My guest today is Tom Klein, former Morningside Co-CEO alongside recent podcast guest Roland Lessard. This episode with Tom acts as a part two pairing with our February episode with Roland where we talked about M&A value creation after close. Tom and I today discuss M&A value creation largely pre-close of add-ons, talking through industry selection, sourcing methodologies, industry knowledge snowballs, building a reputation, and working with lender partners. Tom has been involved in 12 M&A transactions across Morningside and his previous experience in background screening. As an aside to you the listener, I’m really enjoying recent discussions on M&A value creation and consolidation strategies. If this is an expertise of yours or someone you know, I’d love to connect and chat more so please reach out. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ I want to tell you about the audience survey we are currently running. These surveys help us create the best content for listeners and better understand your needs and interests. Thank you in advance for sharing your feedback, we greatly appreciate it.  Take the survey here: https://bit.ly/3QLBB1N Links: Tom on LinkedIn Greenwich Point Capital Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:37) - Deep focused search approaches vs. scattershot approaches (00:11:18) - What numbers and measurements do you use when determining interest in an industry? (00:20:42) - How do you think about proof of success when examining companies within an industry? (00:28:29) - What are some of your favorite ways to research an industry? (00:34:11) - What are the key characteristics of a business you need to see when acquiring? (00:39:47) - What are some industries you were close to investing in but passed on?  (00:43:50) - What do you start looking for once you’ve finalized a platform acquisition? (00:54:50) - What are some key questions you ask sellers?  (01:01:35) - What do you look for in lenders? (01:18:30) - Advice for folks pursuing consolidation thesis’