A Partnership Exit Strategy where Everyone Wins Our guest Host for today was Chris Jones, President of True North M&A. Chris interviewed his firms' advisor, Tim Schinke and Tim's client, Dan Sundin. Dan is the co-founder and CEO of Innovative Technology Partners (ITP), a managed services tech company in the Twin Cities.  Dan and his partners, Andy and Mark founded the business in 2004, and grew it rapidly, utilizing the unique skill sets they each brought to the table. Andy and Mark were former employees of Dan's at another firm, which is how they initially met. When Dan approached th ..read more

Building our  "All Star Network" with Cathy Paper Cathy Paper has been teaching best practices in meaningful connections for many years and we were happy to have her on the show again today, because we know that Business Development and building a network that fosters it can be very challenging; regardless of the industry!   If you have sales people or other professionals whose job it is to be the face of the business, but who don't like to leave the office, this episode is for you. Let's face it, some people are "people people" and some are "project people", yet there are folks in ..read more

Kendall Qualls and TakeChargeMN: Making Black Lives Better! It's been a few years since Kendall Qualls was in the studio, so it was great to have him back again. Kendall is the Founder and President of TakeChargeMN, a nonprofit described as "a Coalition supporting Blacks in the pursuit of American core principles".  Their foundational approach includes fostering free enterprise, education, faith and family life in the Black community. All of the values that have historically made America the destination of many from around the globe who aspire to achieve their dreams.  Kendall start ..read more

CFO of YTS companies Shares their ESOP Journey, with Guest Host, Kyla Hanson of JAK CPA's! Our episode today featured a guest co-host with Kyla Hansen, Partner at JAK CPA's and Sponsor of the Poised for Exit Show! Kyla's client, YTS Companies, became an ESOP in 2021 with the help of JAK's team and Kyla's expertise. Kyla invited YTS CFO, Andy Yetzer to share the story of how their company pursued an ESOP transition and after facing some obstacles, successfully organized a structure for ESOP that will eventually involve all three of their companies while honoring the future exit timelines of it ..read more

Selling a Financial Advisory Practice: A Former Financial Advisor Shares Tips and Advice Our guest today was Steve Juetten, CFP and Founder of Bridgegate Partners, a firm who specializes in succession and exit for owners of financial advisory practices. Steve's background in M&A prior to becoming a CFP really gave him a great window on how to prepare when the time came for him to sell his practice. He decided through the lessons that he learned along the way, that advising other firm owners was a great way to sunset his working career.  Steve said that figuring out "what's next" was o ..read more

Tiger 21: Your Personal Board of Directors Our guest today was Bonnie Speer McGrath, Chair of the Minneapolis chapter of Tiger 21, a ultra-high net-worth peer group for former entrepreneurs, investors and executives.  Bonnie's background and role as a peer group facilitator are quite different from the typical facilitator profile, since her members are all ultra wealthy individuals. As she said, people think when you have all that money why would you need a peer group? And the answer is that life doesn't end just because you sell a business and acquire significant assets. The challenges ..read more

Misbeliefs about Private Equity Partnership: Success Stories Revealed! We had the pleasure of hosting Shane Slominski on today's episode, who is a partner with Tonka Bay Private Equity Partners in the Twin Cities. Shane has been in the PE space with Tonka Bay for 18 years, and prior to that was a practicing CPA in the M&A space with Arthur Anderson and Deloitte. During those years, he worked often with PE owned companies and learned a lot about how Private Equity worked, prompting him to seek a role in a firm to get more involved, which is when he found Tonka Bay. Shane says that the worl ..read more

Rise of the Non-Technical Entrepreneur We had the great pleasure of interviewing Colin Hirdman in today's show. Colin and his partners founded Monkey Island Ventures, and their mission is to create as many successful founders as possible!  Colin and his partners are entrepreneurs themselves, obviously, so their work is more than just a way to make a living. They love what the do and the difference it makes in the world. As Colin said, when an entrepreneur is motivated to create something from nothing and they build upon that success over time, the impact to others compounds the success. M ..read more

Arrowhead Promotion’s Bud Schneider: Pointing the way toward a new generation of leadership!  Today’s episode featured the long time leader of a family business in its 3rd generation. The Arrowhead Promotion Company is going strong and looking to the future, as Bud Schneider mentors and guides the new leadership to take over. As a non-family member of a family owned company, Bud truly embraced the role as leader and steward of the family business and its legacy more than most in his position. The family and its ownership have a strong affinity for him as well.   Arrowhead’s work is w ..read more

Replacing Fear with Courage: A Fresh Look at Employee Development Sarah Line, CEO of Boredroom Breakouts joined us in this episode and how intriguing was our conversation! Sarah's background as a Mission Trip coordinator and leader provided the foundation for the work she does now as a corporate change management expert. Many corporate leaders struggle with how to equip their teams with strategies to manage change; like M&A Integrations for example. There's no wonder the failure rate of M&A Integration is so high, when alignment of culture, values and team building take such a backseat ..read more