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May 2, 2024
Transparency, Relationships Are Key For Buyers In This Market
Long Road Partners' Jeremy Kane on the importance of relationships in today's M&A deals....
By Adam Burroughs
April 4, 2024
Be Honest When Courting Capital
FreightWise's Chris Cochran on how best to leverage different capital providers to achieve business results....
By Adam Burroughs
February 29, 2024
The Role of a Family Office for Founders
615 Ventures' Rob Bellenfant, along with UBS's Mark Tepsich and James Jack, on the challenges of starting a family office after an exit, as well as strategies to better handle the new responsibilities....
By Adam Burroughs
February 15, 2024
Announcing Nashville's Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year Awards and Hall of Fame recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the landscape of business and innovation in Nashville....
By SBN Staff
January 12, 2024
Why Health Care Startups Fail
Jumpstart Capital founder and managing partner Vic Gatto has been investing in early-stage health care businesses for nearly a decade. His organization — Jumpstart Foundry, Jumpstart Health Investors...
By Adam Burroughs
December 7, 2023
Building a Bridge of Opportunity from Corner to Corner
Compelled by Jesus’ invitation to ‘love our neighbors as we love ourselves,’ Corner to Corner was founded by Will and Tiffany Acuff in 2011. The young couple wanted to create a relationship-centered...
By Dan Pender
November 17, 2023
Reimagine Care Shifts Oncology Care to Patient’s Home
While service providers such as hotels and restaurants were severely debilitated by the pandemic shutdown, others thrived. One such example is Reimagine Care, a Nashville-based in-home cancer care...
By Dan Pender
October 20, 2023
Buying What's Not In The Numbers
Randy Overton says in health care M&A in recent years, he's seen all kinds of books. "All of the sudden, everybody is the most valuable company in the world," says Overton, CFO of FastPace Health....
By Adam Burroughs
September 8, 2023
COVID Turbulence Drew Project Admission's Focus Inward
Stephen Glicken is working to disrupt ticket sales as we know it with his company, Project Admission. It's a unique model that managed to survive the collapse of live events during COVID and continue...
By Adam Burroughs
August 10, 2023
How The Peach Truck Found The Right Partner
How Jessica and Stephen Rose found the right partner to capitalize on The Peach Truck's significant growth....
By Adam Burroughs
July 7, 2023
John Cerasuolo On Making The Leap To A New Industry Focus
John Cerasuolo leads incredibly acquisitive companies. At ADS Security, he led the business through 45 acquisitions in a direct-to-owner model that relied on relationships and an internal team to...
By Adam Burroughs
June 9, 2023
Selling To Make The Business Better
Having sold his business, the once-high-growth startup focused on high-acuity homecare programs, Contessa Health, Co-Founder Travis Messina says when they ran their process, they used an investment...
By Adam Burroughs
May 12, 2023
Porter Road's Path To Changing The World
"Originally, when (co-founder) Chris (Carter) and I went out, we had $50 suits that we got at Goodwill and we had a crazy idea, which was opening a high-end butcher shop in East Nashville. At the time, and traditionally, East Nashville wasn't a very wealthy neighborhood. It was a very working class, rougher area. Most banks and financing people didn't see the opportunity that was going to happen." - Porter Road Co-Founder James Peisker on why banks hesitated to fund the company and how capital and ideas from VC and PE led to its remarkable growth. ...
By Adam Burroughs
April 14, 2023
How to get a FAIR deal
MATH Venture Partners' Mert Iseri and Mark Achler, along with UBS's James Jack and Ryan Wood, on the valuable personal lessons they've learned over several successful exits....
By Adam Burroughs
March 16, 2023
Luck, Likeability and Respect Go A Long Way
Alto’s Eric Satz discusses how his company is democratizing access to alternative assets and attracting investors along the way. ...
By Dan Pender
February 24, 2023
VendEngine Revs Up Revenue Prior to Sale
Silas Deane on his company, VendEngine, Inc.,which created a way to improve the process of gifting money to inmates and later sold the company for $83 million....
By Dan Pender
January 20, 2023
Debbie Gordon On Maximizing Her Time During Fundraising
Cloud Range is a cyber security company helping large organizations proactively prepare for cyberattacks. In an environment in which cybersecurity attacks are increasing significantly, CEO Debbie...
By Adam Burroughs
October 28, 2022
Dry Powder vs Rising Interest Rates
Petra Capital Partners' David Fitzgerald on how raising capital and investment decisions are being affected by conditions in the market....
By Adam Burroughs
September 30, 2022
Lessons learned from the supply chain turmoil
LFM Capital's Stephen Cook his view of the situation in middle-market manufacturing and how the firm is dealing with the economic pressures in that sector. ...
By Adam Burroughs
September 2, 2022
Multiple means of raising capital
Oncocyte's Ron Andrews on the company's use of its at-the-market program, how it works, when it's best deployed, and what the raise from it has enabled to the company to do....
By Adam Burroughs
August 5, 2022
Evaluating your sell-side options in an exit
RiverGlade Capital's Kevin McGrath, Council Capital's Nick Cooper, Pinnacle Financial Partners' Tyler Morgan, Capital Alignment Partners' John Pontius, Whistler Capital's Darshan Prabhu and Bass, Berry & Sims' Tatjana Paterno discuss what goes into a successful exit beyond a liquidity event, including when a private equity firm sells one of its portfolio companies....
By Adam Burroughs
July 6, 2022
Family must earn their way into Archangel's CEO seat
Archangel Protective Services' Ken Thomas on how the company got its start, the importance of getting help along the way, succession planning and the ways he's helping others get their entrepreneurial start. ...
By Adam Burroughs
June 10, 2022
How Reps & Warranties Is Increasing Deal Efficiency
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis' Tyson Bickley, LFM Capital's Chris Lin, Resource Label Group's Hunter Rost and LBMC's Brian Marynowitz on how to evolve your buy-side strategies in 2022 and beyond, and key mistakes you can avoid....
By Adam Burroughs
May 11, 2022
For Stu Clark, Acquisitions Are All About The Team
Premise Health's Stu Clark on his acquisition philosophy, what he looks for in teams and cultures, and his post-deal integration process....
By Adam Burroughs
April 22, 2022
An acquisition based on shared interests, approach
Gibson Brand President Cesar Gueikian talks about the Mesa/Boogie acquisition, as well as the direction of the Gibson brand and the many ways it's working to connect with its community....
By Adam Burroughs
March 25, 2022
Assessing the economic factors influencing M&A
Kicking off this past week's Nashville Smart Business Dealmakers Conference, Laurel Graefe of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta - Nashville Branch, along with the Nashville Chamber of Commerce's Wanda Lyle, and UBS's Shane Lieberman and James Jack, discuss what's driving business and M&A activity nationwide and across the Nashville region, and what to expect for the remainder of 2022....
By Adam Burroughs
February 4, 2022
Swift, seamless integration a priority in high-volume deal environment
Amedisys' Kris Novak, along with Probo Medical's Jay Burkhardt, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP's Tyson Bickley and LBMC's Lisa Nix, take a deep dive into how a public company and a PE-backed business have adapted their acquisition strategies in this new normal....
By Adam Burroughs
January 7, 2022
Plan ahead to find deal success
Tri Star Energy's Wayne Acklen, Baker Donelson's Tonya Mitchem Grindon, Quorum Health's Alfred Lumsdaine and PNC Bank's Michael Johnson offer tips on financing your business to supercharge growth and how planning ahead can prepare buyers and sellers for just about any contingency....
By Adam Burroughs
November 12, 2021
Preparing Your Health Care Company for Post-COVID Deals
RSM's Matt Wolf along with IVX Health’s Douglas Ghertner, HUB International’s Blake Wiedman and Ursa Health’s Dr. Robin Clarke talk about preparing your health care company for any deal in a post-COVID environment....
By Adam Burroughs
October 8, 2021
How family alignment helped Monticeto Medical Real Estate reach its BHAG
Monticeto Medical Real Estate CEO Chip Conk, along with Bass, Berry & Sims’ Frank Pellegrino and EY's Bobby Stover explore dealmaking, growth and communication within a family business....
By Adam Burroughs
September 17, 2021
Ignoring cybersecurity in M&A could be a multi-million-dollar mistake
BKD’s Cyber Division Director Cy Sturdivant offers his view of the current cyberthreat environment, what cybersecurity means in practice, and just how troubling digital threats are for players in the M&A world....
By Adam Burroughs
September 9, 2021
Chris Chandler on Radio Systems Corp.’s patient seller approach
Radio Systems Corp.' Chris Chandler on how the company was able to use past experience to maximize value when the company was sold....
By Adam Burroughs
August 19, 2021
Sehrish Siddiqui talks ESG and private deals
Sehrish Siddiqui, Corporate and Securities Partner at Bass, Berry & Sims talks about how ESG matters have started to work their way from the public sphere and into private deal diligence. ...
By Adam Burroughs
July 16, 2021
Brian Fox on the sale of Confirmation to Thomson Reuters
Brian Fox, the founder and now former president of Confirmation, says his company had been on not just Thomson Reuters' radar screen, but many of the big players in the in the tax and accounting space....
By Adam Burroughs
June 18, 2021
To build your pipeline, write the checks
Marcus Whitney, founding partner, Jumpstart Health Investors on how technology helped him make some 80 investments in his first couple years at Jumpstart Foundry, and his newest fund, Jumpstart Nova....
By Adam Burroughs
May 13, 2021
Darrell Freeman on firing himself to grow his business
When serial entrepreneur Darrell Freeman was running Zycron, an information technology company he founded in 1991, the market decided that he wasn't the best person to run it. So he fired himself....
By Adam Burroughs
April 23, 2021
Eric Johnson on staying connected with Nashville’s business community
Nashville seems to have a healthy homegrown ecosystem, but Eric Johnson, Dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt, says there’s always room for improvement....
By Adam Burroughs
March 25, 2021
Reggie Ford on how diversity, equity and inclusion spur innovation
Rosecrete Wealth Management founder and CEO Reggie Ford talks race and the mental health challenges many minority entrepreneurs, investors, and employees face from their life experiences and why open dialogue can lead to a stronger and more prosperous business community....
By Adam Burroughs
March 5, 2021
David Freeman: focus on the future, not the price
David Freeman, CEO of Three Six Venture Capital, talks about his experience with the Nashville Predators deal, and how his deal approach differs based on the deal type....
By Adam Burroughs
January 29, 2021
Paladin Capital’s Bill Prevost on deal distress in the wake of COVID-19
Bill Prevost, of Paladin Capital, talks about what the 2020 market looked like for his firm, which focuses on acquisition in the trucking industry, and what businesses interested in selling to an ESOP need to do to prepare....
By Adam Burroughs
December 22, 2020
Vector Management's Ken Levitan: Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is
Vector Management founder Ken Levitan offers his advice on getting philanthropically involved after selling your business....
By Adam Burroughs
October 23, 2020
Pharos Capital’s Anna Kovalkova on knowing your buyer target
Anna Kovalkova says understand and identify the different types of buyers for each deal from the start....
By Adam Burroughs
July 24, 2020
LFM Capital’s Stephen Cook: In Tough Times, Pass In The Corners
The LFM Capital co-founder discusses the outlook for buyers and sellers, and the importance of compromise in getting deals done....
By Adam Burroughs
June 19, 2020
TVV Capital’s AJ Byrd says buyers have opportunities, if they have the funds
TVV Capital Managing Director AJ Byrd explores the prospects for buyers in the short-term during the disruption....
By Adam Burroughs
May 21, 2020
UBS’ Jerry Johnson sees deals and capital flowing, although with some renegotiation
UBS Managing Director and Market Head Jerry Johnson shares his view of the market and what's happening with capital flow in the M&A space....
By Adam Burroughs
April 24, 2020
Burr & Forman's Tucker Herndon: Stay Calm
While there is plenty of reason for concern in the M&A space right now, C. Tucker Herndon has some firm advice for business owners....
By Adam Burroughs
March 13, 2020
Premise Health CEO Stuart Clark on what derails a deal
“We have a saying around the office: Fall seven times, stand up eight,” says Premise Health CEO Stuart Clark. “And I think it applies to deals.”...
By Adam Burroughs
February 27, 2020
2020 Dealmaker of the Year Awards, Nashville
Smart Business Dealmakers is recognizing some top deals and dealmakers in the Nashville region. Here are the 2020 Dealmaker of the Year Award winners!...
By Adam Burroughs
January 23, 2020
The State of M&A In Nashville
As the Smart Business Dealmakers Conference heads to Nashville to put M&A center stage, we asked top local dealmakers give their assessment of the state of the Nashville M&A scene....
By Adam Burroughs
January 21, 2020
Martin Renkis: Be a 10-year thinker when raising funds
Founder Martin Renkis talks about raising capital for Smartvue and how long-term thinking ultimately landed put him in the best position to succeed — culminating in a sale to Johnson Controls in 2018....
By Adsam Burroughs
