Podcast · Business

Buyers and Builders

by PrivateEquityGuy · English · Business

The Buyers and Builders podcast with PrivateEquityGuy is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about holding companies, buying and building businesses, entrepreneurship, investing, and more. Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 51 min
Latest: 12 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 17 minNew

He's 30, Raised $25 Million, and Bought Two Boring Businesses | Giuseppe Balzano Interview

What does it take to acquire companies, build a serial acquisition platform, and never sell? My guest today is Giuseppe Balzano, founder of Novaterra, an Italian permanent capital holding company acquiring niche industrial businesses with defensible technology and intellectual property. At just 30, Giuseppe has secured $25 million in equity commitments, pursued two acquisitions, and set out to build an industrial group that could endure for generations. We discuss why Italy's overlooked in...

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

3 Oct 2026 · 24 min
I Met Roll-Up and Serial Acquisition Outliers. Here’s What I Learned
What does it actually take to build a world-class roll-up? After spending a day at the RollUpEurope Serial Acquirers Summit with some of Europe’s most active serial acquirers, we break down the operating playbooks behind groups that have completed hundreds of acquisitions—and the lessons that matter whether you’re pursuing acquisition #1 or #50. This episode covers how great acquirers choose markets, build proprietary deal flow, win sellers without simply paying the highest price, keep foun...
21 Sep 2026 · 52 min
A Private Equity Approach to Public Markets | Deiya and Dean Pernas Interview
My guests today are Deiya and Dean Pernas, founders of Pernas Research, who have compounded capital at roughly 30% annually over the past nine years. We explore their private equity-like approach to public markets: understanding businesses from the inside out, judging management teams and capital allocation, and finding inflection points before they show up in the financials. We also discuss their “motor” investing framework, why trajectory matters more than absolute quality, lessons from p...
12 Sep 2026 · 50 min
How to Scale a Services Business Like a Tech Company | Sam Allsopp Interview
My guest today is Sam Allsopp, co-founder of Neal Roofing and Waterproofing, a home services company he started with Andrew Neal in 2020 and has since grown from zero to roughly $50 million in annual revenue—all organically. What makes Sam’s story interesting is that he didn’t come from roofing. Before starting Neal Roofing and Waterproofing, he ran a marketing agency and worked with more than a dozen roofing companies, where he began to see firsthand why some contractors could turn leads in...
3 Sep 2026 · 57 min
The Roll-Up Playbook: From Zero to $100M Revenue | Felix Jander Interview
My guest today is Felix Jander, co-founder of Arsipa, a buy-and-build company focused on occupational health and safety. Felix and Stefan began exploring the idea during COVID, studying roughly 60 niche industries before choosing a fragmented market with significant room for consolidation. Arsipa went on to complete more than 40 acquisitions, grow to over 1,100 employees across 60+ locations, and surpass $100 million in annual revenue. In 2024, the company partnered with Warburg Pincus, wit...
25 Aug 2026 · 44 min
The Anti-Private Equity Playbook: Buy Great Businesses and Don’t Change Them | Justin Escajeda
My guest today is Justin Escajeda, an entrepreneur who owns 12 trade businesses around Pittsburgh, employing roughly 250 people and generating more than $50 million in annual revenue. What makes Justin’s story interesting is that he never set out to become an acquisition entrepreneur. He started in masonry, construction and real estate before buying his first roofing company which did $600k in SDE in 2018 for $846k. That acquisition changed how he thought about building businesses. Today, J...
18 Aug 2026 · 51 min
Masters of Private Equity: Warren Hellman, Tully Friedman and Joseph Rice
In 2010, Robert Finkel wrote the book The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital: Management Lessons from the Pioneers of Private Investing In this episode, I explore the ideas, decisions, successes, and failures of two people who helped define modern private equity: Joseph Rice, co-founder of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Warren Hellman, co-founder of Hellman & Friedman. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The Masters of Private Equity 2:15 Private equity is more than buying and selling compani...
12 Aug 2026 · 57 min
How Two First-Time CEOs Bought a $5M EBITDA Business | Greg Geronemus Interview
Greg Geronemus bought a ~$5M EBITDA business with no operating experience, financed half the purchase price with a seller note, and spent his first year doing something most new owners struggle to do: almost nothing. Four years later, the business was larger, professionally managed, dramatically delevered, and sold at roughly 9x EBITDA—producing just under a 5x net return and ~50% net IRR for investors. Greg breaks down the entire journey: finding the deal, negotiating the structure, taking...
5 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
Inside a Public 14-Acquisition Compounder | Eric Tan and Patrick Grove
Eric Tan and Patrick Grove are building one of Southeast Asia's most interesting serial acquirers. As CEO of Catcha Digital, they've completed 14 acquisitions while creating a permanent home for market-leading businesses across digital media, B2B exhibitions, and vertical software. In this conversation, Eric shares why his failed startup became the foundation for Catcha Digital, how they evaluate hundreds of acquisition opportunities, why culture matters more than spreadsheets, and what he's...
24 Jul 2026 · 50 min
Why Buy-and-Build Is One of the Best Investment Opportunities | Frederik Brandis Interview
Frederik Brandis was one of the key minds behind Arsipa, a buy-and-build platform focused on acquiring occupational medicine and workplace safety consultancies. As one of the earliest investors and strategic partners, he helped scale the business through dozens of acquisitions before it achieved an exit to Warburg Pincus just three years after its founding. Today, he is the Founder & General Partner of Aven Capital Partners, where he backs exceptional entrepreneurs before they even own a...
16 Jul 2026 · 55 min
Search Funds, Buy-and-Builds & the Future of ETA | Greg Geronemus Interview
Greg Geronemus is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Footbridge Partners, where he backs entrepreneurs pursuing search funds and other forms of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). Before becoming an investor, Greg lived the search fund journey himself. In 2013, Greg and his partner David acquired a tour operator generating roughly $5 million of EBITDA. Over the next four years, they grew EBITDA by approximately 50%, paid down most of the company's $20 million debt load, and ultim...
6 Jul 2026 · 50 min
How to Build a Roll-Up to 8-Figure Revenue | Nathan Lindley Interview
Nathan Lindley is the CEO of Lindley Home Services, an HVAC platform that has completed 11 acquisitions across Texas. But this story almost ended before it began... After acquiring his first two companies with an SBA loan, Nathan watched revenue collapse, burned through his cash, nearly lost his father's retirement savings and came dangerously close to bankruptcy. The turning point was a complete rethink of incentives, compensation, and how to build an acquisition platform that actual...
24 Jun 2026 · 49 min
13 Acquisitions and Why Permanent Capital Beats Private Equity | Chris Rolls of PieLab Capital
Chris Rolls is the founder of PieLAB Capital, a holding company with nine portfolio companies built through 13 acquisitions. After building and selling multiple businesses, Chris entered private equity to learn the investing side of the game. But he eventually became convinced that the traditional PE model forces investors to sell their best businesses too early. That realization led him to build a permanent capital holding company inspired by Berkshire Hathaway, Constellation Software, Tran...
15 Jun 2026 · 51 min
A $6.5M Estimate in 23 Minutes: How AI Is Rewiring SMBs | David Flickinger Interview
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 companie...
7 Jun 2026 · 47 min
90+ Acquisitions, 30% Revenue CAGR, 35% Book Value Growth | Brett Kelly Interview
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 vis...
22 May 2026 · 51 min
How We Bought 14 Businesses and Built a $120M HoldCo | Andrea Allegrini of Lindbergh
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 structure...
13 May 2026 · 58 min
How We Bought 160 Businesses and Built a $1.5B HoldCo at 33 and 35 | Ramsey Sahyoun of Evergreen
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 ...
7 May 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
35+ Acquisitions, $1.3B Exit and Backing 80+ Searchers | Mark Sinatra of ETA Equity
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 se...
27 Apr 2026 · 51 min
What 137 Acquisitions Taught Me About Operational Excellence | Robert Irving Interview
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 com...
18 Apr 2026 · 59 min
Buying Three Founder-Led SMEs: Lessons from the Trenches | Simon Plummer Interview
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 found...
12 Apr 2026 · 25 min
The Buffett-Munger Introduction That Changed Everything
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:...
5 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 14 min
From Management Buyout to Fund of Funds | P. V. Ramanathan (Ram) Interview
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:...
28 Mar 2026 · 34 min
9 Add-Ons in 24 Months | Dan Lifshits of Dwelly Interview
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...
24 Mar 2026 · 20 min
How We Built IDUN Industrier: 20 Acquisitions and 60x+ P/E Ratio
In this episode, we break down IDUN Industrier, a Swedish serial acquirer that has completed 20 acquisitions to date and now trades at roughly a 65x P/E multiple — an extraordinary valuation for an industrial holding company. What makes IDUN so interesting is that it is not simply buying businesses for scale. It is building a portfolio of niche leaders: small, often overlooked companies with high market share, strong customer dependence, and positions that are difficult to replicate. We exp...
21 Mar 2026 · 58 min
What 100+ Investments Taught Me About Great Acquirers | Lacey Wismer Interview
Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks with Lacey Wismer of Hunter Search Capital ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceywismer/ ) about her journey from a family business background into investing in more than 100 search funds, backing operators, and building a platform around long-term business ownership. Timestamps 0:00 Introduction: Lacey Wismer on permanent capital and long-term holds 0:30 Entrepreneurial upbringing: luck, simplicity, cash flow, and leverage 2:54 What changes ...
17 Mar 2026 · 37 min
A Serial Acquirer Masterclass and The Story Of 47 Acquisitions Per Year
Why serial acquirers remain one of the most powerful business models in the world. The best of them have acquired as many as 275 companies and traded at valuations as high as 65x earnings, yet most people still misunderstand what makes them so successful. I explore why the best acquirers often start slow, how they solve the reinvestment problem, why balance sheet strength and specialization matter, and what investors look for when studying these businesses. I also share why Evergreen Servi...
10 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 11 min
38 Acquisitions Generating $2 Billion in Revenue | Eric Wiklendt Interview
Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks with Eric Wiklendt of Speyside Equity ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericwiklendt/ ) about Eric's journey and how Speyside has built a highly operational lower-middle-market private equity firm with $937 million of assets under management, 38 total investments, 20 platform investments, operations across 19 countries, and portfolio companies generating approximately $2 billion in revenue. Timestamps: 0:00 Why Eric loves messy manufacturing d...
3 Mar 2026 · 56 min
How I Left PE and Bought 16 Companies | Kaido Veske Interview
Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks with Kaido Veske of Livonia Partners ( https://www.livoniapartners.com/ ) about Kaido’s journey from working at a mid-cap private equity firm in the US to returning to Europe, raising a fund that now manages nearly $200 million, and completing 16 acquisitions to date. 0:00 Why start a fund 2:56 Wharton and early US exposure 3:39 US finance years and coming back to Europe 6:03 Livonia today: focus and deal size 7:06 Minority and majority de...
27 Feb 2026 · 20 min
10 Acquisitions in 24 Months, No Fund | Travis Jamison Interview
Mike Markus (⁠ https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠ ) talks to Travis Jamison of CapitalPad ( https://capitalpad.com/ ) about building a deal-by-deal investing platform that’s already powered 10 acquisitions, with some deals projected to have an IRR of 25% or more. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:36 Why CapitalPad exists 3:08 Platform walkthrough 5:22 Lessons from the first 10 deals 7:16 What a typical deal looks like 9:10 Vetting sponsors/searchers 12:44 Investor improvement and portfolio construction 1...
22 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
Why This Operator Won’t Raise a Fund (17 Companies, 9 Exits) | Vic Keller
Mike Markus ( ⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy ) talks to Vic Keller of Experience Ventures ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickeller/ ) about building 17 companies over two decades with 9 exits, having businesses acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, and his operator-first approach to building durable, people-driven companies - including a vertically integrated car wash platform spanning manufacturing, chemistry, and service/maintenance. 0:00 Deal-by-Deal vs Fund Life 3:48 Operator Mindset in the Low...

About Buyers and Builders

Buyers and Builders is a English business podcast from PrivateEquityGuy. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: PrivateEquityGuy
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 51 min
Latest episode: 12 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1695713724

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