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Strategic Mergers and Acquisitions Case Studies and Content

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  • 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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M&A Talk Cover
Podcasts
Ryan Goral

M&A Talk Podcast – Outsourced Corporate Development

Podcast: M&A Talk In this episode, Ryan Goral discusses outsourced corporate development. Specific topics covered include: What is outsourced corporate development? [1:17] What companies are suited for outsourced corporate development? [2:38] What are the prerequisites an owner should have in place before they start pursuing growth? [5:10] Why is it important that the acquirer’s operations

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Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast
Podcasts
Ryan Goral

Misfit Entrepreneur – The Art of Buying a Business with Ryan Goral

Podcast: M&A Talk In this episode, Ryan sits down with David Lukas to provide his thoughts on how to buy a business.  This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Ryan Goral. Ryan is the Founder of G-Spire Group, a company focused on helping entrepreneurs, executives and small business owners acquire companies. Ryan has over 15 years of experience

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Deal Quest Podcast
Podcasts
Ryan Goral

Deal Quest Podcast – Growth Through Acquisitions with Ryan Goral

Podcast: M&A Talk In this episode, Ryan discusses strategies for companies to grow through acquisitions. If you’re an owner, or operator of a smaller and middle-market business trying to grow through acquisitions, this episode will help you. Specific topics covered in this episode include: The advantages of growth by acquisition over organic growth, The process

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executive reading newspaper
Thought Leadership
Ryan Goral

The Fractional Executive

The fractional executive business model has rapidly developed over the years with the increasing popularity of firms offering fractional C-Suite Executives mostly focused on serving companies in the lower middle market segment (revenues of $5 – $75 million).  The development of this business model demonstrates the unique needs companies in the lower middle market have

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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 develoment. 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

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Thought Leadership
Ryan Goral

Creating a Valuation Framework – Part 1

As a fractional corporate development executive, one of our responsibilities is to offer our advice on the valuation of the operating companies our clients are looking to acquire.  One of the things I am most frequently telling clients is some version of ‘value is based on the future free cash flow of the operating business

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Courtside Stories
Ryan Goral

Courtside Story #3: Point Solutions Group Grows Through Acquisition

Company Background Point Solutions Group (“PSG”) is a women owned engineering and technology professional services firm, started in April of 2017. PSG primarily serves two sectors: government services, including defense and intelligence agencies, and commercial enterprise clients. The core services offered include offensive and defensive cyber security, systems integration, business consulting, and data governance. PSG

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Thought Leadership
Ryan Goral

What is Corporate Development and why does it matter to privately held companies in the lower-middle market?

What is Corporate Development? Corporate development is the business function of growing companies through strategic mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and alliances. This function also is responsible for supporting the divesting of certain assets or divisions of an organization. Big publicly traded companies have whole departments whose main function is to support the organization’s strategic plan by

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ABC PropCo acquisition
Courtside Stories
Ryan Goral

Courtside Story #2 – ABC PropCo Property Management Company

ABC PropCo (“The Company”) was established in 2015 as a growing and budding property management company serving property owners in the Denver Metro area. Its sole owner (Joe) was a hands-on entrepreneur as he managed every facet of the business. He enjoyed a steady growth rate as he added customers, employees and operational capacities as

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