Expert to Know: Katie Fleming
What's the backstory behind starting or joining your agency?
After buying (and later, selling) a small business, we came to love the opportunity and impact of small businesses. Planning to buy another business for ourselves, we created a complete digital resource to support our own readiness and saw value in sharing it with others. Those who found it asked for more. They wanted hands-on help because the process isn't as easy as others make it out to me. We thought it through. It certainly wasn't the path we set for ourselves to coach. But, eventually, we started saying "yes." We've now been part of 100+ deals, partnering on 25+ and serving as an advisor on others.
How do you define success today?
Success, to me, is alignment between how you want to spend your time and how you're really doing it. I love that I can help people achieve that form of success. Many of our partners and clients have a goal of exiting the corporate world and taking ownership in something where they can have an impact. I share in their success when I can make that happen.
What are the most energizing moments in your work?
My role is to be a "matchmaker," and it's extremely energizing when I can create a match between a great partner and a great business. Scrolling through listings, signing NDAs, and jumping through broker hoops, it's all part of the job, but the victories that come with my matches (offer accepted, loan approved, deal closed) are the fuel that keeps me going.
Describe your typical daily routine.
I'm an early bird, and I need to be to get a full day in! I'm reading my Bible, working out, and sorting my inboxes (email and social) before my kids are up and going. My days don't have a "typical" flow, beyond running sequences of searches for my partners. A day may have me talking with brokers, meeting sellers, writing business plans, collaborating on deal reviews, optimizing our social platforms, onboarding new partners, or running PR for our acquired businesses. Anything can happen when you work in M&A, and it's crucial to keep my day as loose as possible so I can respond to problems and opportunities quickly.
How does your agency differentiate itself from competitors?
We partner with our clients in the truest sense, sharing ownership in the business we buy together and staying on as an engaged partner. We chose this structure because it keeps us aligned and focused on helping our clients buy a great business, not just any business.
What core principles and values guide your agency?
Every person in our firm works hard, works transparently, and works in tandem with others to give our clients the best possible outcomes. We ensure that every team member sees the direct impact they have on the success of our partners and the businesses they own or seek to acquire and that they feel valued, appreciated, and supported.
What's your approach to hiring and building a team?
We love to hire self-starters who are experts in their function and eager to grow beyond it. We have a pretty small team—there are 9 of us today—but that allows for a lot of role variety, access to projects outside the work they do every day, and the ability to create in their role to deliver value in ways they truly enjoy.
What types of clients or projects do you say no to?
We are selective in who we partner with and which businesses we buy. We want to ensure that the business we acquire will succeed under our partner's leadership for the long term, so we work exclusively with people who have verifiable leadership, industry, and sales experience and the capacity to qualify for financing to buy a business. On the acquisition side, we tend to avoid "flips," distressed businesses, real estate plays, one-man shops, trendy businesses, e-commerce/app businesses, and anything that isn't a clear fit for our partners' strengths.
What keeps you passionate about this industry?
Many small business owners are retiring, and the businesses they've spent years building deserve to continue on in good hands. We care about the legacy of those businesses and the people working inside them who make success possible. We know that sellers want to drive by the business in the future, see its growth and continued success, and tell their grandkids with pride that they built that business. We want them to have that, as well as a moment of "wow, look what they were able to do with it."
