44 min listen
Marshall Lockton: from family business to family office to acquisition #1
Marshall Lockton: from family business to family office to acquisition #1
ratings:
Length:
45 minutes
Released:
Jun 4, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Today’s guest is Marshall Lockton. Marshall spent 15 years in sales, sales strategy and sales training roles within his family’s storied private insurance brokerage business (Lockton) before leaving to acquire his first business. In October 2023, he acquired Knight Agency, a specialized consultancy that helps organizations unlock performance by uniquely connecting a company’s purpose, story, values, people and products.
Marshall’s journey as an acquirer is just beginning, but his prior career building sales and sales training programs inside one of the most successful private insurance brokerage companies gives him a mid-career operator’s advantage over many newly minted MBAs pursuing EtA.
Marshall discusses his experiences in the family business, the personal considerations he had to weigh by joining the business, the value of establishing purpose before investing, and the lessons learned at Lockton around culture, autonomy, and nailing sales incentives.
The conversation concludes with Marshall getting into the details of the Knight Agency acquisition, highlighting the strategic importance of long-term vision, building relationships, and shared focus on people and purpose-driven work.
Discussion Points:
Marshall’s decision to join the family-owned insurance brokerage
Family business dynamics, honest feedback, growth, and community
Establishing your personal core and opus ~ identity, values, principles, and vision
Marshall's purpose-driven approach in starting Meraki Investments
How Private Equity misses the opportunity to unlock purpose after the acquisition
Impact of connecting culture, purpose and employees to create business success
Masters in Small Business M&A (sign up for podcast drops here) is produced by the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially discover, research and connect with top-ranked M&A advisors and professional capital partners. In every episode, we explore the dynamic world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, acquirers, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.
If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where we make available the Axial member directories, downloadable tools for dealmakers, the Axial quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, the SMB M&A pipeline report, and other useful information. If you’re a business owner, professional acquirer, or M&A advisor, you can start using Axial for free at Axial.com.
Resources:
Marshall’s journey as an acquirer is just beginning, but his prior career building sales and sales training programs inside one of the most successful private insurance brokerage companies gives him a mid-career operator’s advantage over many newly minted MBAs pursuing EtA.
Marshall discusses his experiences in the family business, the personal considerations he had to weigh by joining the business, the value of establishing purpose before investing, and the lessons learned at Lockton around culture, autonomy, and nailing sales incentives.
The conversation concludes with Marshall getting into the details of the Knight Agency acquisition, highlighting the strategic importance of long-term vision, building relationships, and shared focus on people and purpose-driven work.
Discussion Points:
Marshall’s decision to join the family-owned insurance brokerage
Family business dynamics, honest feedback, growth, and community
Establishing your personal core and opus ~ identity, values, principles, and vision
Marshall's purpose-driven approach in starting Meraki Investments
How Private Equity misses the opportunity to unlock purpose after the acquisition
Impact of connecting culture, purpose and employees to create business success
Masters in Small Business M&A (sign up for podcast drops here) is produced by the team at Axial (www.axial.com). Axial makes it easy for small business owners to confidentially discover, research and connect with top-ranked M&A advisors and professional capital partners. In every episode, we explore the dynamic world of small business M&A, interviewing a mix of proven and emerging owners, operators, acquirers, and M&A advisors whose strategies and methods are being put to the test.
If you’d like to go deeper, head to Axial.com, where we make available the Axial member directories, downloadable tools for dealmakers, the Axial quarterly lower middle market investment banking league-table rankings, the SMB M&A pipeline report, and other useful information. If you’re a business owner, professional acquirer, or M&A advisor, you can start using Axial for free at Axial.com.
Resources:
Released:
Jun 4, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (25)
Ken Heuer - How to Win as a Generalist Family Office in the Lower Middle Market: My guest today is Ken Heuer, Principal at Kidd & Company, a principal investment firm with a unique approach to designing businesses that transform their industry segments. Combining intensive research and hands-on involvement, Kidd & Co creates highly successful businesses that generate world-class investment returns. Ken Heuer joined Kidd & Company in 2008 and participates in all facets of the firm’s activities, including sourcing new opportunities, investment strategy development, conducting technical, financial and market due diligence, maintaining relationships with debt and equity co-investors, and overseeing strategy execution for existing investments. Previously Ken was a Managing Director at Spencer Trask, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he worked with companies in the life sciences, healthcare, information technology, software and communications sectors. Prior to Spencer Trask, Ken was by Masters in Small Business M&A