Pro Serv Podcast by Collective 54

Episode 89 – How an Investment Bank Generates a List of Potential Buyers for Your Firm

Supply and demand will impact your ability to sell your boutique. On this episode, David Jorgenson, CEO at Equiteq, shares how the leading global investment bank for professional services firms has uniquely positioned themselves to understand acquisition needs, and how they are able to add value to founders who want to sell their businesses.

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Episode 88 – How a Founder of a Training Firm Scaled his Firm by Scaling Himself

Scaling a boutique takes a team but firms are often started by a single founder. On this episode, Tom Abbott, Managing Director of SOCO Sales Training, shares how he transitioned from being involved in every aspect of the business to focusing on team development.

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Episode 87 – Why Hiring an Investment Banker is the Right Move for First-time Founders Trying to Exit

The value of your firm is influenced by the comparables for recently sold firms like yours. On this episode, we invited Frank Williamson, Founder & CEO at Oaklyn Consulting, to share details about comps, valuation, and the benefits of an investment banker.

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Episode 86 – How a 43-year-old Marketing Agency Handled a Generational Transfer

Decision making evolves as your firm scales and the founder must be replicated in the successor. On this episode, Rob Rankin, CEO at Clarity Coverdale Fury (CCF), shares his perspective on developing the next generation of the firm, with a focus on succession planning and how decisions are made.

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Episode 85 – Why Waiting Too Long to Sell Your Firm Could Be Very Costly

The ability to sell your firm will be impacted by the environment. There is a good time to sell and a not so good time to sell. On this episode, Craig Dickens, CEO at JD Merit & Co., will shed light on the financial market trends and how it influences your exit strategy.

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Episode 84 – A Marketing Agency’s Approach to Sharing Equity with Key Employees

There are many ways to split up a partnership. And the equity split needs to evolve over time. On this episode, Kelsey Raymond, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Influence & Co., shares how she successfully replicated herself by developing a key employee into her COO, so she can run the business on her own terms.

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Episode 83 – How a Brave Founder Scaled his Software Development Firm by Confronting his Blind Spots

Acquirers want to understand your methodologies, how often they are updated, and what changes are coming in the future. On this episode, we interview Alan Haefele, Owner & Managing Director of Haefele Software, to understand how to integrate continuous improvement as part of a company’s culture and DNA.

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Episode 82 – How a Technology Service Provider Transitioned from a Founder Driven Sales Model to a Sales Team

Boutiques become market leaders by building a commercial sales engine that is capable of scaling. On this episode, we invited Lenka Lechmanova, CEO at V2 Strategic Advisors. She shares how her firm has cultivated a homegrown talent strategy, established sales processes and metrics to benchmark performance, and moved away from partner selling.

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Episode 81 – Why, and When, a Professional Services Firm Should bring Recruiting In-House

Your ability to recruit talent is critical to scaling a market-leading boutique. On this episode, we interview Don Goldstein, CEO of 5Q Partners and he shares how he decided to invest in an internal recruiter and its overall impact on the organization.

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Episode 80 – How a Founder of an HR Consulting Firm Escaped a Lifestyle Business

Scaling a boutique beyond a lifestyle business takes money and commitment. On this episode, Sue-Ellen Watts, Founder & Global CEO at Wattsnext Group, sheds light on how she embraced a lifestyle business to fund a new venture that she can grow and scale.

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