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Strategic Mergers and Acquisitions Case Studies and Content

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  • All
  • Uncategorized
  • Courtside Stories
  • Podcasts
  • Thought Leadership
  • News
Uncategorized

The Power of Capital Partners

In our role as a strategic M&A executive serving our clients, we are oftentimes advising around optimizing the capital strategy that will support the growth initiatives we are assisting in executing. One question comes up often: Should we take on an equity capital partner?  The responses are almost always the same:  “I don’t want to ...
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Thought Leadership

Mastering the Art of Deal Structuring in the Lower-Middle Market

Why Sophisticated Acquirers Win  In the lower-middle market ($10M-150M enterprise value), how a deal is structured can make or break it. These buyers are often navigating with limited information, lean teams, and analyzing businesses that are heavily reliant on key people or customers which leads to the need for creative and effective deal structuring techniques ...
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Thought Leadership

Transforming Business Owners into CEOs – Part Two: Breaking the Tyranny of the Urgent

In a previous piece, Transforming Business Owners into CEOs: A Common Scenario, when a founder begins to recognize they’ve outgrown the role of operator but have yet to fully transition into the role of CEO. The strategic vision may be clear, and M&A may be on the horizon, but the demands of daily operations continue ...
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Thought Leadership

Beyond Risk: How Balanced Diligence Drives Better M&A Outcomes

In M&A, diligence is the gatekeeper of value, or if gone unchecked the bottleneck to it. Many due diligence processes are too narrowly on minor and non-material details. While masked behind the stated goal of risk mitigation, the reality is often a lack of ability to see the forest through the trees. This oftentimes leads ...
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Thought Leadership

Growing through M&A – Staying the Course and Playing Offense

Executive Summary Across the lower middle market, consolidation is accelerating. Industries once too fragmented to interest major investors are now squarely in the sights of private equity firms, family offices, and strategic buyers. As this roll-up wave continues to gain momentum, many business owners are finding themselves caught off guard, responding to inbound interest instead ...
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Thought Leadership

Executing an M&A Strategy in Uncertain Times

In today’s economic climate, uncertainty is the only constant. Businesses are navigating a landscape marked by geopolitical instability, rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, and disruptive technological advancements such as AI. For companies considering mergers and acquisitions, these conditions present both challenges and opportunities. M&A has always been a balance between risk management and seizing strategic ...
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Thought Leadership

The Practical M&A Executive’s Top 9 Learnings For 2025

At G-Spire Group, we know that success in deal-making comes from rolling up our sleeves and diving into the details. Real-world experience and actionable insights aren’t just concepts—we live them every day. As we step into 2025, we’re reflecting on the most valuable lessons we’ve learned this year. These insights—gained from working side-by-side with our ...
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Thought Leadership

From Growth to Exit: M&A Done Right

At G-Spire Group, we’re dedicated to helping businesses grow through strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and value-driven exit planning. Leading our clients’ corporate development efforts, we build and execute a roadmaps that maximizes growth, stability, and enterprise value. Our approach integrates corporate development and exit strategy, ensuring that each acquisition and growth initiative aligns with ...
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Thought Leadership

A Programmatic Approach to M&A – Part Two

Due to the engagement, questions, and interest generated by our first article, The Case for a Programmatic Approach to M&A, we’re excited to take a deeper dive into how we implement this strategy at G-Spire Group. In this follow-up, we’ll offer practical examples and discuss key elements that form the foundation of a successful programmatic ...
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A female nurse takes blood pressure of an elderly man.
Courtside Stories
Ryan Goral

Courtside Story # 7 – Capturing a Niche Through Acquisition

Alexander (Xander) Page is the CEO of Trusted Ally Home Care, a home healthcare agency he built to provide the specialized care many former Department of Energy workers need. Since its founding in 2011, Trusted Ally Home Care has reached over $10 million in top-line annual revenue—20% of which can be attributed to the agency’s

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Courtside Stories
Ryan Goral

Courtside Story #6 – Relationships, Discipline, and Consistency: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Strategic Acquisitions

Mike Loftus runs Connor’s Landscape, a family-owned, California-based landscaping company founded in 2014. In five years, he has built a $5 MM business (with margins exceeding 10%) through strategic acquisitions by focusing on relationships, discipline, and consistency.  I sat down with him recently to learn more about his story, the lessons he’s learned, and his advice

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Are you playing checkers or chess with your M&A strategy?
Thought Leadership
Ryan Goral

M&A Strategy – Are You Playing Checkers or Chess?

Last month, I discussed why sustainable, growth-focused companies should take a programmatic approach to M&A and offered five steps to help you build one. This month, I want to slow down on one critical cornerstone of your programmatic approach – the strategic growth plan. Why start with strategy? Think of two age-old games: chess and

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Trees growing on stacks of coins.
Courtside Stories
Ryan Goral

Courtside Story #5 – Ahead of Schedule: An Acquisition Entrepreneur’s Journey

Introduction In today’s edition of Courtside Stories, we check in with Patrick Dichter, an acquisition entrepreneur who is little over a year into his journey towards creating a national Professional Services firm designed to help small businesses prosper. In this article, we will discuss his vision, approach to M&A, progress to date, challenges and lessons

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Two hands joining puzzle pieces together.
Thought Leadership
Ryan Goral

The Case for a Programmatic Approach to M&A

Introduction  In the world of mergers & acquisitions (M&A), there’s been a lot of recent attention on what’s called taking a “programmatic approach” to pursuing M&A opportunities. And with good reason: companies who intentionally build high-performing M&A programs consistently outperform their peers across multiple measures. McKinsey has written extensively on this topic and has produced some

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Winners, Wallets, Worldviews
Podcasts
Ryan Goral

Winners, Wallets, Worldviews Podcast with Guest Ryan Goral

Podcast: M&A Talk In this episode, Ryan sits down with Aaron J. Armstrong to discuss strategies for corporate development.  Ryan has an extensive 15 years of experience focused on working with small businesses. In addition to providing creative financing solutions, Ryan’s expertise is centered in adding value to entrepreneurs and executives with all aspects of executing

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acquisition planning
Courtside Stories
Ryan Goral

Courtside Story #4 – Affordable Flooring Warehouse

Courtside Story #4 – Affordable Flooring Warehouse   This month’s Courtside Stories takes us to the bucolic town of Steamboat Springs, CO where a local entrepreneur leveraged his business acumen, empathy and leadership skills to make a strategic acquisition of a complementary business. While the reasoning behind the acquisition was quite clear, the path to

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Count Me In Podcast
Podcasts
Ryan Goral

Count Me In Podcast – M&A Strategy for SMBs

Podcast: M&A Talk In this episode, Ryan provides advice on M&A strategy for small and medium businesses.  Our guest today is Ryan Goral, Founder of G-Spire Group, a consultancy bringing merger and acquisition expertise to small and lower-middle market businesses. Ryan and Adam discuss the numerous potential benefits of M & A transactions for small businesses

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