About This Episode

Today we have Abe Garver with Focus Investment Bank and their firm is one of the most active investors in the market.  Focus Investment Bank specializes in transactions from $5M to $200 M in investment dollars. Their team works on both the buy and sell side.

In 2020, Focus served as the backer on 4 of the 10 PE cacked platforms that were introduced to the MSP market.  Abe explains what this means to the MSP community and the opportunity that each platform provides.

In Abe’s role he is actively speaking and profiling MSP’s that may be at a point of their life cycle that a liquidity event may be in the next 3-7 years.  He will help those MSP’s understand what the market will look like, help with self assessment, and share strategies for preparing your business for an exit.

Abe shares with us his five pieces of advice for MSP’s looking to start planning for an M&A event in 2021.  They range from simple steps like getting involved in peer groups to build your circle of influence. benchmarking your business vs. the industry, and look at merger opprotunities that may strenghen your overall value.

He also suggests being open to selling in advance of retirement.  This can often lead to two bites at the equity apple. PE firms are looking for executive talent to lead the transistion and value that higher in many cases.

Abe closes with the capital is out there, but MSP’s need to build a strategy for how to get included in the opportunities.