The Deall Show

Tom Hunter is Australia’s leading specialist recruiter for first finance hires and first CFOs — with nearly a decade placing top finance talent into high-growth tech, fintech, and deep-tech businesses. He also hosts The CFO Track, a podcast interviewing Australia’s top CFOs that hit 70K+ listens in its first season.For ETA buyers, the finance function is one of the most overlooked risks after close — most small businesses are just the owner plus a bookkeeper, and a big part of that walks out the door with the seller.In this episode, Tom breaks down:How to read the finance function during diligence before you signWhat red flags only show up once you’re in the seatWhy your first finance hire usually shouldn’t be a CFOHow to build lender and investor trust in year oneWhat makes a finance candidate actually suited to an owner-operated business vs a startup

Heather Griffith Barber co-founded Utah’s largest vehicle wrap company at 23, scaled it to 30 employees, and exited at a 6x multiple in 2024 — before turning her focus entirely to helping other founders do the same.She’s now the advisor ETA searchers call before signing an LOI — having informed 900+ acquisition decisions and valued over $400M in deals through her Buy-Scale-Sell platform. She’s also the author of two books, The Due Diligence Bible and Silver Tsunami.In this episode, Heather covers:What most searchers get wrong in their thesisHow to read revenue quality in a project-based businessThe red flags buyers consistently miss in deals they bring herWhat it felt like to be on the sell side — navigating diligence and choosing a buyerWhy the emotional cost of selling is something every acquisition entrepreneur underestimatesWhere AI is actually moving the needle for ETA operators, and where it’s just noiseHeather's Linkedin:   / heathergriffithbarber  Check Out The Silver Tsunami: https://tinyurl.com/bdd4vskaCheck Out The Due Dilligence Bible: https://tinyurl.com/5dctr4w8Questions or suggestions? Email us at [email protected] or learn more about us at http://thedeall.com!

Mark Mills built and exited 5 companies — most notably Cardpoint plc, the world's largest non-bank ATM operator, which he grew from scratch to £100M in annual revenue before exiting for £175M in 2007.Having both built companies and acquired them, Mark has sat on both sides of the deal table — giving him a rare, unfiltered view of what sellers are actually thinking, fearing, and maneuvering around when a buyer comes knocking.Since 2007, he's helped dozens of founders sell their businesses for far more than they expected — including one owner told his company was worth £3M who walked away with £10M. Nothing changed in the accounts — just who it was presented to and why they needed it.In this episode, Mark pulls back the curtain on sell-side psychology — the motivations, fears, and tactics every acquisition entrepreneur needs to understand before they sit across the table from a founder looking to exit.

Jordan Fliegel played professional basketball in Israel before becoming a 2x founder — raising $14M for CoachUp (backed by Stephen Curry) and selling Draft to Paddy Power Betfair for $48M in 2017. He went on to make early angel bets on Ramp (~$44B valuation) and Carta (~$2B), before pivoting fully into the world of buying businesses. Today he's CEO of Acquisition Lab, a community of 1,200+ entrepreneurs whose acquisitions have surpassed $1B in combined enterprise value.In this episode, Jordan breaks down why buying a boring business might be smarter than building a startup from scratch — and what it takes to succeed as an acquisition entrepreneur.Check Out The Lab: https://acquisitionlab.com/Connect with Jordan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanfliegel/Email the host: [email protected]

Eric Pacifici is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of SMB Law Group, a law firm that's helped everyday operators buy boring, unsexy businesses — closing over a billion dollars in deals along the way.Before founding the firm, Eric cut billion-dollar deals at Kirkland & Ellis, the largest law firm in the world by revenue, before leaving to help entrepreneurs skip the startup grind entirely and buy their way into ownership instead. He's credited with coining the term "silver tsunami" — the roughly $7 billion in small businesses currently held by Baby Boomers that will hit the market by 2030 — and has been named a Rising Star in M&A by Super Lawyers four years running.He's also become one of the most prominent voices in the ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition) space on X, with a following surpassing 148,000.In this episode, Eric breaks down the real deal-making lessons from a billion dollars in closings — what separates a good acquisition from a bad one, and what buyers consistently get wrong.