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The HoldCo Builders Podcast with PrivatEquityGuy is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about holding companies, entrepreneurship, small businesses, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!
127 Episodes
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My guest today is Joel Mathew, Head of Originations at Woodson Equity. We discuss how his entrepreneurial path led him into private equity, Woodson’s “inch wide, mile deep” focus on diversified industrials and business services, and why they favor hands-on, control deals. Joel shares a live carve-out playbook, how he sources more than a 1,000 deals a year, the first-100-days operating cadence, culture as an edge, off-market vs. banked processes, and the mindset required to win in the lower mi...
How Sid Jashnani scaled his firm into a portfolio of 15 companies and $77 million in revenue. If you’re an investor or builder, this is a masterclass in turning chaos into compounding cash flows. Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by CapitalPad, the marketplace that connects acquisition entrepreneurs with investors who want exposure to small-business deals. Operators list live deals in one place; investors get standardized terms, governance, and distributions. If you are raising for a deal,...
Buying a small business and raising the equity shouldn’t take a roadshow. In this episode, Donza Worden (ex–institutional PE, Clear Peak Capital) and Travis Jamison (multi-exit founder turned investor) break down how CapitalPad makes both sides easier: 1) curated deal flow for accredited investors; 2) and a streamlined path to capital for independent sponsors/searchers. Start deploying today with CapitalPad: https://capitalpad.com/ (HoldCo Builders is proudly sponsored by CapitalPad.) We c...
My guest today is Mac Lackey, an entrepreneur who has founded and sold six companies, each with 7-and 8-figure exits - including two back-to-back internet businesses during the dot-com boom. In this episode, Mac breaks down the exact mindset and playbook that helped him turn businesses into life-changing exits. He shares the story of advising one company who was struggling to sell for $25 million… and guiding them to restructure and close for $42 million in cash just months later. Sponsors:...
You’ve spent years building something from nothing — finding deals, operating, and growing real value. But what happens after success? Once liquidity arrives, how do you protect your wealth, make it work for you, and ensure it endures for generations? In this episode, we explore the mindset and structure behind lasting wealth — the difference between being a first-generation builder and a third-generation steward. Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by CapitalPad, the marketplace that connec...
Value-driven investor and turnaround specialist Reggie Prior Jr. (Founder, Prior LLC) breaks down his simple but relentless playbook: buy what others overlook and rebuild it into a durable cash flow machine. We go from his first mentor (textile legend Jimmy Gibbs) to reading Graham & Dodd, using collateral to get started, and why he rarely sells, preferring to borrow against assets instead. Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by CapitalPad, the marketplace that connects acquisition entre...
The greatest builders in history share one habit that changed their fortunes. You’ll hear how a single paragraph led Munger to a $500 million investment, how Jeff Bezos started Amazon because of one statistic in an article, and how Elon Musk saw an opportunity through the absence of information. This episode is about building your mental warehouse of ideas, training your intuition, and developing the kind of insight that compounds for life. The Sponsors This episode is brought to you by Ca...
Peter Lang has done 22 acquisitions (mostly off-market). Grant spent a full day at his masterclass—and it was the most valuable single-day M&A professional development he has ever had. Most people share 101-level fluff; Peter was selective about who he let in the room, so he went straight to 202/303-level tactics: - a 128-question pre-LOI audit, - “pre-diligence,” - risk registers, - and first-call bonding that actually wins deals. During the session he even had them cold DM a business ...
In this deep dive, we unpack the operating philosophy of Joe Liemandt - builder of Trilogy Software and ESW Capital, and now the force behind Alpha School - including lessons from 100+ acquisitions. Liemandt became a billionaire by buying sleepy software assets and turning them into cash machines, vanished from public view for years, then re-emerged with a mission to rebuild systems from first principles. This episode isn’t about education - it’s about how great operators think. The Sponsor ...
Steve Carroll is the CEO & co-founder of Kelso Industries, a national MEP services platform uniting HVAC, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical companies. In just a few years, Kelso went from a gritty, nearly-broke first acquisition to 29 acquisitions and $1B+ in revenue. Steve breaks down the bruises and the blueprint: why their first year almost killed the business (including a single job that wiped out a year of profit), the switch from “buy and replace” to a partner-and-keep-the-owner...
My guest today is Nick Hatchka, founder of Cub Investments, which has completed over a dozen acquisitions. Nick is now building a regional platform of generator dealers and service businesses in California alongside his operating partner, Dylan Ferguson. We discuss his journey: - to independent sponsorship, - lessons from 12+ acquisitions, - what makes a good business model, - partnering with operators, - and buying seller-dependent companies. Sponsors This episode is brought to you by Capi...
Imagine being in your early 30s, launching a private equity fund, and raising $450 million for your first fund. (No track record. No rich father or uncle.) Urs Wietlisbach, one of the three co-founders, led client relationships and fundraising, pushed proactive deal sourcing and thematic research, and kept the team focused on pensioners as the ultimate client. Sponsors This episode is brought to you by CapitalPad — a marketplace that connects acquisition entrepreneurs who need capital with ...
My guest today is Alexis Sikorsky. An entrepreneur who bootstrapped, scaled, and ultimately sold a company in a 9-figure exit. Sponsors This episode is brought to you by CapitalPad — a marketplace that connects acquisition entrepreneurs who need capital with investors who want exposure to small-business deals. Standardized terms, governance, and distributions included. If you’re raising for a deal—or want to back operators—check out https://capitalpad.com/ ETA Europe — sharp weekly curation...
Nikolai Dimitrov went from pro football to building Unity Investment Partnership, where he buys small, reliable, everyday businesses, paying 3–4× cash flow with seller-aligned structures, and has closed 4 acquisitions so far. We cover his rocky start (including a Facebook group against him), four acquisitions, why “terms more important than price,” post-acquisition reporting, incentives, and how culture and a real CEO will power Unity’s next stage. CapitalPad: the SMB investment platform fo...
Grant Hensel has started 10 companies (7 failed, 2 sold, 1 scaled), bought a business his wife now operates, and then got obsessed with backing self-funded searchers. He’s the founder of Entrepreneurial Capital, raising ~$11M to invest in “cockroach” SMBs at 3–5x earnings alongside gritty owner-operators. If you’re buying or backing boring, profitable businesses, this is a playbook episode. CapitalPad: the SMB investment platform for accredited investors & searchers. Join now: https://c...
A deep-dive on the operator-first path to buying a small business. Told through the lessons of investor-turned-operator Tim Ludwig (60+ portfolio companies; now co-runs Majority Search). Learn how search funds actually work, which industries to invest in, which searchers to back, why EQ beats IQ in a first-time CEO, and the exact playbook from LOI → close → the first 100 days. Want a newsletter that builds trust—but have zero time? Spacebar Studios handles strategy, writing, design, and dis...
Former institutional investor Donza Worden (co-founder, Clear Peak Capital) breaks down why many private equity pros aren’t truly investors—and what he’s doing differently as an independent sponsor who closed two platforms in year one (IT services & vertical SaaS). Sponsored by CapitalPad—deal flow for serious investors. Built by world-class engineers and PE operators. Apply here: https://capitalpad.com/ This episode is also sponsored by Space Bar Studios. If you’re an investor, holdco,...
I spoke with an operator who sold his own company - then turned around and bought eight more. His playbook is specific, bank-friendly, and built for growth. In this episode, I’m unpacking the lessons from those deals: 00:00 Intro: From exit to 8 acquisitions 00:26 Portfolio averagE: 4.7x paid; $4.1M EBITDA 00:52 Structure banks love: 70% now, 30% later; owner reinvests 01:18 Growth thesis: target 5x MOIC + “second bite” bigger than first 03:30 Value creation: capital allocation, incentives, ...
Co-invest in curated SMB acquisitions led by proven searchers and independent sponsors. Get a full deal room with financials, tax returns, sponsor profiles, and value-creation plans. No management fees; CapitalPad participates only after investors get their capital back and profits are earned. Operators under LOI can also use CapitalPad to fill equity gaps with a trusted co-investor network. These are long-term, illiquid investments and involve risk. Apply at: https://capitalpad.com/ Space...
At 42, Sam Turner had the title, the pay, the lake view in Switzerland — but he was not happy. So he engineered his exit, just as COVID nuked his industry. Instead of crawling back, he jumped into buying gritty local businesses. His first deal nearly sank him — wrong sector, thin margins, the people piece ignored. Most would quit. Sam doubled down, bought better, and then built a division from scratch that hit $3.66m in year one with double-digit margins. Today it’s five companies, ~$30m rev...
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