Fix Cash Crunch To Go From $15m to $35m Revenue
Leah Berend of Merrin Investment Partners shares her dealmaking playbook: embrace imperfect situations and prioritize culture to unlock 4x value growth.
A podcaster and accountant, Leah Berend founded Minneapolis-based Merrin Investment Partners in 2024. 4 deals later, Leah shares their playbook, which includes an openness to imperfect situations and conviction that culture & people management make companies 4x more valuable.
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Leah worked in small- and mid-sized businesses, oblivious of PE. Guided by strong mentors, she made it into board rooms, thru executive roles as a CAO and CFO. She discovered her love for dealmaking, the rush of LOIs, and the adrenaline of deal closings. "Straight opium," she laughs. And when Leah has conviction, she goes all-in, like when she named her son Warren, after the guy from Omaha.
Leah's first deal, an investment in Nutricom, utilized a co-GP structure that paired her CPA-driven transaction expertise with a 30-year food industry operator. This partnership was born to tackle a hairy contract manufacturer trapped in a cash crunch due to a behemoth new customer's upfront NWC requirements. By renegotiating non-existent vendor terms and compressing the cash cycle, Leah solved the working capital puzzle that had scared off other buyers. This positioned the company to scale from a $15m base (at acquisition) to a $35m revenue run-rate over an 18-month ramp period.
Leah believes that analysis paralysis is the ultimate deal-killer for first-time sponsors because over-studying a hairy transaction often leads to missing the hidden upside. She argues that no deal is ever perfect and that waiting for the flawless spreadsheet is a recipe for inaction in a competitive market.
Leah says PE ignores culture because the ROI is non-linear. As a counter-example, she's walking the walk: she acquired Human Capital Partners, a portco that she intends to hold forever as a strategic asset. HCP was originally a "one-woman show" lifestyle business, but it provides outplacement and executive coaching across the portfolio, an effective differentiator when connecting with new business owners. Leah believes that treating employees with dignity at both entry and exit is a "flywheel" that drives the 4x revenue growth McKinsey associates with high-performing cultures.
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