Most conversations about business acquisition focus on preparing an owner to sell. This episode flips that lens. Brian sits down with Stephanie Quay, founder of Five Experts, whose work centers on preparing a buyer to buy, and unpacks what it actually takes to move through the five phases of acquisition: aspiration, search, deal financing, ownership and value creation, and eventual exit or succession.

Stephanie breaks down why proprietary search tends to outperform brokered deals for many searchers, how to build (and constantly adjust) a buy box without losing focus, and the discipline required to avoid falling in love with a deal before the numbers earn it.

She and Brian also dig into a newer model Five Experts has been piloting: matching searchers directly with founders who are one to three years out from exit, letting an operator step in early, reduce founder dependency, and build value before a sale is ever finalized.

The conversation closes on a simple but often overlooked point: a value creation plan isn't really about the exit. It's about staying exit-ready, whether that means a sale, an ESOP, or just knowing exactly how much more valuable the business has become five years in.

In this episode:

• Why proprietary search creates less competition than brokered deals, and what it takes to source that way
• Building a buy box, and why searchers need to keep adjusting it based on market signals
• The danger of falling for a deal before the diligence is done
• Five Experts' operator-to-owner model: bringing a searcher in years before an exit is signed
• What value creation actually means in practice, beyond growing revenue
• Why passion for the industry may matter more than prior industry expertise

Connect with Stephanie Quay:

• Five Experts: fivexperts.com
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniepalmer2/

Guest: Anthony Perez, Harvest Wealth Strategies

Episode Summary

Most business owners think about selling their company once — usually when someone finally makes them an offer. Anthony Perez says that's backwards: the exit plan should start the day you open the doors. In part one of this two-part Buying and Selling series, Anthony breaks down the "blind spots" that quietly kill company value — owner dependency, client concentration, missing systems, thin bench strength — and walks through what actually happens when a business owner gets an exciting offer that turns out to be far less than it looks on paper. This one's essential listening for any owner who's ever wondered what their business is really worth, and what it would take to actually see that number in the bank.

What We Cover

• (00:00) What this Buying and Selling series is about, and why succession planning starts on day one, not year 29
• (02:08) What a wealth advisor for business owners actually does — and how it's different from a business broker or investment banker
• (04:52) The four blind spots that quietly kill company value: owner dependency, client concentration, weak systems/processes, and bench strength
• (10:29) The emotional side of stepping back: owner guilt, team trust, and why "20% involved" beats "0% or 100%"
• (12:14) The customer concentration trap — why the "easiest" way to run a business (build everything around your best client) is also the most dangerous
• (15:02) Lifestyle business owner vs. wealth creator: the two mindsets that determine how you should actually run your company
• (17:35) Finding your "real number" — and the $20M offer that was actually only worth $4M after structure and taxes
• (19:50) Earnouts and seller notes, demystified — including the stat that over 70% of earnouts never get fully paid
• (23:08) How buyer type changes the risk calculus: strategic acquirer vs. first-time entrepreneur-through-acquisition
• (25:34) Lifestyle vs. wealth-building trade-off: hire a strong leadership team and increase your EBITDA multiple, or run lean and stay dependent on a perfect successor
• (30:03) The 3-year roadmap: what to actually do in year one, year two, and year three before an exit
• (32:29) The Lakers sale, HBO's Succession, and what family businesses get wrong about passing the company down
• (38:02) Where to find Anthony and get a free value gap assessment

Key Takeaway

Buyers aren't primarily paying for your cash flow — they're pricing risk. Every blind spot Anthony describes (you being the bottleneck, one client being 80% of revenue, no real leadership bench, no systems) is really just a different flavor of "what happens to this business if something changes." Fix the risk, and the multiple — and the number that actually lands in your pocket — moves with it.

Connect with Anthony Perez

• Website: harvestwealthstrategies.net
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyperezj/
• Instagram / Facebook / YouTube: Harvest Wealth Strategies
• Free Value Gap Assessment available via the website or by emailing Anthony directly

Sammy and Elizabeth Kaufman are back for round two. In our first conversation, we broke down what freight forwarding and customs brokerage actually is. This time, we go deeper into how Kaufman Logistics actually runs the business day to day — how they price their services, how they win new clients in an industry where trust matters more than a pitch deck, and why logistics is fundamentally a relationship business dressed up as a technical one.

We cover Incoterms (EXW, FOB, DDP) and why understanding who owns the risk at each stage of a shipment can save a buyer from getting stuck holding the bag. Sammy and Elizabeth explain where their margin actually comes from, why they see themselves as service providers rather than middlemen, and how they've built a reputation on being proactive — calling clients with bad news before the client even knows there's a problem.

We also get into the slow, trust-based sales cycle in freight forwarding and customs brokerage, why new clients test a broker with a single shipment before handing over the full book of business, and why growth in this industry comes from a mix of new client acquisition and adding more "touches" to existing accounts. Sammy and Elizabeth also share why diversification — across verticals, regions, and product types — is critical to building a resilient logistics business, and why they're actively looking at acquisition opportunities as a growth lever.

In this episode:

• Breaking down Incoterms: EXW, FOB, and DDP, and who's responsible at each stage
• Where a freight forwarder and customs broker actually make their margin
• Service provider vs. middleman — and why that distinction matters
• Why proactive communication is the biggest differentiator in logistics
• How new clients are earned and tested before winning full account trust
• The "octopus strategy": diversifying across verticals, regions, and product types
• Why any dollar saved in shipping goes straight to a client's bottom line
• Kaufman Logistics' interest in acquiring custom brokerages and forwarding companies as owners retire

Connect with Kaufman Logistics

🌐 Website: kaufmanlogistics.com 📧 Email: [email protected]

Catch Part 1

Haven't listened to the first conversation with Sammy and Elizabeth yet? Start here: Cheap or Fast: Why You Can't Have Both in Global Shipping w/ Kaufman Logistics

Abigail Lind writes content for manufacturers and industrial companies. She started out as a high school English teacher and cheer coach, picked up a master's in English, spent time in outside sales, and now works with everyone from mid market shops to Fortune 500 manufacturers on messaging and content.

We got into why marketing is still a hard sell inside industrial companies, how to prove value when the sales cycle runs three years, and where the handoff between sales and marketing actually breaks down.

What we covered

• Why marketing is still treated as overhead in traditional industries and how that shows up as agency churn
• Marketing qualified leads versus sales qualified leads, and who really owns the pipeline
• What happens to your customer data when a salesperson walks out the door with the spreadsheet
• The AMAROK campaign: security guards versus electric fencing, a 35 page research guide, and 20 leads handed to sales off the first email
• Why one big research piece should turn into five or six others
• How to get real information out of technical subject matter experts who do not want to be on your call
• Whether anyone reads blogs anymore, and why that is the wrong question
• SEO as the foundation for AEO and GEO, and why your LinkedIn and Reddit presence now feed the same machine
• Why search engines can spot AI written language and deprioritize it
• Abigail's definition of good writing: clear on the first read whether or not you are in the industry

Timestamps

• 01:05 From high school English teacher to industrial content
• 04:05 Why manufacturers do not value marketing
• 06:50 Sales enablement and where alignment breaks
• 08:06 MQL versus SQL and who owns the pipeline
• 11:00 What it costs to have sales doing marketing's job
• 14:55 The AMAROK electric fencing campaign
• 17:51 Content is recyclable
• 18:29 How they actually distributed it
• 21:47 Getting time with subject matter experts
• 25:05 Writing for humans versus writing for AI
• 30:36 What separates good writing from bad

Find Abigail

• Website: abigailgracewriting.com
• LinkedIn: Abigail G Lind, or the Abigail Grace Writing company page
• Speaking at Content Marketing World in Denver this fall on how to interview subject matter experts about their content

This one's a little different — Dustin Walter is the founder of Independent Restoration Services, the network Brian is a partner in. In this episode, Brian gets to ask questions as an insider, and Dustin breaks down how IRS's ownership model works, why he built a centralized back office instead of a traditional franchise, and what he actually looks for in the people he partners with.

What we cover:

• Dustin's path from a decade in the insurance industry (adjuster, supervisor, manager) to founding a restoration company
• Why IRS operates as a "network" or "cooperative" rather than a franchise, and how partners can own roughly a third of a location while capturing more value than 100% ownership elsewhere
• What the centralized back office actually does: call center, Xactimate estimate writers, insurance negotiators, accounting, and marketing
• How a location can go from zero employees to a fully staffed team on day one, and why that changes the economics of the first two years
• What Dustin looks for in a partner: availability, grit, and a long-term mindset over industry experience
• How restoration companies function as both first responders and advocates, helping homeowners understand what's actually covered under a "sudden and accidental" water damage clause
• Why insurance claims are more gray area than black and white, and how that shapes the way IRS approaches each job
• Where Dustin sees the insurance and restoration industry heading over the next 10-20 years, including AI adoption, preventative tech like water shutoff switches, and shifting deductible structures
• Why Dustin sees a major opportunity in blue collar trades right now, and what he'd tell someone considering it

Connect with Dustin:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustin-walter-209686239/
• Company: https://irs-247.com/

Mick Montesi runs an aerospace components manufacturer supplying structural metal parts to defense, commercial, and space OEMs like Boeing and Airbus.

In this episode, Mick breaks down what it actually takes to become an approved aerospace supplier, why the onboarding process can take up to two years, and how his company competes on speed and in-house capability rather than price.

What we cover:

• What an aerospace components manufacturer actually does and who the end customers are
• Why defense and commercial customers have completely different priorities (speed vs. price)
• How Mick's company wins work through in-house heat treating, painting, and welding instead of outsourcing
• The two-year supplier onboarding process and why most companies buy their way into aerospace instead of starting from scratch
• How quality control works when a single defect can be a life-and-death issue, including in-process inspection, first article inspection, and third-party source inspectors
• The difference between AS9100 and NADCAP certifications, and why not having the right certifications in-house can cost you the job
• How staffing and capacity planning work when no two parts made in a day look the same
• The mix of sheet metal and CNC machining that makes Mick's company unusual among competitors
• Why CapEx requirements and long growth timelines make aerospace one of the hardest industries to break into

Connect with Mick:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickmontesi/
• Company inquiries: [email protected]

Sammy and Elizabeth Kaufman run Kaufman Logistics, a freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and 3PL company handling the physical movement and compliance side of importing goods into the US. In this episode, Brian sits down with the husband and wife duo to break down an industry most business owners rely on constantly but rarely understand.

What we cover:

• What freight forwarding actually is, and how it differs from customs brokerage and 3PL (most companies think these are the same thing)
• Why nearly every shipment starts with the importer, not the manufacturer, and why control over the shipping process matters more than people realize
• The real tradeoff in logistics: you can have it cheap or fast, but not both, and how to figure out which one your business actually needs
• Why smaller and mid-sized buyers often get better treatment from a boutique freight forwarder than they would going direct to a large manufacturer
• The two things Sammy wishes every customer knew before calling: understanding your shipping terms, and calling before your goods are already on the water
• What a customs exam actually looks like, and why some shipments get flagged even when nothing is wrong (the granite from Italy story is a good one)
• Why cheap sourcing decisions early on (Alibaba, unclear suppliers) tend to get expensive fast once goods hit US customs
• The difference between a freight forwarder who just makes deals happen and one who holds every license in house, air, ocean, customs, and trucking

Notable line: "Cheap becomes expensive a lot of times." Sammy's grandfather's rule for supply chain decisions, and it shows up constantly in this conversation.

Want to learn more? Reach out to the Kaufman team at [email protected]

Anderson Lemos spent 17 years in manufacturing, ten of them on the floor as a manufacturing and applications engineer, before moving into commercial roles. Today he helps manufacturers price their products and aftermarket parts the right way, so their plants produce healthy margins instead of guessing.

We get into why pricing in manufacturing is inherited instead of designed, why a McKinsey study found a 1% price increase can drive an 8% increase in profit, and why so many manufacturers are sitting on parts that have been mispriced for years without anyone noticing.

What we cover:

• Why pricing is one of the most underleveraged levers in manufacturing
• The "smoke detector battery" problem: why nobody touches pricing until it's a crisis
• Why aftermarket parts carry far higher margins than new equipment, and why that matters
• How to tell if you're overpriced versus underpriced on a given SKU
• Commercially available parts vs proprietary vs semi-proprietary, and how each should be priced differently
• Why a bad price on one item can cost you sales on everything else a customer would have bought from you
• How to arm your sales team with a defensible pricing strategy instead of "it costs this because it costs this"
• Real numbers: companies with a real pricing strategy seeing 5 to 8% improvement, sometimes millions of dollars a year
• Why cutting a SKU isn't always the right call, even when it barely sells
• The first step for any manufacturer who's been pricing the same way for 20 years

Notable quote: "Pricing in manufacturing is kind of one of those things you hear it often in manufacturing. We've always done it this way. Pricing is inherited, it's not designed in manufacturing."

Connect with Anderson: LinkedIn: Anderson Lemos (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersondlemos/)

Justin Samaniego runs product and digital strategy at Medline, one of the largest medical distribution companies in the world. Before that, he spent years in industrial B2B distribution, moving from sales rep to sales ops to building digital tools from scratch.

This conversation is for any distributor or manufacturer wondering if "going digital" means replacing your sales team. It doesn't, and Justin explains why.

What we cover:

• Why the smartest distributors don't try to automate everything, they automate the repeat, predictable orders and free up reps for the complex problems
• The MVP approach to digital tools: build with your employees first, since they represent your customers and know the pain points
• How Justin found his first use case by going after customers who physically couldn't be visited, including correctional facilities that needed offline, self-service tools
• Why over-indexing on full-time employee support for small accounts can quietly bleed margin
• The real cost of tribal knowledge: what happens when a 15-year sales rep leaves and takes the whole customer relationship with them
• Why CRM data isn't valuable because it's "complete," it's valuable because it lets you spot what a customer should be buying but isn't
• The difference between treating reps like funnel operators versus treating them like analysts who actually think about the account
• Where to start if your whole sales process lives in one rep's head and phone

If you're running a distribution or industrial business with no in-house product or digital team, this episode is a practical playbook: start small, find one segment with a real problem, build trust before you build automation.

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinsamaniego/

Ryan Kirby, Partner at Alderman & Company, on What It Actually Takes to Sell an Aerospace & Defense Business

Ryan Kirby is a Partner at Alderman & Company, an investment bank focused exclusively on aerospace and defense M&A. He's spent his career on the sell side, helping owner operators position their companies, find the right buyer, and walk away with the best outcome, not just the highest number.

In this episode, Ryan and Brian get into the real mechanics of selling a business in A&D, and most of it applies well beyond that industry.

What we cover:

• Why customer concentration scares buyers, and how to reframe it (program-level diversification within one large customer can change the story)
• The succession planning problem: why "retiring before you sell" is the cleanest path, and why rolling equity changes the calculus entirely
• The buyer landscape, broken down plainly: independent sponsors, private equity, strategic buyers, and public strategics, and who tends to pay the most (and why)
• Why private equity gets a bad rap from some owners, and the real pros and cons of selling to a buyer who plans to sell again
• The uncomfortable truth about creating "fear" in a buyer to drive up price
• Why some bankers will tell you what you want to hear, and what that actually costs you over a 1-2 year engagement
• Why aerospace and defense M&A is having its busiest stretch on record, and what's driving it across space, defense, commercial, and business aviation
• The folder of inbound buyer emails most owners have sitting in a drawer, and why you should never delete them

Notable stat: One recently public A&D-focused platform reported a pipeline of 1,500 potential deals on their earnings call.

Connect with Ryan: Email: [email protected] Phone: 386-866-4864 Website: aldermanco.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kirby-880875174/