M&A Negotiation Strategy

Tactical approaches to merger and acquisition negotiations, including setting walkaway points, limiting negotiation rounds, and maintaining transparency during due diligence.

10 episodes

If You're Not Making Money, You're Not Worth Money: 1,000 Valuations | Gregg Ficery, Ep 51

If You're Not Making Money, You're Not Worth Money: 1,000 Valuations | Gregg Ficery, Ep 51

Gregg Ficery, founder of Integgra Advisory Services, discusses his 15-year career in business valuation, explaining when companies need valuations (fundraising, 409A compliance, M&A, litigation), how to maximize company value, and current trends in venture capital and AI investment. He shares his journey from dot-com survivor to Silicon Valley Bank to independent consultant, plus his side project: a book documenting pre-NFL professional football history.

What Builders Get Wrong About Capital, From Someone Who Knows Both Sides | Kumar Ampapathini, Ep 48

What Builders Get Wrong About Capital, From Someone Who Knows Both Sides | Kumar Ampapathini, Ep 48

Kumar Ampapathini, a fractional CFO and former Wall Street banker, discusses his transition from software engineering at Cisco to investment banking and eventually fractional CFO work. He explains how AI is transforming startup economics, why institutional investors prioritize path-to-profitability over pure growth, and what founders misunderstand about capital. Kumar shares M&A negotiation insights and emphasizes that strong founders matter more than perfect products.

Business Model First, Product Second: Thirty Years of Building Smarter | Steve Subar, Ep 40

Business Model First, Product Second: Thirty Years of Building Smarter | Steve Subar, Ep 40

Steve Subar, serial entrepreneur and inventor of MatFresher, discusses his business-model-first approach to building companies. After 30+ years founding and exiting ventures including Open Kernel Labs (acquired by General Dynamics), Subar explains how he validated product-market fit for MatFresher—an automated yoga mat cleaning machine—by manually cleaning mats at studios before building the product. He emphasizes innovating business models alongside technology, the importance of experience over information, and why wisdom beats rapid iteration.

Decades of Financial Strategy, Still in the Game and Giving Back | Ted Stone, Ep 36

Decades of Financial Strategy, Still in the Game and Giving Back | Ted Stone, Ep 36

Ted Stone, a 72-year-old fractional CFO, discusses his decades-long career in financial leadership, including multiple private equity-backed M&A transactions, integration strategies, and current work helping companies navigate recapitalizations and ESOP transitions. He shares lessons from rolling up businesses, managing post-acquisition culture clashes, and why he continues working seven years past traditional retirement age.

Road Warrior to Business Architect: 40 Years of Transforming Companies | Bob Brogan, Ep 30

Road Warrior to Business Architect: 40 Years of Transforming Companies | Bob Brogan, Ep 30

Bob Brogan shares four decades of operational and strategic consulting experience, from early data warehousing work at IBM subsidiaries to leading turnarounds and exits. He discusses his approach to business transformation through modular design, cash cycle management, and the importance of mentorship—both as an angel investor evaluating founders and through his Legacy Guild charity providing scholarships to students who've lost parents.

The Rise of Agentic Systems and AI-Driven Development | Jeff Haynie, Ep 27

The Rise of Agentic Systems and AI-Driven Development | Jeff Haynie, Ep 27

Jeff Haynie, serial entrepreneur and founder of Appcelerator (acquired after reaching 1M+ developers), discusses his journey from building cross-platform mobile frameworks in 2006 to launching Agentuity, a cloud platform for AI agents. He shares lessons from raising capital in Silicon Valley, navigating acquisitions, and why he believes agentic systems will require fundamentally different infrastructure than today's human-centric cloud.

Sales, Marketing, and AI: How to Survive, Scale, and Avoid Stagnation | Alan Gold, Ep 24

Sales, Marketing, and AI: How to Survive, Scale, and Avoid Stagnation | Alan Gold, Ep 24

Alan Gold, a 30-year marketing and sales veteran, discusses his career spanning Wi-Fi launches, speech recognition, and AI tools across startups and M&A. He covers current market uncertainty, the shift from sales tactics to strategy, AI's impact on entry-level roles, and why promoting top salespeople to management typically fails. Gold emphasizes listening skills, differentiation, and strategic thinking over tactical execution.

Hard-Won Lessons from a Long and Successful Tech Journey | Chris Caparon, Ep 10

Hard-Won Lessons from a Long and Successful Tech Journey | Chris Caparon, Ep 10

Chris Caparon, co-founder and former CEO of Sephoria Software, shares his 20-year journey building an accounts receivable automation company from a garage startup to a successful exit to private equity. He discusses navigating multiple economic crises, evolving technology platforms, and the relentless customer focus that enabled his bootstrapped company to serve Fortune 500 clients across 110 countries.

A Journey Through Valuations, Ventures, Visions and Vodka | Mike Blake, Ep 06

A Journey Through Valuations, Ventures, Visions and Vodka | Mike Blake, Ep 06

Mike Blake, founder of High Score Strategies, discusses business valuation methodology, the changing landscape of patent protection, and his journey from venture capital to running a valuation consultancy from Portugal. He shares insights on helping founders navigate term sheets, the limitations of valuation in early-stage negotiations, and the story of launching Atlanta's Startup Lounge networking events that helped build the city's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

From Startup to Successful Exit: Lessons from a Healthcare Entrepreneur | Jan Heybroek, Ep 03

From Startup to Successful Exit: Lessons from a Healthcare Entrepreneur | Jan Heybroek, Ep 03

Jan Heybroek shares his 17-year journey building and selling a medical market research company to a medical education firm in 2021. He discusses the M&A process, post-acquisition integration challenges, healthcare industry trends including personalized medicine and AI diagnostics, and lessons learned about transparency, perseverance, and the value of fractional executive talent for scaling startups.

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