Calder Capital, LLC - Company of the Year - Financial Services

Company: Calder Capital, LLC, Grand Rapids, MI
Company Description: Founded in 2013 by Max Friar, Calder Capital, LLC is a lower middle market Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Firm focused on representing sellers of industrial, distribution, and business service companies with enterprise value from $1-$100M; and strategic buyers seeking platform and bolt-on acquisitions in the same market segments.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Financial Services - Small

Nomination Title: M&A Firm Battles Headwinds, Breaks Out in Record 2020!

Founded in 2013, Calder Capital, LLC, and subsidiary Small Business Deal Advisors, LLC (collectively “Calder Capital”), is a boutique mergers & acquisitions firm headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At its core, the company spends its days calculating the value of small privately held companies and subsequentlyengaging with the owners of those companies to locate buyers and consummate a sale transaction with the buyer that is the best fit in terms of price, purchase structure, and continuity forthe business. Typical clients are industrial, distribution, or service businesses with 10-100 employees where the owner has no natural successor and wishes to transition out of their business generally for retirement purposes.

Prior to 2020, Calder operated out of one office, had never broken 23 transactions in a single year, and had just barely crested $2,000,000 in sales as an all-time high. The company has experienced growth in most years of its existence, closing 5 transactions in 2014, its first full year in business, and steadily growing to 23 transactions in 2019. However, as you will read, 2020 was truly a watershed period in terms of breakout growth, particularly as COVID very negatively affected the M&A markets.

In 2020, Calder's revenue crested a record $3,700,000and the firm closed 40successful transactions. This represents an 85% increase in revenue and 74% increase in closed transactions vs 2019.

In 2020, Calder opened offices in Chicago, IL, East Lansing, MI, Macomb, MI, and Huntsville, AL. Additionally, Calder hired an Office Manager and Marketing & Content Writer.

Led by Founder and Managing Partner, Max Friar, the firm took a number of intentional steps that fostered its growth in the face of a COVID backdrop that decimated deals nationally by double digits.
These include:
-Launching a service offering specifically focused on helping distressed/turnaround businesses locate buyers quickly. https://www.caldergr.com/turnaround-struggling-distressed-businesses-for-sale/
-Catalyzing a Franchise Outreach Program specifically targeted at helping franchise owners transition successfully.https://www.smallbusinessdeal.com/franchise-resales/
-Implementing a sales program that targets 300 business owners per week, informing them of Calder’s services. This program includes email marketing automation, drip sequences, and has resulted in a multitude of new clients.
-Deploying a Buy-Side M&A Services program that guarantees unlisted leads for clients.https://www.caldergr.com/our-services/for-buyers-2/

In addition to internal growth initiatives, Calder's impact was recognized by the following awards and highlights:

Recognized as #1 Area M&A Firm by Number of Transactions (2018-present)
Foxbright(Seller/Client) Awarded Technology Deal of the Year (2020 MiBiz) –
https://www.foxbright.com/

-Max Friar Awarded Grand Rapids 40 Under 40 Award(2020) https://grbj.com/news/human-resources/2020-40-under-40-award-recipient-max-friar/
-Max Friar Awarded Top 200 Business Leaders Award(2019 & 2020)
-Matthew Baas (Advisor) Awarded"Rising Star" (2020 MiBiz M&A Awards) https://grbj.com/gr200/

-Celebrated the firm’s first sale of a client to a publicly-traded company, Mettler-Toledo (NYSE:MTD) https://www.caldergr.com/dc-martin-and-son-acquired-by-mettler-toledo-nyse-mtd

Calder's achievements, particularly in 2020, are significant because M&A transactions were down 13-15% across all sectors internationally (Sources: Statista) and down 22% honing in specifically on small businesses locatedin the United States that Calder primarily serves(Source: Insight Report). Calder has grown significantly in the face of strongly unfavorable industry headwinds.

During a year where employment has suffered and anestimated 50% of internships were canceled, Calder hired two advisors, two new administrative staff, and brought on fivepaidinterns, a new benchmark for the company.

Calder's work is becoming increasingly important as Baby Boomers are exiting their businesses at record levelsand nearly 60% have no succession/transition plan in place. This generally means they are going to have to find a 3rd party buyer.

Calder feels strongly about its continued prospects for growth and improvement in 2021. Recently, the firm engaged a data analytics company to review its CRM campaigns and website analytics in the hopes of beginning to create a better user experience and a higher conversion rate with new prospect campaigns.

In terms of growth, Founder Max Friar is intentionally set on growing the firm's Advisor base into the Midwest in 2021 and already has a strong set of prospects.

Finally, the firm expects its closed deals, the ultimate benchmark of success,to remain strong. As of January 31, 2021, the firm has 3closed deals already, has 13 seller clients under contract with buyers, and a robust pipeline of new prospectiveclients.

Recognitions/Milestones:

Max Friar 40 Under 40 Award - demonstrates local recognition of the firm's accomplishments
http://grbj.com/news/human-resources/2020-40-under-40-award-recipient-max-friar/

Max Friar Top 200 Business Leader Recognition (page 34 2020 (attached) / page 32 2019) - demonstrates local recognition of Friar's leadership
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eixidqeqpjbuhq7/GR200_2020_Digital.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kmwzlzl1c0y4q3u/GR200-2019.pdf?dl=0

Foxbright (Seller/Client) Awarded Technology Deal of the Year (2020 MiBiz M&A Awards - official release 2/15/21. Please see attached confirmation email https://www.foxbright.com/

Matthew Baas (Advisor) Awarded"Rising Star" (2020 MiBiz M&A Awards - official release 2/15/21. Please see attached confirmation email)

Local Experts Confident in Another Strong Year- highlights Friar's local expertise. https://www.dropbox.com/s/aa2suwyb2mwrvl2/Experts%20Confident%20in%20Another%20Strong%20Year%20of%20M%26A%20Activity%20_%202019-04-12%20_%20Grand%20Rapids%20Business%20Journal.pdf?dl=0

Recognized as #1 Area M&A Firm by Number of Transactions (2018-present). This is not a public document but is referenced here officially. http://grbj.com/news/human-resources/2020-40-under-40-award-recipient-max-friar/

First Sale to a Publicly-Traded Company https://www.caldergr.com/dc-martin-and-son-acquired-by-mettler-toledo-nyse-mtd/