Behind the Scenes: Launching 2nd Equity Fund for Independent Sponsors
Minds Capital's 3 GPs celebrate 50 episodes, sharing insights on their media-first strategy, deal flow flywheel, and high-velocity investing journey.


In celebration of our 50th episode, the 3 GPs of Minds Capital share their journey: the media-first strategy's role in creating a deal flow flywheel, behind-the-scenes from the podcast, learnings from high-velocity investing, and thoughts on the future. A special note of gratitude to our investors; thank you for making this journey possible - we're having a blast!
Minds Capital is an equity fund for independent sponsors. We invest $1-3m of equity per platform and average one commitment per month.
This episode is sponsored by
Minds Capital was founded on the premise that delivering value to independent sponsors - via capital, media, and services - would generate deal flow in exchange. The strategy is working; we're seeing record-strong inbounds from podcast listeners and a steady stream of new opportunities from the relationships that we've formed with portco sponsors, podcast guests, and other friends in the ecosystem.
During this episode we agreed to launch webinars in 2026. Webinars have been highly successful on Acquiring Minds, and the idea will be to feature expert-level vendors from the deal-by-deal community who can offer specific insights and tactical advice on relevant topics. Please reach out if you'd like to participate in the webinar program.
More recent episodes

Grew EV 10x in 5 Years
Ben Rudman knew he wanted to work in food before he knew what investment banking was. His first independent sponsor deal, Western Smokehouse Partners, started with ~60 employees in 2018. By the time it sold 4.5 years later, it had almost 700 employees across 4 facilities and enterprise value had grown ~10x.

On the Ground at McGuireWoods 2026
Recorded from McGuireWoods in Dallas after Day 1, Niklas, Max & Will compare notes from the conference floor. Last year had ~2,000 attendees and this year felt bigger. The Minds team had ~30-40 meetings, found 3-5 qualified deal leads & ~6 prospective podcast guests. The day before, Minds hosted its annual Investor Day with 70+ RSVPs from 142 LPs and 8 portfolio sponsors attending.

32x MOIC After 100 Investors Said No
Since Kevin Ramsier's last appearance on this podcast, his firm, Sier Capital, has closed a new infrastructure platform (where Minds Capital is an investor) and exited another business that generated a 32x MOIC over a 7-year hold. The same business started with 95% customer concentration and nearly 100 investors said no.