Buyers and Builders

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1. How I Invested in 150+ Companies and Built a $2B AUM Private Equity Firm | James Andersen Interview

   21 oktober 2026 · 1 uur

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   What does it really take to build a successful private equity firm from scratch, and what can 30 years and more than 150 transactions teach you about investing? Lees meer

   I sit down with James Andersen, co-founder of Clearview Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm managing approximately $2 billion in assets, to unpack the journey of building the firm since 1999. James shares how Clearview navigated difficult early investments, turned one healthcare investment into a 29x return and developed an investment philosophy built around backing exceptional people.

   We also explore why the golden era of private equity may be over, the hidden costs of ambition, and James's decision to step back from day-to-day leadership to invest his own capital and pursue a new chapter.

   We discuss:
   - What it really takes to build a private equity firm from scratch.
   - How Clearview survived an early investment that nearly went to zero.
   - The story behind a 29x return in healthcare.
   - Why great people matter more than great business models.
   - The costly lessons of partnering with the wrong founder.
   - How Clearview creates value without relying on financial engineering or cost-cutting.
   - Why incentives often fail to motivate management teams.
   - Why 40 years of falling interest rates created an illusion of private equity outperformance.
   - Where James still sees opportunities in the lower middle market.
   - Why humility, transparency, and self-awareness matter when evaluating founders.
   - How James thinks about deploying his own capital and backing the next generation of entrepreneurs.
   - The trade-offs between ambition, family, and building a life well lived.

   Guest:
   James Andersen is the co-founder of Clearview Capital, a Connecticut-based private equity firm founded in 1999. Over its history, Clearview has completed more than 150 transactions and grown to approximately $2 billion in assets under management. James has recently stepped back from day-to-day leadership to focus on investing his …

2. How Marc Stad Raised $180M and Grew Dragoneer to $40 Billion in AUM

   19 oktober 2026 · 22 min

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   At 27, he had $0 in assets under management. By 32, he had raised $180 million. Today, Marc Stad's Dragoneer Investment Group manages over $40 billion. Lees meer

   How did he do it?

   From getting rejected by TPG to being mentored by its legendary co-founder, David Bonderman, pitching Jeff Bezos in a bathroom, turning a $1 million investment into $4 million, and assembling a multibillion-dollar Uber deal with Warren Buffett, Marc Stad's story is a masterclass in ambition, persistence, relationships, and creative dealmaking.

   In this episode of Buyers and Builders, we break down the extraordinary career of Dragoneer's founder, the principles behind his investments in companies like Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, and Meta, and what entrepreneurs, investors, and business buyers can learn from his approach.

   The biggest lesson? Your current resources don't define the size of your opportunities.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 The $12 Billion Uber Deal: Marc Stad's Extraordinary Story
   3:44 From $180 Million to $40+ Billion: Building Dragoneer
   7:22 The Inner Flame: From a Difficult Childhood to Harvard
   9:23 Breaking the Rules: How Marc Got Into TPG After 25 Rejections
   0:59 Creating Your Own Luck: The Jeff Bezos Bathroom Story
   12:53 Turning $1 Million Into $4 Million With MercadoLibre
   14:34 The Power of Mentorship: David Bonderman and the $5 Million IOU
   17:25 Finding Opportunities Others Don't See
   19:04 Lessons in Ambition, Leverage, and Building Great Businesses
   20:34 Building Relationships Before You Need Them

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

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

   12 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 17 min

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   What does it take to acquire companies, build a serial acquisition platform, and never sell? Lees meer

   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 industrial champions present an extraordinary opportunity, how to find businesses with near-monopoly positions, the realities of raising permanent capital, and why patience may be the greatest competitive advantage in investing.

   We also explore Giuseppe's unconventional journey from venture capital to business ownership, his approach to acquiring and operating companies, and his ambition to build something his children might one day own.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 Building a company he never wants to sell
   3:56 The mentor who shaped his long-term thinking
   7:20 Why he left venture capital to build something permanent
   9:42 Why Italy's industrial businesses are overlooked
   12:29 Solo founders, co-founders, and playing the long game
   15:05 How he learns and makes investment decisions
   18:29 Inside his first two industrial acquisitions
   23:37 The next acquisition: water management
   24:25 Growing businesses without chasing growth
   29:44 Finding acquisition targets other buyers miss
   34:14 How to win the trust of family business owners
   40:07 The brutal reality of raising $25 million
   44:22 The numbers behind his fundraising process
   48:12 Deal structuring: debt, equity, and ownership
   50:09 Managing acquisitions without replacing CEOs
   57:22 Founder incentives and building an ownership culture
   1:02:49 Why finding great people is harder than finding deals
   1:05:11 Building a legacy despite the odds
   1:10:49 The road to a self-funding industrial compounder

   This podcast is for informational purposes only and sh…

4. I Met Roll-Up and Serial Acquisition Outliers. Here’s What I Learned

   3 oktober 2026 · 24 min

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   What does it actually take to build a world-class roll-up? Lees meer

   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 founders engaged after closing, integrate without destroying what made a business special, and eventually turn a collection of companies into an institutional platform.

   The examples are remarkable: one group has acquired roughly 680 pharmacies. Evergreen has completed roughly 160 acquisitions. Another platform deliberately stopped acquiring for nearly a year after its first two deals because the founders wanted to understand the operating model before scaling it. Later, they completed an additional 18 acquisitions.

   Roll-ups look like finance from a distance. Up close, they are a combination of sales, psychology, operations, hiring, negotiation, capital allocation, culture, and endurance.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 Inside Europe’s most active roll-up builders
   2:36 Find the pain you actually enjoy
   6:11 Why the best roll-ups start extremely niche
   7:22 Your acquisition pipeline is part of the research
   9:23 Seller psychology: why the highest price doesn’t always win
   11:58 Don’t scale a roll-up you don’t understand
   13:09 M&A is not value creation
   15:08 Integration, capital partners & building an institutional platform
   18:54 Reputation as an economic asset
   20:08 The roll-up flywheel

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

5. A Private Equity Approach to Public Markets | Deiya and Dean Pernas Interview

   21 september 2026 · 52 min

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   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. Lees meer

   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 poker and bankroll management, and how they think about position sizing, averaging down, and knowing when a thesis is broken.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 The opportunity in public markets
   2:49 From poker and engineering to investing
   6:08 Private equity lessons for public investors
   11:35 The Motor investing framework
   14:40 Finding potential before the numbers
   17:02 When to sell
   19:20 How to judge great CEOs
   23:39 Capital allocation: good and bad
   29:59 Trajectory over quality
   33:32 Finding inflection points
   36:45 Incentives and shareholder alignment
   41:48 Poker lessons for portfolio management
   45:16 Position sizing, averaging down, and surviving mistakes

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

6. How to Scale a Services Business Like a Tech Company | Sam Allsopp Interview

   12 september 2026 · 50 min

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   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. Lees meer

   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 into profitable growth while others struggled. That experience eventually became the foundation for Neal Roofing and Waterproofing: build a world-class customer acquisition and sales machine, then pair it with excellent execution and fulfillment.

   In this conversation, Sam breaks down how the business changed at every stage—from the first few million in revenue to building management layers, professionalizing the sales organization and eventually creating the systems required to operate at $50 million of scale. We go deep on marketing spend, lead generation, speed-to-lead, booking rates, sales capacity, one-call closes, compensation plans, hiring ahead of growth and the KPIs he watches every day.

   We also explore how Neal Roofing and Waterproofing has remained profitable while growing aggressively, why Sam prefers opening new markets from scratch over acquiring competitors, how he thinks about incentives and accountability across the organization and why he believes the underlying playbook can work far beyond roofing.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 From zero to a $50M roofing company
   1:11 The real business: customer acquisition + sales
   3:25 $1M → $2.5M → $6M → $14M → $25M → $36M → $50M
   8:33 What changes at every stage of growth
   15:01 The KPIs Sam tracks to run the business
   17:52 Facebook, PPC, LSA & the marketing mix
   19:15 Why they contact leads in under a minute
   23:15 Building the sales machine & one-call close
   27:24 The operating system behind $50M of roofs
   33:07 Growing fast while staying p…

7. The Roll-Up Playbook: From Zero to $100M Revenue | Felix Jander Interview

   3 september 2026 · 57 min

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   My guest today is Felix Jander, co-founder of Arsipa, a buy-and-build company focused on occupational health and safety. Lees meer

   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, with Felix remaining invested in the business.

   We discuss how they chose their market, built proprietary deal flow, and used highly personalized outreach to generate reply rates as high as 80%. Felix explains why the first acquisition matters so much, how Arsipa financed its early deals, and the operational playbook behind recruiting, finance, pricing, integration and culture.

   He also shares the story of splitting with his original co-founder, finding his next partner, and transitioning from operator to investor.

   This is a practical conversation about acquisitions, capital allocation and building an institution from a collection of small businesses.

   Please enjoy my conversation with Felix Jander.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 From zero to 40+ acquisitions and $100M+ in revenue
   3:33 Why boring businesses beat venture-backed hypergrowth
   5:08 How they chose one market from 60 niche industries
   7:40 The 1% conversion math behind proprietary deal flow
   11:08 Raising the first pool of acquisition capital
   18:00 Buying businesses without brokers
   20:41 The first acquisition changes everything
   23:04 Equity first, debt later
   24:58 Turning acquisitions into an operating company
   28:13 Losing a co-founder in the middle of fundraising
   32:27 Selling to Warburg Pincus and rolling equity
   40:08 The roll-up integration and value-creation playbook
   44:32 The economics of scaling a roll-up
   48:06 What changes after a major private equity investment
   51:24 Felix’s advice for aspiring buy-and-build founders
   54:18 From…

8. The Anti-Private Equity Playbook: Buy Great Businesses and Don’t Change Them | Justin Escajeda

   25 augustus 2026 · 44 min

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   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. Lees meer

   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, Justin owns companies across masonry, roofing, insurance, material supply, general contracting, property management and luxury remodeling. His approach is unusually simple: buy businesses that already work, preserve what made them successful, put great operators in charge and resist the temptation to change things simply because you can.

   We also explore how he manages 12 businesses without micromanaging them, the four KPIs he watches every day and why he stopped taking cash from portfolio companies to fund new acquisitions.

   TIMESTAMPS
   0:00 Building a $50M portfolio of trade businesses
   1:24 The first acquisition that changed everything
   4:34 Buying a roofing company for under $1M with an SBA loan
   6:21 Why Justin never wants to start another company
   8:15 Why he avoids changing businesses after buying them
   12:24 Inside a portfolio of 12 trade businesses
   15:00 The acquisition Justin overpaid for
   16:49 SBA loans, cash, and why he prefers seller financing
   22:25 Solving key-person risk after an acquisition
   27:14 Growing companies without micromanaging operators
   31:05 Why Justin went an entire year without buying anything
   34:38 The four numbers he watches every day
   37:42 A $300K mistake, liquidity, and why ownership isn’t passive

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

9. Masters of Private Equity: Warren Hellman, Tully Friedman and Joseph Rice

   18 augustus 2026 · 51 min

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   In 2010, Robert Finkel wrote the book The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital: Management Lessons from the Pioneers of Private Investing Lees meer

   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 companies
   5:42 What separates the best private equity investors
   7:14 Joseph Rice: Building Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
   10:13 Jack Welch’s advice during the 2008 crisis: “Hammer them”
   15:23 The failed deal that changed how Rice invested forever
   19:28 Lexmark: Turning an IBM division into an entrepreneurial company
   22:06 Kinko’s, a total loss, and the danger of believing you can do anything
   26:20 Joseph Rice’s five lessons from 40+ years in private equity
   31:03 Warren Hellman: Building Hellman & Friedman
   32:23 “This time is different” — the investing lesson Hellman never forgot
   36:35 Every investment is guilty until proven innocent
   39:51 Think like an owner, not an employee
   42:38 Levi Strauss and the deal that put Hellman & Friedman on the map
   45:34 Why a great security can still be a terrible investment
   49:08 Warren Hellman’s five rules for investing

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

10. How Two First-Time CEOs Bought a $5M EBITDA Business | Greg Geronemus Interview

    12 augustus 2026 · 57 min

    Afspelen
    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. Lees meer

    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 over from a deeply embedded founder, deciding what not to change, discovering the growth channels that actually worked, and ultimately selling the company.

    Above all, this is an episode about buying well.

    Because you can change your team, strategy, marketing, systems, and operations after closing. You cannot change the price you paid or the structure you agreed to.

    For anyone searching for, buying, financing, or operating a business, this is a case study worth studying.

    Timestamps:
    0:00 From Private Equity to Buying a Business
    5:12 The High-Volume Strategy for Finding Deals
    7:42 The Unlikely Chain of Introductions That Found smarTours
    10:01 The Deal: ~5x EBITDA and 50% Seller Financing
    13:50 From First Meeting to a $29M Acquisition
    17:18 What Made This Business So Attractive
    23:14 How the $29M Acquisition Was Financed
    25:21 The First 100 Days: Don’t Screw It Up
    31:35 Why Great Buyers Go Slow Before They Go Fast
    35:23 Modernizing the Business—and What Didn’t Work
    39:39 The Growth Breakthrough Nobody Expected
    44:12 Selling the Business, ~5x Returns

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

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