The unique story of one family that sought out a private equity partner to increase their ownership stake in a business and pursue growth initiatives. Learn how a non-control investment from private equity helped the DeSoto family accomplish their goals and ultimately own their business outright. Hear perspectives from an owner-operator on what it is like to partner with a private equity firm, his advice for others in selecting a partner, and his reflections on the drivers of step-change growth in his business.

Trey Smart shares his perspectives on the lessons learned over a three-decade career working with multiple private-equity backed businesses. Trey’s experiences range from executing turnarounds to massively scaling a family business. In this episode Trey provides perspectives from his entrepreneurial career on the right questions to ask a prospective private equity partner, common challenges faced by family businesses, and the areas where private equity does and does not add value.

An entrepreneurial CEO was ready to transition to the next phase of his career, but wanted to maintain a board-level role and position his family business for significant growth. A talented executive was seeking an opportunity to leverage his multinational experience and lead a middle market business. Hear first-hand perspectives and advice from both the current and former CEO of Avidity Science on what it takes to accomplish a successful CEO succession and rapidly grow a family business.

Garrett Morelock and Dave Scharrer of Monroe Engineering join Tom D’Ovidio and Peter Zimmerman from ShoreView to reflect on the significant growth achieved by Monroe Engineering during a partnership with ShoreView.

The conversation touches on a number of topics, including Monroe’s approach to add-on acquisitions, its use of digital marketing to drive revenue in traditional industrial sectors, rapidly scaling a business while maintaining a cohesive culture, and advice for anyone thinking about using add-on acquisitions to drive growth. Finally, Garrett and Dave discuss their experience and perspective from multiple rounds of choosing a financial partner to support their growth strategy.