Structuring a GM-led services roll-up before I talk to investors. Who's done this?
Post-exit founder based in Virginia. I'm building a roll-up in commercial services: buy a platform business, put a GM in from day one, and run the holdco myself while I keep acquiring tuck-ins.
Financing plan: independent-sponsor equity at the core, deal by deal, possibly with SBA layered in, and performance earn-ins so I keep meaningful ownership as it scales.
Before I start taking investor meetings, I want to pressure-test the structure with people who have actually done it:
1. Operators who ran a GM-led model from acquisition one. What broke first?
2. Investors who backed this structure. Which terms made it work, which killed it?
3. Anyone who layered SBA into an independent-sponsor deal where the buyer isn't the operator. What did that take?
Not raising, not pitching a deal. Just getting the structure right first. Happy to trade notes on the Virginia commercial services market and what I'm seeing in broker deal flow. DMs open.