M&A Advisor: The Acquisition Playbook for Business Owners

February 26
58 mins

Episode Description

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Learn how founder and M&A advisor Patrick Rogers (Elkridge Advisors) helps small and mid-sized business owners buy businesses, source off-market deals, and scale faster through acquisitions in 2026. 

Patrick Rogers, Managing Partner at Elkridge Advisors and host of the High Performance CEO Podcast, joins The Business Game to explain how small and mid-sized founders can scale through acquisitions, without needing a $100M balance sheet. 

Elkridge Advisors helps owners access strategies traditionally reserved for large corporations, and in 2024 surpassed $500M in value generated for clients. 

In this episode, we break down: 

  • Why acquisitions can outperform organic growth 
  • How to build your acquisition “buy box” 
  • Why off-market deals beat public listings 
  • The most common mistakes first-time buyers make 
  • Why SBA underwriting kills momentum (and how to prevent deal fall-through) 
  • The truth about “funny money” and what banks actually lend against 
  • How AI is changing which businesses are safe to buy in 2026 
  • Patrick’s predictions: biggest opportunities and biggest traps for buyers 

 

Sponsor  

Tala Offshore connects businesses with top tier remote talent across admin, customer service, and SaaS development. Build a stronger team without adding stress. Visit talaoffshore.com  


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