Masters in Small Business M&A

Peter Lehrman is the founder and CEO of Axial, a platform that connects lower-middle-market business owners with acquisition-minded buyers and capital providers. That vantage point -- sitting at the intersection of thousands of small business transactions -- gives him a unique perspective that comes through in every episode of Masters in Small Business M&A. The podcast features long-form interviews, typically running 50 to 60 minutes, with independent sponsors, search fund operators, private equity professionals, and business owners who have navigated acquisitions in the $1 million to $50 million range. With 25 episodes and a 4.9-star rating from 14 reviewers, the show has quickly earned a reputation for substance over hype. Recent episodes have featured the founder of a top-tier independent sponsor firm discussing how they built their deal pipeline, a furniture industry M&A specialist explaining sector-specific valuation dynamics, and a serial entrepreneur who went from college startup to real estate acquisitions to running a traditional operating company. The conversations are refreshingly specific -- guests share actual deal structures, capital composition decisions, and the mistakes that taught them the most. Lehrman is a thoughtful interviewer who lets guests tell their full stories rather than rushing through bullet points. The result is a podcast that feels more like sitting in on a candid mentoring session than listening to a polished broadcast. For anyone involved in small business acquisitions -- as a buyer, seller, intermediary, or attorney -- this podcast fills a niche that the bigger M&A shows consistently overlook.