadership experience in a variety of industries, who has really made his mark using his ability to scale companies, whether public or private! Mike says that working for family business as a non-family member can be challenging at times...

Our show today featured Randy Van Rooyen and Jon Marquet , both with Trust Point , but in different roles. Randy is a financial advisor and in charge of strategic relationships for the firm, and Jon, a JD,  is in charge of business development for its three locations in LaCrosse and Eau Claire Wisconsin, and Minneapolis Minnesota. The firm practices internal collaboration amongst its many areas of...

We had the pleasure of welcoming Barb Lau to the show in this episode. Barb is the Executive Director of the Association of Women Contractors . Barb has been the ED for AWC since 2008 and lots has changed since then.  AWC was founded by 10 trailblazing women in the construction industry back in 1995; that's right, AWC turns 30 years old in 2025! Because it's been such a vital organizatio...

Christopher Burns, Estate attorney and partner with Henson Efron returned to the show in this episode to talk about a couple of current matters pertaining to business owners.  First, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will sunset on Dec 31, 2025. Since we're post election, the concern over the sunsetting of this law will likely be eliminated, since President Elect Trump is expected to extend it...

Our guest today is a man who epitomizes entrepreneurship; Dan Bowling, President of The Genesis Company .  The Genesis Company provides end-to-end solutions for entrepreneurs by bringing their brands and ideas to retail. The framework they use is one Dan adopted from Marc Lore, a markedly famous serial entrepreneur he's followed for many years. Using the acronym VCP, which stands for Vision,...

Our guest in this episode is Mark Cheeley , Financial Advisor and President of Synergy Wealth Management. Mark and his Ameriprise team work with a lot of business owners , many of whom are in the throes (or should be) of exit planning .  Most financial advisors work with individuals , so their knowledge of the exit process is limited or non-existent, and that's OK. Most clients fall under the...

In this episode, Julie shared the content of her popular virtual programs for advisors. But why? As Julie says “when you lack a process for this work, you will lose opportunities to generate additional revenue . Not only that, but your client also misses out.” She says "Your clients need you to know how to navigate the exit planning process and for you to direct them along the way. If you pla...

Our guests for this episode are David Matenaer and Erik Gabrielson , two of the Co-founders of ProjectWE, a firm that creates customized AI platforms for SMB's. David and Erik have been collaborating on projects for many years, and when they came together to form a partnership around some online education they were developing, they realized it needed to be AI generated. So, they put their lau...

Our guest in this Poised for Exit episode is Ryan Haag , who has been a financial advisor for over 20 years . Ryan has spent his career working with family businesses and a variety of entrepreneurs , learning a great deal about the pitfalls they face as they navigate their lives from start up to retirement . So many of the experiences he's faced with clients mirror those of others. Business o...

We featured two special guests in this episode: Don Raleigh , RevOps Manager at Evolve Systems , and Chris Steffl , partner with CyberFin . The collaborative work they're doing in the ADA and Cyber Compliance space was our topic of discussion.  ADA Compliance, as we know, is the lawful way to accommodate people with disabilities who wish to peruse your website and possibly do business with yo...

We had the honor of hosting John Francis on the show today, who is a long time entrepreneur, advisor and Board member. John grew up with a family business that started a franchise operation in the salon business and then launched another brand in the same industry. They grew it so well that it eventually went public. John attributes that outcome due to the expertise and dedication of their company...

No Plan B: The All-in Approach of a Boat Burner It's not often that we feature our clients as guests on the show, but every now and then we have to ask! boatBurner has such a compelling story, we hoped they'd say yes, and they did. They're a creative services agency , who focuses on CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) from an all-in perspective. No plan B for them, or their client work. T...

What does it take to be a female CEO of a Regional Bank? Tenacity! Our guest in today's episode is Angie O'Neill , President and CEO of MN Bank & Trust . Angie shares some very interesting stories and perspectives that were inspiring and motivating as well. H ow many female CEOs of a bank do you know? We didn't personally know any until today's show!  Angie's primary f...

Avoid M&A Pitfalls with Trust as a Guiding Principle We had Matt Hartranft in the studio today!  Matt is a partner and M&A attorney with Brutlag, Trucke and Dougherty . We spent a great deal of time discussing how established trust is essential in shortening the duration of the deal to closing , and in deal negotiations in general.  Matt says that in the dealmaking world , trust is his gui...

Private Investigators and Dealmakers are Teaming up More Often than Ever! We covered an unusual topic in this episode, that we learned wasn't so unusual afterall. Private investigations within the M&A space . As buyers and sellers become more leary of the trustworthiness between them during dealmaking , the advisory team is completing the circle of trust by having what they disclose verif...

Trust Matters Now more than Ever: Learn from the Experts We had the privilege of interviewing Brian Slipka and David Horsager together in the studio today to talk about the books they’ve both recently written! The conversation eventually lead to the concept of trust and how it can be so quickly depleted in today’s society.  David is an author, speaker and researcher on the topic of trust and has n...

Sold over 330 Businesses and He's just getting Started! On the #Poised for Exit podcast this week we had the honor of hosting Manoj Moorjani today, who's a Dealmaker at Calhoun Companies . Manoj has sold over 330 companies since starting his career as a business broker. He's about as well known as they come in the Midwest, and for good reason. He's got a network of former clien...

Overview of the 7th Annual Owner's Forum: "Go or Grow!" We had the pleasure of hosting Todd Krough in the studio today. Todd is a wealth manager for MN Bank and Trust , and is also the incoming President for the Twin Cities Metro Area Chapter of the Exit Planning Institute . We discussed highlights of previous Owner's Forum events and what to expect from our upcoming event on O...

Business Succession Research Completed by the University of MN Our guest for today's show is Michael Darger , U of M Extension Specialist , who focuses on community economics and Business Succession . His background in years with Economic Development agencies led him to focus on Business Retention and Expansion work , which eventually landed him at the U of M conducting and publishing importa...