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.
More recent episodes
"An Independent Sponsor Can Be My Favorite Kind of Buyer"
Dara Shareef of Benchmark International says content now builds stronger connections than cold outreach. For independent sponsors, winning requires trust, proven capital access, a clear value-creation plan and decisive execution after the LOI.
1 Equity Raise ($500k), 4 PortCos
Andrew McDonald didn't build Fourco Holdings with a deck and a thesis. He built it by buying one small business, making it throw off cash, then buying the next one.
The 123-Year-Old Firm's Independent Sponsor Blitz
HKW is a 123-year-old firm that evolved from investment bank to PE investor and now independent sponsor. CEO Ted Kramer explains how 180 completed acquisitions and 25,000 tracked deals have sharpened its pattern recognition.