Smart Business Dealmakers: The Middle-Market M&A Podcast

Smart Business Dealmakers interviews the entrepreneurs doing deals, the PE, VC and family office players investing in them, and the M&A advisers making them happen. Topics include raising capital, buying and selling companies and managing a liquidity event.

Smart Business Dealmakers: The Middle-Market M&A Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 305 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Smart Business Dealmakers: The Middle-Market M&A Podcast, a business show with 305 episodes published.

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  Episode #306

  Building and Exiting a Business with Paul Glantz of Emagine Entertainment

  Aug 7, 202641 minS1

  As the Co-Founder and now Chairman Emeritus of Michigan-based Emagine Entertainment, Paul Glantz championed an evolution that turned a single, 265-seat theater in 1989 into the 10th largest theater operator in North America with more than 1,000 employees. Paul balanced responsibilities as a CFO, and eventually CEO, of Proctor Financial while growing his burgeoning theater enterprise, raising investment capital from more than 100 private angel investors. During the height of the pandemic when theater's across the country went dark, he acquired four competing theaters while personally guaranteeing $55 million in debt. In late 2025, Paul sold Emagine to European theater operator Kinepolis. Joined by Rick Hampson, President of Old National Bank as well as Paul's banker and friend, we talk with Paul about his entrepreneurial journey, his transition out of the role of final decision-maker for the business, and how character has been central to his success.

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  Episode #305

  Technical Traps That Can Erode Deal Value with Greg McGuire

  Apr 30, 202625 minS1

  In a deal, the gap between a signed Letter of Intent and a successful integration is paved with complexity and nuance. In the middle market, the big picture strategy is rarely what kills a deal — it's the mechanical friction of working capital, the structure of earnouts and the human element of post-close management. Greg McGuire, Senior Manager of Transaction Advisory Services at Louis Plung & Co., dives deep into the technical traps that can erode deal value. He discusses why a standard 12-month average for net working capital might actually be penalizing your business, the art of the earnout, the often-undervalued roles that cause the most integration friction, how to stress-test for post-close cash injections during diligence, and the "smoking guns" in financial data that signal a deal is headed south.

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  Episode #304

  Driving Enterprise Value Through People

  Apr 22, 202617 minS1

  <p>Every deal lives or dies by the people at the top. While financial diligence sets the price, leadership diligence is crucial to unlocking deal value. Craig McCall, president of MCG Human Capital Solutions and a corporate psychologist joins the pod to talk about how aligning talent and culture better ensures sustainable enterprise value. From spotting the leadership red flags that erode value post-close to mastering the first 90-day moves of a high-performing integration, Craig explores how to deploy the human solutions that turn an investment thesis into a reality.</p>

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  Episode #303

  Leadership Culture and Post-Deal Integration with Rachel Wallis Andreasson

  Apr 22, 202625 minS1

  Well before she co-authored the book, The Sixth Level, Rachel Wallis Andreasson helped her family's business, Wallis Companies, with two major acquisitions that doubled its headcount. She created and implemented processes that dramatically reduced turnover and increased post-deal success. The principal of the Sixth Level Collaborative and Wallis Companies Shareholder has taken those lessons and turned them into strategies and techniques leaders can use to support sustainable and profitable organizations. On the podcast, she talks about her leadership journey, her M&A experience, and how principles such as connection and care are foundational to creating a workplace culture that no...

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  Episode #302

  Staying Healthy at the Top with Dr. Brian Dooreck

  Mar 31, 202630 minS1

  Dr. Brian Dooreck is a board-certified physician specializing in gastroenterology and hepatology who leads Executive Health Navigation. The firm helps high-net-worth individuals and those in the c-suite ensure they and their family have unmatched accessibility, support and navigation to the best doctors — in the U.S. and around the world. In this conversation, Dr. Doorick talks about what it is that he saw throughout his career that led him to launch the business, why integrated health planning is a must for family offices and wealth managers, and what CEOs tend to ignore about their health and what should they do ab...

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