M&A Science24 Maalis 2025

How to be a Serial Acquirer from Scratch

Ashish Achlerkar, Founder and Chairman at NearU

Starting a business from scratch is challenging, but Ashish Achlerkar, Founder and Chairman of NearU, took a unique path—leveraging M&A as a tool for entrepreneurship. In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Ashish shares how he transitioned from investment banking to building a multi-state, multi-million-dollar business in the skilled trades industry.

Ashish's journey is a masterclass in leveraging M&A for business expansion, focusing on strategic acquisitions, cultural alignment, and operational efficiency to build a thriving company in an industry ripe for disruption.

Things you will learn:

Entrepreneurship through acquisition – Why M&A is a tool, not an end goal
How to evaluate industries for acquisition – Why the skilled trades industry was the perfect fit
Building a scalable business post-acquisition – The importance of training and technology
Working with private equity – How to find the right partner and maintain control

What is the Buyer-Led M&A™ Virtual Summit

This isn't just another webinar—it's an interactive experience designed to give you the tools and strategies to lead your M&A deals with confidence. This half-day event brings together corporate development leaders and M&A experts to explore Buyer-Led M&A™, showing how you can take control of every stage of the deal.

Register Now

Episode Timestamps:

[00:01:30] Ashish's Journey from Banking to Entrepreneurship
[00:02:30] Lessons Learned from the Entrepreneurial Journey
[00:07:00] Defining Purpose and the 'Why' Behind Entrepreneurship
[00:10:30] Making the Leap from Corporate to Startup Life
[00:13:00] Selecting a Sector Through First Principles Thinking
[00:18:00] Building the Investment Thesis for NearU
[00:26:30] Executing the First Deal with a Bootstrap Approach
[00:31:30] Sourcing Deals Through Relationships & Reputation
[00:37:00] Challenges in Early and Scaling Phases
[00:40:00] Working with Private Equity While Preserving Vision
[00:48:00] Final Reflections: Transparency, Integrity & Doing the Right Thing

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(417)

The Nordic Compounder Playbook: How Lagercrantz Bought 90 Companies and Never Sold One

Jörgen Wigh, CEO of Lagercrantz Group Jörgen Wigh has been CEO of Lagercrantz Group (STO: LAGR-B) for over 20 years. In that time he completed 90+ acquisitions, built a portfolio of 85 niche B2B compa...

28 Touko 42min

M&A Integration Technology: What Actually Works

Jim Buckley, VP M&A Integration at Coursera | Todd Manley, VP of Corp Dev Integration at Intel | Carey Pugh is Sr. Director, M&A Corporate Integration at Ansys | Mahesh Ganesan, Sr. Director, M&A Inte...

21 Touko 50min

Partner Before You Buy: The Pre-Acquisition Strategy Corp Dev Teams Skip

Tomer Stavitsky is SVP and Chief Corporate Development Officer at Omnicell (NASDAQ: OMCL) Corp dev teams treat M&A and partnerships as separate tracks, but Tomer Stavitsky looks at them holistically. ...

14 Touko 52min

How M&A Turns a Chemical Company Into a Tech Business

Chandradev Mehta, SVP Strategy and Business Development at Hexion Inc. Chandradev Mehta, SVP Strategy and Business Development at Hexion Inc., breaks down how a commodity chemical company uses M&A to ...

7 Touko 53min

CPG Exit Strategy: How to Build a Consumer Brand Strategics Will Acquire | Keith Levy Part 2

Keith Levy, Operating Partner at Sonoma Brands Capital Most consumer brand founders think about exit as an event. Keith Levy thinks about it as a design requirement. In the second of two episodes, Kei...

30 Huhti 57min

CPG Due Diligence: The Operator Framework Behind a $1B Exit | Keith Levy Part 1

Keith Levy, Operating Partner at Sonoma Brands Capital Keith Levy backed an exit of just under $1B and a $400M exit using the same five-pillar framework, and he starts with the founder every time. Fi...

23 Huhti 53min

400 Acquisitions and a Failed Process: What Happens When You Don't Integrate

Matt James, EVP, CFO & Chief Acquisition Officer at Oakbridge Insurance Roll-up platforms that skipped real integration are getting exposed when they go to market. Buyers want proof of organic growth,...

16 Huhti 58min

M&A Roll-Up Playbook: The IRR Framework That Replaced Budgets at Zayo | Dan Caruso (Part 2)

Dan Caruso, Managing Director, Caruso Ventures; Founding CEO of Zayo Group This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dan Caruso, founder and former CEO of Zayo Group. Be sure to start with Part 1. It co...

9 Huhti 1h 5min