The lower middle market runs on trust and relationship building.

In this episode, we explore Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co., the quiet Charlotte-based advisory firm that shaped how lower middle market M&A gets done. Before private equity was institutionalized asset class, BHC figured out how to turn founder-led businesses into transactions lenders could underwrite and capital could trust.

This is a story about credibility over capital, why bad packaging can kill deals, and how preparation - not promotion - closes deals in the lower middle market.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why great investing ecosystems can be traced back to a few hidden origins
1:10 How a small Charlotte firm became a training ground for middle-market M&A
3:27 What Erskine Bowles saw at Morgan Stanley in the 1960s
6:35 How BHC turned founder chaos into lender confidence
10:12 Why BHC became the default choice for family-owned businesses
14:22 The true job of a great lower-middle-market advisor
15:21 Cash flow as downside protection
19:17 How BHC helped fuel middle-market efficiency
21:08 Where BHC alumni show up today
22:07 Attention to detail, low ego, and a partnership mindset

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
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Follow Mike/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Luis Reyes of Iberian Ventures ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/luiz/ ) about how he has completed over 30 acquisitions in 4 years and is building a fire safety rollup in Europe.

Snow notes:
0:00 From rural Mexico to more than 30 acquisitions
4:00 Buy-and-build thesis
6:45 Funding the first deals
11:55 The 100-day integration playbook
19:00 Using AI to scale operations and service quality
32:05 Deal sourcing at scale without spam
37:05 Managing risk, customer concentration, and diligence
44:35 Takeaways for other buyers
53:00 Hold vs sell and capital discipline

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Christa Glassburn about how she joined a search fund, acquired seven companies and scaled revenue from $15 million to $200 million.

Snow notes:
0:00 Christa’s $15M to $200M scaling story
2:30 FBI operator lessons
3:37 Jump to a search fund and move to rural Virginia
11:51 First acquisition and integration learning curve
17:28 Culture reset and global expansion via acquisitions
20:05 Post acquisition playbook
23:08 7 total acquisitions and off market sourcing
30:25 Transition to launching Harbor Capital
39:36 How to find invisible small town deals

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

This episode breaks down how Jeremy Giffon ( https://x.com/jeremygiffon ) thinks about special situations, forced sellers, and overlooked businesses, showing why the best investments come from understanding incentives, human behavior, and coordination problems rather than complex models or market timing.

Show notes:
0:00 Special situations in the lower middle market
6:18 The perfect business is getting paid for your words and gaining access
9:44 Coordination problems and forced sellers create the best deals
11:44 Ghost ship companies and orphaned assets that VCs misunderstand
15:28 Patience and selectivity outperform constant deal activity
18:42 Negotiation and the 25 million LOI with a Ferrari 488
21:19 Six unconventional truths about making better business decisions

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Jeremy Yamaguchi ( https://x.com/jeremyyamaguchi ) about how he acquired 10 companies in 18 months.

Show notes:
0:00 How Jeremy built and exited 3 home services businesses
5:48 Why “boring” home services were a massive tech opportunity
8:11 Why he chose venture for Lawn Love + the YC story
12:41 Why home services are still wildly fragmented and why most founders misunderstand the space
13:59 Sponsor: CapitalPad (backing searchers + proprietary deal access)
17:36 Game selection
27:23 Cabana thesis: national pool brand via M&A + ops + vertical software
28:45 Sponsor: SpaceBar Studios (35,000 newsletter subs in 90 days guarantee)
34:48 10 deals in 18 months, 4x YoY growth
59:45 Only buy from good-faith sellers

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

This one hire is something all profitable, cash-flowing traditional businesses can do. Yes, it can be a significant investment -- great specialists aren’t cheap -- but in the right setup, it can completely change the trajectory of a company.

I share two real-world examples of owner-operated, non-glamorous businesses that hired a Chief Investment Officer to professionally manage excess cash. In both cases, capital allocation quietly became the dominant profit engine, generating the majority of group earnings while the core operations remained stable and conservative.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 The hidden problem of excess cash in profitable businesses
1:55 When reinvestment, M&A, and dividends all stop making sense
2:00 Hiring a Chief Investment Officer
3:10 Case study: a fruit importer that turned cash into its main profit engine
4:40 Case study: a family manufacturer where capital allocation drove 80% of profits
6:45 Why capital allocation becomes the real growth engine over time

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, Todd Saunders shares how one small group of customers with much better retention changed the direction of his entire business. Instead of chasing trends or going broader, he went deep into a simple, overlooked niche -- independent flooring retailers -- and ended up building the core software used across the industry.

Todd explains why brand and community mattered more than features, how Facebook groups and events became his main growth drivers, and how that approach helped him roll up 8 niche software companies, grow past $30M in revenue, and exit for $100M+.

Show notes:
0:00 From Google to flooring software
5:19 The retention data that changed everything
7:44 The bold pivot (and why revenue collapsed first)
8:37 8 acquisitions lead to a platform build
13:35 Sponsor: CapitalPad
15:40 51% brand, 49% product (the real moat)
18:58 The Facebook group engine
25:05 FloorCon: turning community into a movement
28:12 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
31:09 The “great idea” that nearly blew up the business
40:07 Buying niche software: relationships vs outreach
44:03 Integration: the stuff nobody tells you
57:47 His founder filter: “I know in 5 minutes”
59:22 Hospitality vs service (the lesson that explains everything)

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

We go deep on Justin Ishbia, co-founder and Managing Partner of Shore Capital Partners - one of the most successful lower-middle-market private equity firms in the U.S.

After inviting Justin on the podcast and being asked to reconnect in early 2026, I used the time to study Shore’s work more closely. This episode is the result: a synthesis of Justin’s long-form interviews, public commentary, and Shore’s operating history, focused on the systems behind their results.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Why to study Justin Ishbia
1:30 Buy small, professionalize, roll up, sell the platform
2:20 The numbers: Shore’s reported track record (platforms, exits, and why the median matters)
3:15 “I’m not smart, I just know who to copy”
4:30 How “luck” is earned through repetition
6:55 Reserving most capital for add-ons to create multiple paths to 3x - 8x outcomes
8:43 Sponsor CapitalPad: backing acquisition entrepreneurs buying real, unsexy businesses
9:47 Why “the system is the star”

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Steve Lawrence, the founder of Uncomplicated Group went from middle management at a $14B manufacturer to buying five businesses in a few short years -- now running two injection-molding factories, employing 45 people, and shipping 200M parts a year.

But this episode isn’t about the highlight reel. It’s about the real path: quitting his job for a deal that collapsed at the finish line, burning cash on diligence, watching funding evaporate, and learning what “the seller isn’t emotionally ready” actually means -- when the mortgage clock is ticking.

We dig into how Steve rebuilt his deal process from scratch, how he sold himself with zero acquisition track record, the red flags he now screens for, and the operating system (EOS) that changed everything post-close.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 From corporate manager to 5 acquisitions in manufacturing
1:06 The moment Steve knew he was done with corporate life
2:54 The “measured exit” that turned into months of uncertainty
4:59 The first deal: tiny business, bad structure, and a lucky failure
5:42 The seller starts ghosting -- and the deal unravels
7:01 Losing the deal, burning cash, and rebuilding his entire approach
8:57 Why most people shouldn’t pursue acquisitions (the “strong why” test)
9:55 Sponsor: CapitalPad -- backing real operators in overlooked markets
11:06 How to tell if a seller is actually ready to sell
14:02 The exact outreach message that landed his first acquisition
19:04 Structuring and closing the first deal + brutal first 90 days
20:57 Sponsor: Spacebar Studios — building newsletters for HoldCos & investors
23:18 Implementing EOS: turning chaos into an operating system
39:45 80/20 thinking in manufacturing: cutting noise, expanding margins

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

For the last 20 years, private equity followed a simple formula: buy with leverage, cut costs, rely on multiple expansion, exit at a higher valuation.

That playbook worked incredibly well.

But it no longer does.

In this episode, I break down why the old private equity model is structurally broken - not just cyclically - and why a new model is emerging. A model where cheap debt doesn’t save you, multiple expansion can’t be assumed, and real value creation matters more than spreadsheets.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Why the old private equity playbook is dead and why buy at 8x sell at 12x no longer works
02:05 What the old PE model was and why it worked for 20 years
06:25 Why the old playbook is failing structurally as rates rise and leverage weakens
09:18 The shift from capital deployment to capability deployment
11:00 How the industrial builder mindset creates real alpha today
14:10 Why specialization beats being a generalist buyer
18:30 How founders should diligence buyers in the new model
22:15 The opportunity for HoldCo builders and small buyers in the lower middle market

Sponsors:
https://capitalpad.com/
https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Follow Mikk/PrivateEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.