This Is M&A Podcast

Most companies think finding the right deal is the hard part. It isn't.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Gwen Pope, Co-founder and CEO of Tiger Team M&A, breaks down why the best acquirers stop treating M&A as a one-off event and start building it as a repeatable operating system, what integration-led diligence actually looks like in practice, and how lean teams can now compete with enterprise serial acquirers using purp...

Most founders think their financials are bulletproof. When quality of earnings review begins, quality of earnings review begins.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Mary Grace Doggett, Transaction Advisory Services Manager at GHJ, breaks down what a QoE actually tells you, what it does not, how smart sellers use it to protect valuation, and the red flags that quietly reprice or kill deals before close.

Mary Grace provides financial...

Most medtech deals that stall were already in trouble before the process started.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Gregg Blake, Managing Director in Healthcare Investment Banking at CapM Advisors, breaks down what separates deals that close from deals that die: how to build for a premium exit 2 to 3 years out, what hidden risks quietly kill momentum, and how to run a sell-side process that actually extracts maximum value at the ...

Most PE investors never look at the engineering organization. That blind spot is costing them.

Dave Mangot, author of DevOps Patterns for Private Equity and founder and CEO at Mangoteque, joins This Is M&A to explain how DORA metrics translate into investor outcomes, why technical debt quietly destroys EBITDA, and what breaks in the first 100 days post-close. A DevOps veteran, he has successfully led digital, SRE, and DevOps tr...

Most privately held business owners believe growing revenue automatically makes their company more valuable. Buyers disagree. And that gap is exactly where deals get discounted.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Mike de Windt, Managing Director of Strategic Advisory at Carleton McKenna & Company, breaks down what actually drives shareholder value in founder-led and family-owned businesses, the hidden levers sophisticated buye...

Most companies are failing at AI. 

Not because the technology is broken, but because the organization is not ready for it.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Lisa Davis, Founder and CEO of Davis Core Advisory, breaks down why 95% of enterprises show no ROI on AI adoption, what leaders are getting wrong about digital transformation, and how executives can build the kind of organization that is actually ready for what comes nex...

Most founders treat selling their business like selling milk at the grocery store.

Pete Moore has spent 20 years watching that mindset cost founders millions.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Pete Moore, Founder and Managing Partner of Integrity Square, breaks down what it actually takes to build a business worth buying: the playbook, the team, the fourth quarter, and the one line every founder needs to hear before they hire an ...

Most earnouts are never earned. Most founders do not know why until it is too late.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Salim Dada, Managing Director and CEO of Concord Ventures, breaks down the three deal structure decisions that determine whether a founder walks away with what they expected: cash versus equity, earnouts and seller financing, and leveraged buyouts in today's credit environment.

Salim has closed more than 100 busin...

Most founders think selling their business is about getting the highest price.

It is not.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Richard Groberg, Managing Director at MidCap Advisors, breaks down what really happens when you sell your business: the terms that matter more than price, the private equity reality most founders are not prepared for, and the deal landmines that blow up transactions after the LOI is signed.

Richard brings mo...

Most CEOs think value equals revenue and EBITDA.

Buyers think differently.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Lindsey Wendler, Managing Director at 414 Capital, breaks down what buyers actually score you on, what you need to have in order before going to market, and what quietly kills deals before they close.

Lindsey advises lower middle market companies on M&A, capital raises, and restructures across industries from roofing a...

The cash runs thin. Debt piles up. The market turns against you. This is distress.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Phil Cassel, Managing Director at Cassel Salpeter & Co., breaks down the early warning signs most founders miss, the playbook for protecting value under pressure, and why moving fast is the single most important thing you can do when things start to go wrong.

Phil started his career at Alvarez & Marsal in t...

James Marciano has built four companies, sold several, invested in a dozen more, and now helps founders exit. He has sat at every seat at the table — founder, angel, LP, banker — and he came out of retirement because he saw that most investment banks only close 35% of their deals.

Last year, Tuck Advisors closed 100% of theirs.

In this episode of This Is M&A, James breaks down what it actually felt like to build in ...

Education is undergoing a fundamental shift driven by policy, capital flows and AI.

Trace Urdan, Managing Director at Tyton Partners, joins This Is M&A to break down what is really happening beneath the surface and how buyers, founders and investors should be thinking about the sector today.

With nearly 20 years of experience covering the global knowledge market across equity research and investment banking, Trace explains how ...

Most M&A deals do not fail at signing.  They fail after close.

Rachel Smith, Vice President of Nota Consulting, joins This Is M&A to break down the human side of post-merger integration and why culture is revenue.

Rachel has led integration efforts on multi-billion-dollar transactions, including execution on a $3.1B acquisition that delivered nearly $100M in cost savings. In this episode, she shares what actually drive...

Every founder eventually faces it: Raise capital, recapitalize, or sell?

Matt Plooster, CEO & Co-Founder of Bridgepoint Investment Banking, joins This Is M&A to break down how founders should think about control, liquidity and timing.

With over $41B in completed transactions and experience at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, Matt shares how to:

• Raise growth capital without losing control
<...

Founder-owned exits are rarely clean breaks. In this episode, Nick Cipiti of CriticalPoint reveals the psychology behind partial exits and how buyers can structure deals where the founder wants to stay involved.

Nick is a Managing Director at CriticalPoint with over a decade of experience in middle-market M&A. He specializes in founder-led transactions, carve-outs, and private equity deals where structure and alignment matter a...

Cross-border deals are tough and only a few teams get them right.

Feng Han has executed 100+ transactions in over 13 countries across healthcare, life sciences, and MedTech. In this episode, he reveals the red flags sellers miss, why strategic fit matters more than you think, and how international acquirers are behaving in 2026.

With decades of experience at Henry Schein, Fosun, and Pagoda Capital, Feng now leads Laurel Hollow Capi...

Selling your company is not as straightforward as it seems.

In this episode of This Is M&A, Hitesh Nathani, Managing Director at CriticalPoint, reveals the myths that quietly destroy value, and what every founder, operator, and acquirer needs to understand before and after the LOI.

With 19+ years of experience across valuation, private capital, and operating strategy, Hitesh exposes what really happens when private equity gets ...

Can you scale from zero to $1.2B in under 2 years? Alan Gessel has... five times! In this episode, the CEO of Graystone Corporate breaks down how he built operations, raised capital, and managed risk while scaling at extreme speed.

Alan Gessel is a serial founder, investor, and the current CEO of Graystone Corporate. His resume spans C-suite roles at global firms like Aramark and Sodexo, and his leadership has taken teams from fiv...