Build a holding company worth far more than you paid for the businesses inside it.
Whether you're looking for your first acquisition or already own a few, we give you the playbook: how to structure and raise the capital, who to put around you, and how to build a holding company worth far more than the sum of its parts, and far more than you could build on your own or by selling to private equity. Thirty years in the capital markets taught us exactly how.
You know how acquisitions work. You still haven't closed, or you're not sure how to do the next one.
You've listened to the podcasts, read the books, watched hours of videos on buying businesses. Maybe you've paid for a course or joined a mastermind. You know what an LOI is, what SBA 7(a) means and why seller financing matters. And yet the first deal hasn't happened, or the one you closed is taking all your time and the second one feels as far away as the first.
That isn't a knowledge problem. It's the absence of a plan built for your situation by someone who has actually done the transactions: how to structure and fund each deal, who should be around you, and what the business you're assembling could be worth.
Programs give you knowledge and a peer group. We give you the plan.
There is good acquisition education out there, and most people who come to us have used some of it. What it isn't built to do is take you from the stage you're at to a valuable holding company. That takes a plan written for your situation, whether the company stays private or goes public to get more out of all four levers.
What courses, communities and masterminds do
They teach the process from search to closing, hand you the templates, and put you in a room with other buyers. That's worth having.
Where they stop: the material is the same for everyone in the room. Nobody works through your capital, your network and your goals with you, tells you what to do next, and puts it in writing.
What we do
One adviser with thirty years on the capital side works through your situation with you and writes the plan: how to fund what you buy, who to put around you and how to pay them in equity, how to judge and structure each deal, what the holding company could be worth, and whether going public belongs in it.
Then, if you want us beside you, we prepare you to raise capital, advise you every week as you buy and build, with Slack between calls and replies usually the same business day, and take the holding company public when it fits.
Who does the rest
A course or a book teaches the basics, for far less than our fee. Brokers, marketplaces and your own outreach bring the deals. Lenders, sellers and your investors provide the money, and you raise it, with our preparation. Your accountant and lawyer handle diligence and documents. If you're in a community of other buyers, keep it.
We add the plan that ties those together, and the judgment of someone who has spent thirty years on the capital side.
A word on "no money down"
Yes, it's possible to buy a business with no money down. A good one, at a good price? Not likely.
You will usually need some of your own money, or you'll need to raise it from investors. The playbook works out how much, and from whom.
Two starting points, two different paths.
You're looking for your first acquisition
You've done the research and maybe the course. You need clarity on what kind of business fits you, how to fund it, what lenders and sellers will want to see from you, and how to stop circling and close.
Your path- The playbook. What to buy and what to avoid, how to fund it, and who to put around you.
- Raise, before you find the deal. Capital is easiest to raise once your thesis is set and you're starting your search, not when a seller is waiting on you.
- Grow. An adviser beside you as you weigh targets, negotiate and close.
You already own one or more businesses
You've closed, and now you want a real holding company: a capital strategy that doesn't depend on your own cash, an advisory team and board that strengthen every part of it, and a path to a valuation the market rewards.
Your path- The playbook. The four levers applied to what you already own, and a straight answer on going public.
- Grow. Ongoing counsel as you buy and integrate, and a second opinion on which deals deserve to be done.
- Raise or go public, when it fits. Capital for the next deal, or a listing that strengthens every lever.
Either way, you'd rather hire someone who has done the transactions than spend another year figuring out who, what and how.
Every valuable holding company is built on four levers.
Most acquirers pull one or two of them by instinct. The ones who build real wealth pull all four deliberately, in the right order, with the structures that make each one pay.
Capital
How deals actually get paid for: SBA loans, seller notes, earnouts, rollover equity, stock, special purpose vehicles and investors who back you deal by deal.
Talent
Operators to run what you buy, the seller's key people kept on with equity, and industry veterans who lend credibility with lenders and sellers.
Opportunities
Brokers bring their best deals to buyers who can close. Credibility, financing in place and a clear buy box put you at the front of that line.
Acquisitions
Buying profit at a lower multiple than your holding company is worth, then integrating it so the value shows up. That gap is the engine of every roll-up.
Why holding companies create value faster than the businesses inside them.
Small private companies sell for low multiples of their profit. A larger, well-run platform is valued at a higher one. Every acquisition you make captures part of that gap.
Illustration only. Real multiples depend on size, sector, growth and how well the business is run; overpaying or failing to integrate destroys value just as quickly.
From a $3.5 million listing to a $240 million sale.
When this company went public, it had about $1.5 million in revenue and a starting valuation of $3.5 million. The founder raised about $100,000, mostly to build the shareholder base it needed to start trading. Over the next seven years he made three acquisitions as a public company. One added technology. One did not work, and he closed it. The third took hold. He sold the original business, put the proceeds behind the one that was working, moved the company up to Nasdaq, and sold it for $240 million in cash.
The business that sold was not the business that went public. The listing is what let him buy his way into it. That is a holding company doing what a holding company is for. It is our best outcome, not a typical one: what happens after a listing depends on how the owner executes.
We give you the playbook. If you need capital, we prepare you to raise it. As you buy, we advise you. And if it fits, we take your holding company public.
Plan
We assess where you are and give you the structures and sources of capital, how to raise it, the advisory team and board to build, and what your holding company could be worth if you do it right. Four one-on-one sessions, then a written playbook built for your situation.
Get the playbook →Raise
If your deal or holding company needs capital, we prepare you to raise it, whether equity or debt: strategy and terms, investor materials, offering documents, a mock investor meeting and 90 days of support while you run the raise.
Prepare to raise →Grow
We work alongside you as you buy and integrate: reviewing deals and structures, the capital stack for each acquisition, the people to run what you own, and the next add-on.
Grow with us →Go public
Being public strengthens every lever: access to capital, access to talent, opportunities to grow the businesses you buy, and the ability to find, structure and close acquisitions, while creating far more wealth than you could as a private company. We take you through the listing, from the first decision to the first day of trading.
Go public →Four services, side by side.
Most people start with the playbook, because it tells you which of the others you need, if any, and in what order.
The Playbook
Best forFirst-time buyers and owners alike. The usual first step.
What you getA written playbook across the four levers, what your holding company could be worth, a straight answer on going public, and your next 90 days.
Fee$10,000, fixed.
TimeAbout 30 days: four one-on-one sessions.
Raise
Best forEquity or debt for your holding company or a specific deal. Best done before your first acquisition.
What you getStrategy and terms, investor materials, offering documents reviewed by securities counsel, a mock investor meeting, and 90 days of support.
Fee$15,000 to $35,000, fixed, depending on the type of raise. No success fees, no equity.
Time4 to 6 weeks to prepare, then 90 days of support while you raise.
Grow
Best forOwners who are buying and integrating and want an experienced adviser on call.
What you getA weekly call, Slack between calls, deal reviews, the capital stack for each acquisition, and the people to run what you own.
FeeFrom $8,000 a month plus options.
TimeOngoing, as you build.
Go Public
Best forHolding companies with real earnings or a clear path to them, and books an auditor can work with.
What you getThe route chosen with you, auditors and counsel brought in, and the whole process managed to the first day of trading.
FeeA monthly retainer plus equity, set in a proposal. Third-party costs are separate.
TimeAbout 6 months by reverse merger or IPO, about 10 by direct listing.
Every service stands on its own. None requires the next.
On your side of the table.
Joel Arberman, Founder
Most acquisition education comes from people who have bought businesses. Our founder, Joel Arberman, has spent thirty years on the capital side of those transactions. He began as a fixed income analyst at First Investors Asset Management and an equity analyst at SunAmerica Asset Management. At 22 he became a partner at Yorkton Securities, a 700-person investment bank, where he was one of the first analysts to cover the internet as a sector and was top-ranked in Brendan Wood International's survey of institutional investors. His work centered on valuation and on helping early-stage companies raise capital and go public.
Since then he has taken seventeen companies public, several of them his own: eleven by direct listing, four by reverse merger and two by IPO. He has prepared more than thirty private placements, closed eight M&A transactions himself and advised clients on dozens more.
His first listing came in 1999, when he took his own company public, writing the registration statement himself because no one would help a company that small. Once it was listed, a development firm took half its fee in stock, the PR agency took all of its fee in stock, a venture capitalist joined the board for options, and the company bought another business with its shares.
That's the lens you get, now on your side of the table: how lenders, investors and public markets value what you're building, whether a deal deserves to be done at all, and how to structure every deal so the holding company is worth more than the businesses inside it.
We're advisers, not brokers. We don't find deals for you, invest in your company or raise money on your behalf. We give you the playbook and the structures, and you execute with us beside you.
Not sure where to start?
Start with the playbook. It tells you which of these you need, if any, and in what order. The first conversation is free.
Meraki Dealmakers is a service of Meraki Partners, LLC.
Meraki Partners, LLC is an advisory firm. It is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, business broker, law firm or accounting firm, and does not solicit investors or receive compensation based on capital raised.
© 2026 Meraki Partners, LLC