The 5 Best M&A Podcasts (2026)

Will Smith (not the actor) has turned Acquiring Minds into the go-to podcast for people who want to buy a business instead of starting one from scratch. With 436 episodes, a 4.8 rating from 273 reviews, and twice-weekly releases, the show has serious momentum in the acquisition entrepreneurship space. Smith interviews people who have actually closed deals, and the conversations run long enough (usually 75 to 110 minutes) to get past surface-level advice into the real mechanics of how transactions come together. Recent episodes have featured a buyer who scaled a manufacturing company 4x after acquiring it, someone who navigated equity partnerships in small business deals, and an entrepreneur who pivoted from a corporate career into business ownership through SBA financing. The length is a feature, not a bug. When you are trying to understand how someone structured seller financing, negotiated a working capital peg, or handled employee retention through an ownership transition, you need more than a 30-minute conversation. Smith asks good follow-up questions and clearly understands the ETA (entrepreneur through acquisition) model well enough to probe the interesting parts. The show also maintains a companion website with episode summaries, which helps when you want to find a specific topic in the back catalog. For anyone seriously exploring acquisition entrepreneurship, search funds, or independent sponsorship as a path to business ownership, this podcast covers the territory more thoroughly than anything else out there.

Smart Business Dealmakers takes a three-sided approach to middle-market M&A by interviewing the entrepreneurs doing deals, the PE and family office investors funding them, and the advisors making them happen. With 299 episodes and a 5.0 rating from 8 reviews, the show from Smart Business Network has built a comprehensive archive of middle-market transaction knowledge since 2020. Episodes run 25 to 45 minutes and cover everything from ESOP exits to competitive auction processes to the specific challenges of selling government contracting businesses. The show draws its strength from its network. Because Smart Business operates across multiple regional markets, the guest roster includes dealmakers from Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Houston, and other cities where middle-market M&A activity is strong but rarely covered by national media. You hear from people running search funds out of their home offices alongside managing directors at regional PE firms, which gives you a realistic picture of how deals actually get done outside of New York and San Francisco. Recent episodes have tackled how tariffs and regulatory uncertainty affect deal timelines, why insurance due diligence trips up inexperienced buyers, and how public-to-private transactions are structured at the mid-market level. The production is clean and professional without being overproduced. If you operate in the middle market as a buyer, seller, or advisor, this podcast covers your world with genuine depth.

Todd Sullivan is the CEO and co-founder of Exitwise, and his podcast does exactly what the name suggests: it helps business owners think clearly about selling. With 68 episodes, a 5.0 rating from 19 reviews, and weekly releases, The Wise Exit has built a dedicated following by keeping its focus narrow and practical. Sullivan brings on fellow founders and former business owners who share real stories about their exits with refreshing honesty. These are not sanitized success narratives. Guests talk about the deals that almost fell apart, the moments of doubt, and the mistakes they made that cost them money or time. The conversations typically run 30 to 50 minutes, covering topics like business valuation methods that actually reflect market reality, net working capital disputes that blindside sellers, and when to bring key employees into the process. Sullivan also features M&A professionals who explain their roles in transactions, which is helpful if you have never sold a business before and do not know who does what. The show covers exits across e-commerce, tech, consulting, and other sectors, giving you a broad view of how different industries handle the process differently. Listeners consistently praise the authenticity of the conversations. The advice feels earned rather than theoretical, and Sullivan creates an environment where guests feel comfortable admitting what went wrong alongside what went right.

Jon Stoddard focuses Top M&A Entrepreneurs on the people who buy businesses as a growth strategy rather than building from zero. With 169 episodes, a 4.8 rating, and weekly releases, the show has carved out space in the acquisition entrepreneurship niche. Stoddard interviews both business buyers sharing their acquisition journeys and service providers explaining the mechanics of getting deals done. The range of topics is broad. One week you might hear about Constellation Software and its 2 billion growth-through-acquisition strategy and what smaller operators can learn from it. The next episode could feature a first-time buyer walking through every mistake they made on their initial deal. Recent episodes have covered tax-free exit strategies using QSBS, independent sponsor models, and acquisitions in specific industries like HVAC and manufacturing. Stoddard clearly cares about the subject and engages actively with his guests, though some listeners have noted he occasionally interrupts during conversations. The show strikes a good balance between inspiration and instruction. The founder origin stories give you motivation, while the due diligence discussions and investor relations episodes give you actual tools. If you are building a portfolio through acquisitions or considering buying your first business, the back catalog has enough tactical content to keep you busy for weeks.

The Deal Table comes from Optima Mergers and Acquisitions, produced by Harper Belmont Media, and brings a practitioner-first approach to M&A conversations. With 35 episodes and a growing listener base, the show focuses on the practical realities of getting deals done in the lower-middle market. The podcast features conversations with business owners, M&A advisors, and transaction professionals who share their experiences navigating the complexities of buying and selling companies. What makes The Deal Table worth a listen is its focus on the human side of transactions alongside the financial mechanics. Guests talk openly about the negotiations that got tense, the due diligence surprises that nearly killed deals, and the relationship dynamics between buyers and sellers that textbooks never adequately cover. The episodes run at a conversational pace and cover topics including deal sourcing strategies, valuation disputes, post-closing adjustments, and the role of intermediaries in keeping transactions on track. The Optima team brings real transaction experience to the hosting duties, and that shows in the quality of questions they ask. They know which parts of a deal story are genuinely interesting and which are boilerplate, so the conversations stay focused on the details that matter. For anyone involved in lower-middle-market transactions, either as a principal or an advisor, The Deal Table offers a growing library of real-world deal insights from people who have been on both sides of the table.