April 21-22, 2027

SMBash Agenda

Hear from some of the best minds across business.

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APRIL 21-22, 2027

Previous Sessions

Alumni Panel: Year One Lessons from Searchers, Operators, and Holdcos

Building a 50-Deal Proprietary Pipeline Without Brokers

Building a Baby Berkshire: How Enduring Ventures Bought 20 Companies

Business Brokers, A Necessary Evil: How to Get Deals Done With Bad Brokers

How Chenmark Builds CEOs and Scales a 10-Company HoldCo

How to Build a 50-Deal Pipeline Without a Broker

How to Get Deals Done With Bad Business Brokers

How Two Self-Funded Searchers Raised Equity to Close Their Deals

Inside a $3M Self-Funded Search Investment Fund with Tony Cappaert

Not All Lawyers Suck: Inside Legal Strategy for ETA Deals

Think Like an Owner: Acquiring Inside Your Industry After a Search

What SBA Lenders Really Think About Your Search Deal

Why We Buy Small Businesses With 100% Equity and Zero Debt

SMBash 2024 Salt Lake City: Highlights

2024 Welcome Address

Finding Fraud in ETA Deals: Real QoE War Stories from Mike Jerman

Finding the Needle in the Haystack: Sourcing Better ETA Deals

From NFL Quarterback to Small Business Owner with Jeff Driskel

How Paws and Rec Sold to a Pet Services Holdco and Kept Building

Leadership Lessons from Veterans Who Bought Businesses

Output Thinking: How to Build Systems That Scale a Stage 2 Company

Palmer Higgins on Building a CEO Factory at Chenmark

Pass the Hat: How Investors Evaluate Self-Funded Search Equity Raises

The Big D: SBA Debt Strategy for Self-Funded Searchers in 2024

Why Every SMB Operator Needs Overseas Talent (and How to Start)

10 Principles for Driving Growth After You Buy the Business

Covering Your Ass: How to Choose the Right Legal Counsel and Seal the Deal

From Apple to Cannabis CEO: Building a Vertically Integrated Weed Empire

Practical AI for Real Small Businesses (Not Tech Bros)

Risky Business: Insurance Diligence Pitfalls That Kill ETA Deals

Tax Tips for Searchers Asset vs Stock Deals F Reorgs and QSBS

Why Every ETA Operator Needs a Peer Group After Closing

Why KPIs Saved My Search When the P&L Would Have Lied

You Only Need One White Whale to Change Your Life

SMBash 2025 Highlights: Searchers, Operators, and Investors Meet in Dallas

An NFL QB on Walking Away From a Deal at the One Yard Line

Brent Beshore on Deal Making, Hiding, and What Winning Actually Looks Like

Chris Koerner on 75 Businesses, Hard Lessons, and the CEO Playbook

How to Win Deals as a Searcher in a Crowded ETA Market

Inside an ETA Deal Team: How a November 1st Close Actually Came Together

Self-Funded Searchers and SBA Lenders Unfiltered

The Legal Playbook for ETA Deals: Asset vs Stock, Reps, and Indemnity

The SMB Blueprint for Building an Operationally Excellent Company

Welcome to SMBash 2025

What Actually Makes Business Sellers Happy After the Sale

Building a Holdco the Hard Way: Lessons from Chenmark and Decata Group

Financial Modeling for ETA Deals: Making All Four Parties Happy

How a Tree Care Owner Tracks KPIs by Hand to Run a Seasonal Business

How SBA Lenders Really Evaluate Self-Funded Search Deals

Inside the Self-Funded Search Cap Table with Feta Fund and Workbench

Night Stalker Pilot on Leading Through Chaos in Combat and Small Business

Two ETA Paths: Stay Independent or Sell to PE and Scale

Inside 370 ETA Deals: What 4 Years at SMB Law Group Revealed

Michael Girdley: Lessons From 100 Failed Businesses

Why 98% of Aspiring Buyers Never Close (And How to Be in the 2%)

Tripling Revenue After a Self-Funded SBA Search | Chris Williams, System Six

Attributes Over Experience: How Special Operators Hire for ETA

Deal Sourcing 201 How to Become the Buyer of Choice in ETA

Leading vs Lagging KPIs for First-Time Business Owners

What SBA Lenders Actually Look For in Search Fund Deals

The 7 Levels of AI for Small Business Owners

War Stories from the Trenches of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

Financial Modeling A Search Deal

Killing the Founder's Name: How We Rebranded 9 Acquisitions into One

A Different Way to Own and Operate

The Clock Speed Manifesto: Why Clock Speed is the Primary Driver of Profitability

The Self-Funded Search Bubble and the Zombie Deals Nobody Posts About

From Broke and Broken to Multiple Companies: Jake Becker's Story

Quality of Earnings Unpacked: What ETA Buyers Need to Know Before LOI

Self-Funded Holdco vs. Committed Capital: Two ETA Paths Compared

Post-LOI Deal Issues: Legal Realities of Closing an ETA Deal

SMBash 2026 Highlights