Buyers and Builders

24:27

I Met Roll-Up and Serial Acquisition Outliers. Here’s...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/10/03

What does it actually take to build a world-class roll-up? After spending a day at the RollUpEurope Serial Acquirers Summit with some of Europe’s most active serial acquirers, we break down the operating playbooks behind groups that have completed hundreds of acquisitions—and the lessons that matter whether you’re pursuing acquisition #1 or #50. This episode covers how great acquirers choose markets, build proprietary deal flow, win sellers without simply paying the highest price, keep foun...

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52:25

A Private Equity Approach to Public Markets | Deiya...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/09/21

My guests today are Deiya and Dean Pernas, founders of Pernas Research, who have compounded capital at roughly 30% annually over the past nine years. We explore their private equity-like approach to public markets: understanding businesses from the inside out, judging management teams and capital allocation, and finding inflection points before they show up in the financials. We also discuss their “motor” investing framework, why trajectory matters more than absolute quality, lessons from p...

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49:33

How to Scale a Services Business Like a Tech Company...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/09/12

My guest today is Sam Allsopp, co-founder of Neal Roofing and Waterproofing, a home services company he started with Andrew Neal in 2020 and has since grown from zero to roughly $50 million in annual revenue—all organically. What makes Sam’s story interesting is that he didn’t come from roofing. Before starting Neal Roofing and Waterproofing, he ran a marketing agency and worked with more than a dozen roofing companies, where he began to see firsthand why some contractors could turn leads in...

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57:20

The Roll-Up Playbook: From Zero to $100M Revenue |...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/09/03

My guest today is Felix Jander, co-founder of Arsipa, a buy-and-build company focused on occupational health and safety. Felix and Stefan began exploring the idea during COVID, studying roughly 60 niche industries before choosing a fragmented market with significant room for consolidation. Arsipa went on to complete more than 40 acquisitions, grow to over 1,100 employees across 60+ locations, and surpass $100 million in annual revenue. In 2024, the company partnered with Warburg Pincus, wit...

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43:48

The Anti-Private Equity Playbook: Buy Great...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/08/25

My guest today is Justin Escajeda, an entrepreneur who owns 12 trade businesses around Pittsburgh, employing roughly 250 people and generating more than $50 million in annual revenue. What makes Justin’s story interesting is that he never set out to become an acquisition entrepreneur. He started in masonry, construction and real estate before buying his first roofing company which did $600k in SDE in 2018 for $846k. That acquisition changed how he thought about building businesses. Today, J...

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51:04

Masters of Private Equity: Warren Hellman, Tully...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/08/18

In 2010, Robert Finkel wrote the book The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital: Management Lessons from the Pioneers of Private Investing In this episode, I explore the ideas, decisions, successes, and failures of two people who helped define modern private equity: Joseph Rice, co-founder of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Warren Hellman, co-founder of Hellman & Friedman. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The Masters of Private Equity 2:15 Private equity is more than buying and selling compani...

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56:39

How Two First-Time CEOs Bought a $5M EBITDA Business...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/08/12

Greg Geronemus bought a ~$5M EBITDA business with no operating experience, financed half the purchase price with a seller note, and spent his first year doing something most new owners struggle to do: almost nothing. Four years later, the business was larger, professionally managed, dramatically delevered, and sold at roughly 9x EBITDA—producing just under a 5x net return and ~50% net IRR for investors. Greg breaks down the entire journey: finding the deal, negotiating the structure, taking...

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61:48

Inside a Public 14-Acquisition Compounder | Eric Tan...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/08/05

Eric Tan and Patrick Grove are building one of Southeast Asia's most interesting serial acquirers. As CEO of Catcha Digital, they've completed 14 acquisitions while creating a permanent home for market-leading businesses across digital media, B2B exhibitions, and vertical software. In this conversation, Eric shares why his failed startup became the foundation for Catcha Digital, how they evaluate hundreds of acquisition opportunities, why culture matters more than spreadsheets, and what he's...

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49:40

The mind behind a 40-acquisition roll-up that sold to...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/07/24

Frederik Brandis was one of the key minds behind Arsipa, a buy-and-build platform focused on acquiring occupational medicine and workplace safety consultancies. As one of the earliest investors and strategic partners, he helped scale the business through 40 acquisitions before it achieved a $150 million exit to Warburg Pincus just three years after its founding. Today, he is the Founder & General Partner of Aven Capital Partners, where he backs exceptional entrepreneurs before they even ...

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55:09

Traditional Search Is a Win-Win: $67M Exit in Four...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/07/16

Greg Geronemus is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Footbridge Partners, one of the leading investors in Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). Before launching Footbridge, Greg and his partner David acquired a business generating approximately $5 million of EBITDA, paid down most of its $20 million debt load, grew EBITDA by roughly 50%, and ultimately exited at around 9x EBITDA—roughly four turns higher than their entry multiple. Today, through Footbridge, Greg backs the next gene...

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49:35

How to Build a Roll-Up to 8-Figure Revenue | Nathan...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/07/06

Nathan Lindley is the CEO of Lindley Home Services, an HVAC platform that has completed 11 acquisitions across Texas. But this story almost ended before it began... After acquiring his first two companies with an SBA loan, Nathan watched revenue collapse, burned through his cash, nearly lost his father's retirement savings and came dangerously close to bankruptcy. The turning point was a complete rethink of incentives, compensation, and how to build an acquisition platform that actual...

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48:38

13 Acquisitions and Why Permanent Capital Beats...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/06/24

Chris Rolls is the founder of PieLAB Capital, a holding company with nine portfolio companies built through 13 acquisitions. After building and selling multiple businesses, Chris entered private equity to learn the investing side of the game. But he eventually became convinced that the traditional PE model forces investors to sell their best businesses too early. That realization led him to build a permanent capital holding company inspired by Berkshire Hathaway, Constellation Software, Tran...

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50:38

A $6.5M Estimate in 23 Minutes: How AI Is Rewiring...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/06/15

In this episode, David Flickinger, founder of Vellm.ai, joins Mikk Markus to explain how his journey from Marine Corps officer to AI implementation shaped his perspective on technology, and how business owners, private equity professionals, search fund operators, and CEOs can move beyond using Claude and ChatGPT as a simple productivity tool and begin building AI infrastructure that creates real enterprise value. Drawing on years of experience deploying AI solutions inside operating companie...

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46:56

90+ Acquisitions, 30% Revenue CAGR, 35% Book Value...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/06/07

Brett Kelly is the founder and CEO of Kelly Partners Group. Since founding the firm in 2006, Brett has completed more than 90 acquisitions, compounded revenue at over 30% annually and built a business expected to generate roughly $50 million in EBITA in 2026. Timestamps: 0:00 Brett Kelly's early years and losing his job at 22 3:57 Writing to 80 successful Australians while unemployed 9:13 The moment Brett decided to start his own firm 12:24 Launching Kelly Partners with a clear long-term vis...

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50:44

How We Bought 14 Businesses and Built a $120M HoldCo...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/05/22

Andrea Allegrini is one of the key operators behind one of Europe’s most fascinating small-cap acquisition stories. Lindbergh is building what could become the country’s first national HVAC maintenance platform through a disciplined roll-up strategy focused on fragmented, family-owned businesses. In this conversation, Andrea explains how Lindbergh evolved from a logistics operator into a serial acquirer, why Italy’s HVAC market is such an attractive hunting ground, how the company structure...

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58:11

How We Bought 160 Businesses and Built a $1.5B HoldCo...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/05/13

Ramsey Sahyoun shares how Evergreen grew from a Berkshire-inspired idea into a $1.5B revenue, $250M EBITDA HoldCo with 160 acquisitions. We discuss proprietary sourcing, decentralization, talent, value creation, MSPs, and the lessons behind building one of America’s most interesting acquisition machines. Timestamps: 0:00 Evergreen’s scale and long-term hold model 2:06 Discovering private equity and buying private companies 4:14 Meeting Jeff Totten at Alpine Investors 5:53 Evergreen’s first ...

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66:03

35+ Acquisitions, $1.3B Exit and Backing 80+...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/05/07

Mark Sinatra has lived the full search fund journey: discovering ETA at Wharton, acquiring Staff One HR, surviving the 2008 crisis, scaling the business, selling to Oasis Outsourcing, and later helping build ETA Equity. In this episode, Mark shares what he learned from nearly a decade as a search CEO, why talent unlocked the business, how he survived the hardest years, and what he now looks for after backing 80+ searchers and 35+ acquisitions. Timestamps: 0:00 Mark Sinatra’s journey from se...

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51:11

What 137 Acquisitions Taught Me About Operational...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/04/27

In this episode, Robert Irving of Buffalo Growth Partners shares what he learned from building a fire protection business from zero to $20M in revenue, selling it to private equity, rolling equity, and then helping execute a 137-company rollup. Timestamps: 0:00 Why PE value creation is harder than it sounds 1:52 From fire protection operator to $20M in revenue 4:09 The three sales roles that drive B2B growth 6:25 Building hospitals, data centers, and complex fire systems 8:07 Selling the com...

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59:09

Buying Three Founder-Led SMEs: Lessons from the...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/04/18

Simon Plummer is the co-founder of Arbor Permanent Owners, a holding company built for long-term ownership. In this episode, Simon drawing on his experience acquiring and operating three founder-led SMEs, he shares a practical playbook for the first year of ownership: - how to settle a team, - build trust, - create momentum, - improve sales, - think about pricing, - and know when to invest for growth. We also discuss why investor alignment matters so much in small business, what makes found...

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25:04

How to Build the Best Network While Investing in the...

Buyers and Builders ·

2026/04/12

Why networks are one of the most underrated advantages in the lower middle market, and how to build them. We explore how trust, introductions, persistence, and long-term generosity can create better deal flow, stronger relationships, and a real competitive edge for buyers, builders, and investors. This episode is heavily inspired by the wisdom of Alix Pasquet, a Managing Partner at Prime Macaya Capital Management. Timestamps: 0:00 Why Networks Matter More in a Crowded Lower Middle Market 1:...

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