Scott Harkey put $750,000 cash down on an agency tuck-in — and turned it into $10 million in enterprise value inside his group. That's EBITDA arbitrage. And according to Scott, most independent agency operators grinding away at 17–25% margins have never once thought about it. This episode covers the deal math, the culture traps, and the billboard rollup opportunity most investors are completely missing.

Scott Harkey is the founder of The Harkey Group, a multi-agency advertising platform with clients including Wynn Resorts, Disney, and Marriott, and Harkey Media, a $200 million out-of-home billboard fund acquiring and developing assets across the U.S. Over a 20-year career he has built, bought, and sold advertising agencies — including a recent exit to private equity — while operating across two distinct rollup verticals: professional services and real estate-adjacent media. Scott is a Forbes Agency Council member, 4A's Business Council member, and national speaker on marketing and brand strategy. His next book, Brand Uprising, is forthcoming from Fast Company Press.

In this episode, Scott unpacks why cultural misalignment is the most underestimated deal-killer in agency M&A, walks through real deal math on how tuck-ins create massive multiple arbitrage for operators without PE backing, and explains how a market dominated by three publicly traded giants — Clear Channel, Lamar, and Outfront — leaves 2,000+ independent billboard operators ripe for consolidation. He also shares the pitching framework from Oren Klaff's Pitch Anything that transformed how he wins clients and closes deals. A must-listen for M&A professionals, agency owners, PE sponsors, and entrepreneurs building toward an exit.

🎯 What We Cover:

• Why culture fit kills more deals than pricing — and how to evaluate alignment before you close
• The EBITDA arbitrage math: buying at 3x, selling inside a group at 10x–15x — with real numbers
• Building a boutique agency rollup without PE capital using bank debt and creative deal structures
• The $200M Harkey Media billboard fund and why fragmented out-of-home is a rollup goldmine
• His PE exit: what triggered the sale, what cultural misalignment really looks like, and what he'd do differently
• Why starting from zero is almost always the wrong move — and what he tells every entrepreneur instead
• Why the owner must be the deal person — and why hiring a salesperson is a "kiss of death" for agency new business
• Community as the new sales strategy: the psychology of why buyers join, not just buy
• Brand Uprising: the coming convergence of marketing, psychology, and sales
• Mining your losses for data: how 200 failed pitches became his most valuable competitive intelligence
• Bouncing back from a slump — why internal shifts matter more than external tactics

🤝 Connect with Scott Harkey: 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottharkey 📱 Instagram: @scottharkey

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast: 🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuadwilson/ ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

DISCLAIMER The Deal Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial or investment decisions.

What does a banker actually look for before saying yes to your deal? Ben Smith, Market President at Red River Bank in Lafayette, Louisiana, pulls back the curtain on how banks evaluate business acquisitions, equipment financing, and commercial lending — and what business owners can do right now to set themselves up for growth.

Ben brings nearly 25 years of banking experience, starting in credit review and commercial lending before becoming the market president responsible for growing Red River Bank's presence across Acadiana. He breaks down the five Cs of credit, how banks think about risk mitigation, and why the most rewarding deals are often the hardest ones to get across the finish line.

Whether you're a business owner thinking about your next acquisition, an entrepreneur looking to finance equipment, or a dealmaker who wants to understand how lenders see your transaction — this conversation gives you a genuine look inside the bank.

Topics covered:

• How banks evaluate business acquisitions using the 5 Cs of credit
• The difference between bankable deals and deals that need a PE or alternative route
• Short-term vs. long-term financing — structuring debt the right way
• Equipment financing: why it's the "easiest deal" and how it actually works
• What a market president does (it's not just playing golf)
• How Red River Bank approaches risk mitigation and flexible deal structuring
• Why smaller vs. larger banks differ in lending flexibility
• The mindset of a great banker: composure, neutrality, and the duck analogy
• Real estate market outlook for Acadiana
• Growing up in the oil and gas corridor of South Louisiana

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuadwilson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast Powered By: FA Mergers https://www.famergers.com/

📩 Want to be a guest or have a topic suggestion? Reach out via LinkedIn or our website.

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DISCLAIMER The Deal Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial or investment decisions.

Bubba Page watched a $50K investment grow to $200K on paper — then passed on the chance to cash out. A year later, that company went bankrupt. His position went to zero.

That one decision — and the hard-won wisdom that followed — reshaped how he approaches every deal today. He calls it the cookie jar rule: when someone passes the jar, you take a cookie.

Bubba Page is a 5x INC5000 serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and founder of Influence.vc — a venture capital syndicate on AngelList built around consumer tech and consumer product companies with high influencer growth potential. After going through Techstars, raising venture capital across multiple companies, and exiting a business in 2020 (the same week COVID shutdowns began), Bubba now reviews nearly 200 deals a month and has built a portfolio that includes four unicorn-stage companies across 25 angel investments and six funds. In this episode, he gets brutally honest about when to sell, how ego-driven angel investors quietly destroy their own wealth, why pattern recognition is the only real edge in early-stage investing, and what it actually takes to get a check from someone who sees 200 deals every month. He also shares the story behind Josh's Pickles — an investment that proves betting on the founder is always the real bet, no matter how unexpected the category.

This week, Bubba returned capital to his investors with a 46% net return in just two and a half years — and explains exactly why he took that base hit instead of waiting for the home run. His answer is more strategic — and more honest — than most VCs will ever say out loud.

🎯 What We Cover:

• Why most angel investors lose money — and the minimum deal volume required to build pattern recognition
• How a venture capital syndicate (SPV) works vs. a traditional fund — fees, carry, and structure explained
• The cookie jar rule: what happens when you don't take liquidity when it's offered
• The 1-in-20 vs. 2-in-20 fee model — what syndicates cost vs. what funds cost over a 10-year window
• How to get to the top of an active investor's deal list: warm introductions, traction, and "lines not dots"
• Why Influence.vc follows lead investors and never leads a round
• Secondary market basics: buying out early investors at a discount and when it makes sense to act
• AI's disruption of the SaaS-dominated VC world — and what smart investors are repositioning toward
• From tech exits to pickle investments: why the founder always matters more than the product
• Bubba's Father Operating System: applying entrepreneurial systems and one-on-ones to family leadership

🤝 Connect with Bubba Page: 🌐 https://influence.vc 🌐 https://thebusinessbootcamp.com 🌐 https://fatherhoodmovement.com 💼 Search "Bubba Page" on LinkedIn

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast: 🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuadwilson/ ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

DISCLAIMER The Deal Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial or investment decisions.