In this episode, David Flickinger, founder of Vellm.ai, joins Mikk Markus to explain how his journey from Marine Corps officer to AI implementation shaped his perspective on technology, and how business owners, private equity professionals, search fund operators, and CEOs can move beyond using Claude and ChatGPT as a simple productivity tool and begin building AI infrastructure that creates real enterprise value.

Drawing on years of experience deploying AI solutions inside operating companies, David shares how AI agents can be connected directly into CRMs, ERPs, financial systems, proposal databases, and operating workflows to capture institutional knowledge, reduce key-man risk, improve decision-making, and dramatically increase productivity.

One of the most fascinating examples comes from a commercial roofing company where an AI system analyzed 47 building plans and produced a $6.5 million estimate in 23 minutes—nearly identical to the estimate produced by a senior estimator after two weeks of work.

We discuss:
0:00 Introduction: Why Most Business Owners Use AI Wrong
1:20 David Flickinger's Journey from Marine Officer to AI Operator
6:48 ChatGPT vs Real AI Infrastructure
0:24 The Roofing Company AI Case Study
6:17 How AI Learns Decades of Business Experience
20:39 Human Oversight, Trust & AI Decision-Making
25:30 What Happens to Junior Employees in an AI World?
28:07 How AI Doubled Revenue Without Hiring More Staff
32:17 AI, Key-Man Risk & Higher Business Valuations
39:02 The Biggest Risks of Implementing AI
45:05 The First AI Project Every Business Owner Should Start

David on X: https://x.com/DWFlickinger

David's firm - AI agents for the workflows that run your business: https://vellm.ai/

Brett Kelly is the founder and CEO of Kelly Partners Group. Since founding the firm in 2006, Brett has completed more than 90 acquisitions, compounded revenue at over 30% annually and built a business expected to generate roughly $50 million in EBITA in 2026.

Timestamps:
0:00 Brett Kelly's early years and losing his job at 22
3:57 Writing to 80 successful Australians while unemployed
9:13 The moment Brett decided to start his own firm
12:24 Launching Kelly Partners with a clear long-term vision
13:22 Inspired by Disney, McDonald's, Ritz-Carlton & Berkshire Hathaway
17:10 Choosing the right clients and creating a business system
18:36 The 204-step operating system behind Kelly Partners
19:01 The acquisition strategy: becoming #1 or #2 in local markets
24:05 Winning clients through a differentiated value proposition
28:27 Lessons learned from 95 acquisitions
29:06 Why the 51/49 ownership model works
31:39 What types of firms Kelly Partners acquires
32:59 Capital allocation and building a capital-efficient roll-up
34:30 Doubling profits after acquisitions: the biggest lever
35:18 AI, accounting, and the future of professional services
36:28 Permanent capital vs. traditional private equity
37:20 Brett's biggest challenge today: financing growth
37:53 Kelly Partners' 17-step hiring process
38:28 The future: building a global accounting platform
39:45 Focus, systems, and operating at world-class standards
41:17 Why passion and meaning matter in business
43:05 How accountants can genuinely improve people's lives
44:24 Final thoughts on leadership, culture, and making a difference
45:32 30% revenue CAGR, 35% book value growth & 90+ acquisitions

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

Andrea Allegrini is one of the key operators behind one of Europe’s most fascinating small-cap acquisition stories.

Lindbergh is building what could become the country’s first national HVAC maintenance platform through a disciplined roll-up strategy focused on fragmented, family-owned businesses.

In this conversation, Andrea explains how Lindbergh evolved from a logistics operator into a serial acquirer, why Italy’s HVAC market is such an attractive hunting ground, how the company structures acquisitions, and why technician retention matters more than financial engineering.

Timestamps:
0:00 Lindbergh’s evolution from logistics to HVAC roll-up
2:51 Building a pan-European logistics platform
6:03 Why Lindbergh exited France and pivoted to HVAC
11:47 The massive opportunity in Italy’s fragmented HVAC market
13:17 Inside Lindbergh’s acquisition strategy and deal structures
18:29 Cross-selling, technician sharing, and operational synergies
20:05 How word-of-mouth became Lindbergh’s sourcing engine
23:22 Acquisition multiples, seller financing, and capital allocation
30:23 “More plumbers, less managers”
31:40 Retaining technicians and building an internal academy
35:24 How Lindbergh attracted long-term U.S. investors

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

Ramsey Sahyoun shares how Evergreen grew from a Berkshire-inspired idea into a $1.5B revenue, $250M EBITDA HoldCo with 160 acquisitions.

We discuss proprietary sourcing, decentralization, talent, value creation, MSPs, and the lessons behind building one of America’s most interesting acquisition machines.

Timestamps:
0:00 Evergreen’s scale and long-term hold model
2:06 Discovering private equity and buying private companies
4:14 Meeting Jeff Totten at Alpine Investors
5:53 Evergreen’s first acquisition and current portfolio
8:14 How Berkshire Hathaway inspired Evergreen
10:23 Leaving Alpine and starting young
12:18 The first 6-18 months after closing
13:15 What went wrong with an early MSP roll-up
15:25 Why centralization hurt customer intimacy
18:44 Building Evergreen’s sourcing engine
22:27 Why Ramsey still talks to business owners himself
23:07 The value of having a large acquisition database
26:09 How to build trust with business owners
29:18 Why finding great deals is still the most important part of M&A
32:09 Higher valuations, higher rates, and value creation
34:02 Evergreen’s M&A, talent, and playbook flywheel
37:43 Why talent drives investing outcomes
39:17 Motivating founders vs. hired CEOs
41:54 Lessons from 160 acquisition post-mortems
44:22 Setting big goals and planning backward
47:16 Evergreen’s one-page plan and quarterly renewals
48:53 What Evergreen learned from Alpine and Graham Weaver
51:27 How Ramsey and Jeff’s roles changed as Evergreen scaled
54:21 What people misunderstand about Evergreen
55:07 How Ramsey’s view on managing people changed
56:48 Closing thoughts from Ramsey

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

Mark Sinatra has lived the full search fund journey: discovering ETA at Wharton, acquiring Staff One HR, surviving the 2008 crisis, scaling the business, selling to Oasis Outsourcing, and later helping build ETA Equity.

In this episode, Mark shares what he learned from nearly a decade as a search CEO, why talent unlocked the business, how he survived the hardest years, and what he now looks for after backing 80+ searchers and 35+ acquisitions.

Timestamps:
0:00 Mark Sinatra’s journey from searcher to ETA investor
1:21 Discovering search funds at Wharton
7:53 Raising a search fund and finding Staff One HR
13:17 How underwriting search deals has changed
18:34 Buying a business right before the financial crisis
21:14 When Mark finally felt like a real CEO
24:19 Hiring the right people and upgrading the team
31:38 Surviving the emotionally hardest years as CEO
37:30 Rebuilding Staff One and selling to Oasis
42:14 Starting ETA Equity
45:20 What Mark looks for in searchers today
51:20 Lessons from deals that did not go well
58:30 Jockey, horse, and barn: what really matters in ETA
1:01:50 How the search fund market has changed

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

In this episode, Robert Irving of Buffalo Growth Partners shares what he learned from building a fire protection business from zero to $20M in revenue, selling it to private equity, rolling equity, and then helping execute a 137-company rollup.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why PE value creation is harder than it sounds
1:52 From fire protection operator to $20M in revenue
4:09 The three sales roles that drive B2B growth
6:25 Building hospitals, data centers, and complex fire systems
8:07 Selling the company and rolling equity into the platform
9:33 Going from one business to 12 offices and 800 people
11:21 The hidden pattern behind great acquisitions
13:53 Why integrations usually fail because of people
15:49 What 100+ acquisitions teach you that one or two never could
18:13 How to diligence small businesses without overcomplicating it
19:30 The danger of fast rollups and pure multiple arbitrage
23:39 Retaining owners and creating alignment after the deal
25:15 The real craft of off-market sourcing
31:00 Buffalo Growth Partners and the “guys in trucks” thesis
37:39 Reimagining private equity through operations
40:12 Small consistent improvements that compound into big results
42:06 Constraint-based growth and finding the real bottleneck
45:05 Meeting operators where they are with technology
48:51 Where to find Robert Irving and Buffalo Growth Partners

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

Simon Plummer is the co-founder of Arbor Permanent Owners, a holding company built for long-term ownership.

In this episode, Simon drawing on his experience acquiring and operating three founder-led SMEs, he shares a practical playbook for the first year of ownership:
- how to settle a team,
- build trust,
- create momentum,
- improve sales,
- think about pricing,
- and know when to invest for growth.

We also discuss why investor alignment matters so much in small business, what makes founder-led companies different, and why simple strategy plus relentless execution usually beats sophistication.

Timestamps:
0:00 Simon on buying and building founder-led SMEs
1:19 Why Arbor chose 44 small-business-owner investors
3:32 Simon’s background: IPO journey, acquisitions, and operating experience
7:21 Small businesses are “loosely functioning disasters”
9:42 What Simon looks for before making an acquisition
13:21 What founder-led manufacturing businesses usually look like
15:25 Why the wrong investors can hurt a small business
19:11 The first 90 days: listen, communicate, and settle the business
22:42 Q2: deep dive into operations and build the sales platform
27:58 Q3: sell, review, improve - creating momentum with customers
31:48 What not to do: why “just implement AI” is bad post-acquisition advice
33:28 Q4: invest and scale once conviction is earned
35:27 Sales in small business: the hardest lever in value creation
47:29 Managing the board, reading recommendations, and final lessons on resilience

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

Why networks are one of the most underrated advantages in the lower middle market, and how to build them.

We explore how trust, introductions, persistence, and long-term generosity can create better deal flow, stronger relationships, and a real competitive edge for buyers, builders, and investors.

This episode is heavily inspired by the wisdom of Alix Pasquet, a Managing Partner at Prime Macaya Capital Management.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Networks Matter More in a Crowded Lower Middle Market
1:09 Your Network as a Moat and an Alarm System
3:19 The Hidden Edge Behind Great Investors
6:00 The Private Whisper Network and Why Access Compounds
7:29 How Trust Scales Through Introductions
8:45 Building a Great Network Takes Years, Not Weeks
9:25 The Power of the Triad
10:25 The Buffett-Munger Introduction That Changed Everything
13:47 How to Build a Network Even If You Feel Unimportant
16:10 Shared Missions, Small Acts of Leverage, and Earning Attention
18:48 Persistence, Preparation, and Closing Thoughts on Playing the Long Game

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

In this episode, I sit down with P.V. Ramanathan, or Ram, to unpack the story of how he helped lead a management buyout of a struggling cathodic protection business in 2003 and turned it into Corrosion Technology Services ( https://ctscp.com/ ). Himself local to Dubai, Ram's company, CTS, includes 10 companies operating across 8 countries and 3 regions.

The free cash flow generation gave Ram the ability to build Neeti Fund, a fund-of-funds built around a simple but highly selective strategy: backing a small group of high-quality long-only and long-short equity managers with aligned incentives, understandable philosophies, and meaningful personal capital invested alongside clients.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Ram calls his life “dull, boring, and unsexy”
5:09 Leaving India for Dubai with no passport
8:46 The accounting lessons that shaped his whole career
11:05 Learning the oilfield business from the rig floor
13:29 The turnaround opportunity that changed everything
16:07 Buying CTS through a leveraged management buyout
19:19 What Ram focused on after taking over the business
26:45 Why CTS refuses leverage and aggressive accounting
31:31 The case for a cash-heavy balance sheet
36:40 How Neeti Fund was born
43:16 Ram’s framework for picking elite fund managers
49:50 Red flags he’ll never ignore in an allocator
57:33 The story behind ValueX Middle East
1:08:52 Why money is an enabler, not the goal
1:11:05 Great allocators vs. average allocators

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

Dan Lifshits, co-founder of Dwelly, explains how he is building an AI-enabled roll-up in the UK lettings market by acquiring independent agencies and modernizing them with software.

Dwelly has completed 9 acquisitions in just 24 months, combining a buy-and-build strategy with a technology-first operating model designed to improve service for landlords and tenants while making agency operations far more efficient.

In this episode, we go deep on why lettings is such an attractive category for consolidation, why organic growth is limited in this market, and why Dan believes acquisitions are the fastest way to build a modern property management platform.

We cover:

• Why lettings agencies are such attractive recurring-revenue businesses
• Why organic growth is structurally difficult in property management
• How Dwelly uses acquisitions to scale faster than traditional operators
• Why the business was hard for investors to categorize as either VC or private equity
• What actually changes after Dwelly acquires an agency
• How software and AI can improve visibility, communication, and efficiency
• What makes an ideal acquisition target in the lettings market
• Lessons from raising capital for a new kind of roll-up

Dan also shares the real story of Dwelly’s fundraising journey, including why so many investors passed at first and what it takes to keep going when the vision is unconventional.

If you are interested in roll-ups, vertical software, AI, private equity, or building a modern services business through acquisition, this episode is full of insight.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro: Dan Lifshits and Dwelly’s AI-enabled lettings rollup
1:34 The real fundraising story
2:02 Why the founders chose lettings after Uber and operational marketplace experience
5:06 Why acquisitions beat organic growth in property management
7:00 Why Dwelly was hard for investors to categorize as VC or private equity
10:01 How the founders evaluate industries and opportunities
11:45 Buying customers vs winning customers organically
16:26 Where rollups fail and why AI rollups are even harder
18:40 What actually happens after an acquisition and how integration works
25:34 Dwelly’s ideal acquisition target: size, recurring lettings revenue, and succession
32:18 Dan’s advice for founders struggling to raise capital

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

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