Shows
RolyPolyNicholas De Poorter on Deal Structures: Earnouts, Equity & RolloverMost PE funds pick a sector then hunt for companies. Strada Partners flipped it: they back the team first, then build the roll-up.Nicholas De Poorter (investment team, Strada Partners) joins Dylan to break down how a Belgian PE fund runs 15 buy-and-build platforms across Europe.Topics covered:• Why Strada backs teams with a thesis, not deals• Lighthouse deals vs carpet bombing on the first acquisition• Deal structures: equity, rollover, vendor loans and the earnout trap• The two-bucket AI framework and inverting the AI-native roll-up
2026-06-3050 minRolyPolyMac Lackey on Selling 6 Companies: Be Irresistible to BuyersHe sold 6 companies, watched a billion-dollar IPO walk out the door, and bought a 116-year-old Spanish football club. Mac Lackey on how to actually win an exit.Mac Lackey (founder, Exit DNA) joins Dylan to discuss why most founders leave life-changing money on the table - and how to be irresistible to buyers.Topics covered:• Why AI today is the early internet of 1995• The integration mistake that emptied a billion-dollar IPO• Strategic value vs. EBITDA multiples• The founder's paradox and how to escape the critical pathRolyPo...
2026-06-0944 minRolyPolySam Hields: What Investors Look for In Roll-Up FoundersThe brutal question every VC asks an AI roll-up founder: where's the headcount going to drop? Sam Hields breaks down what separates a venture case from a financial engineering pitch.Sam Hields (Partner, OpenOcean) joins Dylan to discuss why services will eat software in the AI era and what VCs actually look for in roll-up founders.Topics covered:Why services is a 10x bigger market than softwareFront office vs back office automation (and why it matters)Green flags, red flags, and "tourism" in AI roll-up pitchesCapital stack reality — equity, debt, and rollover equityWhere AI ex...
2026-05-121h 03RolyPolyVadim Rogovskiy on Why AI Makes Roll-Ups UnstoppableEVE found 400 missed leads in one founder's inbox and closed six-figure deals from them. Vadim Rogovskiy explains how AI is rewriting the acquisition playbook.Vadim Rogovskiy (CEO, EVE / Founding Partner, Rebel Capital) joins Dylan to discuss acquiring legacy businesses, layering AI to unlock hidden revenue, and why roll-ups are just getting started.Topics covered:Exit timing mistakes and why founders hold on too longHow EVE discovered $20M in hidden pipeline across client inboxesAI agents replacing operations teams (4 people to 1)The roll-up landscape: venture returns with PE risk profilesUsing AI for due diligence and founder...
2026-04-2139 minRolyPolyAndrew Ofori on Deal Sourcing: How to Actually Get a Seller to RespondMost acquirers treat deal sourcing like a numbers game. Andrew Ofori left Goldman Sachs to prove there's a better way.Andrew Ofori (CEO & Founder, Bloomvine) joins Dylan to discuss strategic deal sourcing for PE-backed roll-ups and acquisitive corporates.Topics covered: • Why your first 2-3 acquisitions determine the success of your entire roll-up • How culture and language shape cross-border deal sourcing • AI tools reshaping acquisition workflows quarterly • Outreach tactics that actually get sellers to respond • The market rotation from software into asset-based businessesRolyPoly is the podcast about all things roll-up. New episodes every Tuesday.
2026-03-3142 minRolyPolyAndrea Allegrini on HVAC Roll-Ups: More Plumbers, Less ManagersItaly has 12,000 HVAC companies and no national player. Andrea Allegrini from Lindbergh is building the first one — 14 acquisitions in two years, zero competition.Andrea Allegrini (Head of Waste Management & IR, Lindbergh S.p.A.) joins Dylan to discuss how a logistics company became Italy's first HVAC roll-up.Topics covered:Buying "a little of everything" to share workforce across heating and AC seasonsFixing a €2M loss in France, then selling it to chase a better opportunityWhy word-of-mouth deal flow beats cold outreachThe one integration non-negotiable: ERP on day onePaying technicians 30-40% above average to retain them...
2026-03-2448 minRolyPolyRyan Imison: £700M Platform on Acquiring Services Your Clients Already NeedNetwork Plus is a £700M+ UK utilities contractor that acquires complementary services — fencing, vegetation, wastewater — and cross-sells them into the clients they already serve.Ryan Imison (Head of M&A, Network Plus) joins Dylan to talk about what integration actually looks like when you're adding new capabilities to an existing platform — from onboarding 300 people overnight to sending executives on-site with an open door for weeks.Topics covered:Why Network Plus acquires new services instead of building them internallyThe mobilisation advantage — how winning contracts gives you integration practiceDrop-in sessions: the simple tactic that builds trust with acqu...
2026-03-1737 minRolyPolySam Turner on Building a £30M Portfolio Without PESam Turner's first acquisition went to zero. Here's how he rebuilt a £30M portfolio — self-funded, no PE.Sam Turner (Founder & Group CEO, Advantos Group) joins Dylan to discuss roll-up integration strategy, self-funding acquisitions, and what most operators miss in due diligence.Topics covered:Why keeping acquired businesses separate failedThe first acquisition disaster and what it taught himDue diligence on people and culture vs financialsBuilding without institutional capitalHiring the people who change everythingRoly Poly is the podcast about all things roll-up. New episodes every Tuesday.Connect: pmistack.com | linkedin.com/in...
2026-03-091h 03RolyPolyPavleta Pavlova on Why Roll-Ups Fail at Finance FirstRoll-ups don't fail because of bad deals. They fail because finance can't keep up.Pavleta Pavlova (Founder & CEO, PPHF) joins Dylan to discuss what actually breaks in a roll-up's finance function — and how to fix it before audit season.Topics covered:The most expensive mistake: not standardizing your chart of accounts earlyWhy a fractional CFO should start 30 days before your first deal closesThe 30-60-90 day financial integration frameworkWhen to move from Xero/QuickBooks to an ERPHandling change resistance in acquired finance teamsRoly Poly is the podcast about all things roll-up. Ne...
2026-03-0923 minRolyPolySimone Vascotto on Why 87% of Deal Failures Are Cultural87% of deal failures are cultural. So why does nobody measure it before closing?Simone Vascotto (Founder, Humanaq) joins Dylan to discuss why M&A culture assessments are broken — and how AI-powered behavioral analysis is changing the game for acquirers and roll-ups.Topics covered:The invisible culture that kills deals — and how to surface itWhy "assuming" is the #1 post-merger integration mistakeHow five open-ended questions can reveal execution risk in under 10 daysThe tea tray story: a small cultural symbol that triggered a company-wide revoltWhen cultural due diligence matters — and when it doesn'tCross-border culture clashes and how to nav...
2026-03-0641 min
WebflailEp 89 | How to get Webflow clients from Twitter | with Christina LiubynskaHello and welcome to episode 89 of Webflail.I'm your host, Jack, your failure connoisseur, and today my guest is Christina Liubynska.She is constantly juggling different projects. With Supercharged, she she helps early stage startups by consulting, designing and developing websites that bring them higher profits and happier clients. She also freelances with agencies like Nexus Creative with Dylan Harrocks and with ViDesigns with Vimalam Vijayasekaran.With Navbar Gallery, she’s building the home to the best navbars on the internet. She’s one of those people that’s a multi-ta...
2024-05-1453 minWebflailEp 2 | Spotlight | Getting Clients with Cloneables, Email Outreach & NetworkingWelcome to the Webflail Spotlight. Spotlight is our mini bonus series pulling out the best ideas, tips, and tricks about a topic from three of our brilliant guests over the past year for you, the Webflailers. And for the second episode of the series, we have some answers to one of the biggest questions that I get from new and old Webflowers: 'How do I get clients?'So for today, Will, the Webflail producer, and I have put together three conversations with Dylan Harrocks (Ep. 49), Carlos Sepulveda (Ep. 38) and Emily Giordano (Ep. 21)....
2023-08-0129 minWebflailEp 49 | Building A 25K Monthly Subscription Based Model Agency | With Dylan HarrocksToday, my guest is Dylan Harrocks. I met Dylan for the first time in Barcelona a few weeks ago. The power of twitter - crazy. Anyway, since then, I joined the same co-working space as him and we’ve talked about the power of his subscription based pricing model for his agency, building a network and pushing through barriers. He is an email marketing genius and I feel like this is something that we will be talking about today too. But although Nexu Creative has grown fast, he has had his fair share of failure.Th...
2023-07-0454 min