A podcast dedicated to the people and ideas of the Middle Market, hosted by Andy Greenberg and Charlie Gifford.
Barbie Adler, Selective Search
Barbie Adler gives new meaning to the phrase “mystery date” with a star turn on Middle Market Musings. Barbie is Founder and President of Selective Search, the nation’s preeminent luxury matchmaker. Barbie traces her origin story from Chicagoland roots to Bradley University to early successes in public relations and executive search. Her work experience led her to found Selective Search in 2000, based on her belief that the principles of high-end executive search could be applied to romantic relationships. In 2019, Barbie brought in an equity partner—Permanent Equity. She hits on a few favorite MMM themes—how to scale a highly specialized service offering, how to evolve from entrepreneurial to institutional ownership, and what to say when a business owner or dating prospect says they’re a “9” and you know they’re a “7.”
Episode 51
“ Do the same thing as last time, everyone’s happy.”
—Deputy Chief Hardy, 22 Jump Street
Andy and Charlie follow last year’s lighting strike of inspiration at ACG’s DealMax conference in Las Vegas by doing EXACTLY the same thing this year. Three M&A/private equity luminaries in a video extravaganza. Each segment includes that guest’s insights on the deals market, memories of past conferences and participation in a time-wasting game called “Gifford or Greenberg.” The MMM team is grateful to ACG for hosting us.
Brent Baxter
Association for Corporate Growth
Brent returns to the big stage for his first DealMax conference since assuming the reins as ACG’s CEO. He shares some impressive numbers on this year’s event – more than 3,000 attendees and an estimated 35,000-40,000 meetings. Then interesting discussion on how ACG is keeping pace with the industry’s desire for more informed and qualified interactions. In “Gifford or Greenberg,” Brent asserts his own superiority in cooking (uncontested) and musical tastes (heavily contested).
Gretchen Perkins
Avance Capital Management
If this were a Friends episode, it would be “The One Where Gretchen Shows Up With a Glass of Wine.” Gretchen blows the doors off with insights into Avance’s deal activity, the current temperamental condition of the M&A market, and her own turn as DealMAX conference chair a few years ago. A discussion of her “walk on” music at that event leads to Charlie, Andy and Gretchen all singing at different points in the episode. “Must See TV,” for sure.
Steve Hunter
TM Capital
Steve was the one “first time, long time” guest in the DealMax extravaganza. Even so, he is as cool as the other side of the pillow in recounting his activities as TM’s head of sponsor coverage and the firm’s recent acquisition by Janney Montgomery Scott. Steve and Andy trade friendly competitive observations on the Braves and Phillies while Charlie—totally not influenced by current Red Sox fortunes—declares baseball passé.
For the past 15 years, I’ve been an investment banker and a publisher of M&A data. This combination has afforded access to a lot of information on deals. But information alone is not insight. The tagline for this podcast is “people and ideas of the middle market.” Each time out, we ask our guests to share a fresh perspective, to reflect on issues beyond what is on their schedule for the day, and to be good sports with two guys who—as my kids say, “think they are funny.” We hope you find these interviews worth your time.
I’ve worked in the Middle Market for more than twenty years. Over that time I have met some extraordinary people, each with a unique story to tell. While we all know that the world doesn’t need another podcast, Andy and I are hopeful that you’ll enjoy listening and learning about each individual profiled. Half business, half human interest, half insightful, half irreverent. Yes, that’s lots of halves to cover. And aiming to do so in around 30 minutes of time. We hope you will give it a listen, and let us know what you think.