The Power of Connection: ACG Atlanta’s Impact on Middle Market Success

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s time for Sandy Springs Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon, another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. This episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel, this is going to be a great show. You got a great guest today.

Rachel Simon: Yes, I’m very excited for our guest today. We had her colleague Gloria Kantor on the show back in the Spring and had such an amazing conversation. And so today I’m really, really pleased to welcome Meg Williams who’s the Executive Director for ACG Atlanta, which is just such a super cool organization if our audience isn’t familiar. Acg stands for Association for Corporate Growth, and I’m going to let Meg tell us all about what ACG is does for the business community.

Meg Williams: Great. Thanks for having me this morning, Rachel and Lee. I’m happy to be with y’all. Uh, and to tell you more about ACG and what we’ve got going on and what’s coming up. As Rachel said, ACG stands for Association for Corporate Growth. We are a networking organization for middle market professionals. So investment banks and mezzanine lenders and private equity groups all come together along with our M&A advisors, essentially to fill their pipeline, to do deals and to make connections. So we are a global organization with 15,000 members. I am the executive director of the Atlanta chapter here. There are 61 chapters worldwide, primarily in the US and Canada, and all operate the same way with the same mission statement, which is driving middle market growth. So we play in that sort of 10 million to $1 billion range versus sort of a venture company. So once they get a little bit bigger after that venture start, they’ll they’ll kind of move into that middle market area, which is where we focus primarily.

Rachel Simon: So I’m curious because I, you know, as you said, it’s a global organization with lots of chapters all over the country. What makes Atlanta and I know you’re also been kind of doing broader events in the southeast, like such a kind of dynamic area as far as what you’re working on.

Meg Williams: That’s funny because this this topic came up at a lunch we had the other the other day. Just what a melting pot Atlanta is. And we are so lucky to have such a diverse environment here. I think, you know, ACG Wisconsin might be a little different makeup, right, than than ACG Atlanta where a large city where a large hub, busiest airport. So we get a lot of people that both travel through, but also a lot of people choose to make Atlanta home because they can so easily travel from here. So I think it’s it’s really the diversity that Atlanta has grown to, to have didn’t always have. But I think it’s it’s truly a melting pot city which is is very beneficial for us.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, Atlanta, I always love it when we see, you know, I see things that come up about how Atlanta is named as one of the best cities to live in, as one of the most educated cities. I think that came up recently. Um, you know, I think that we, uh, those people who don’t know what it’s like to live in Atlanta or don’t realize what a what a special city we have here. You know, it’s. Yeah, we’re not Chicago. We’re we may not be coming here for vacation, but there’s so much opportunity, um, to kind of build a really amazing and dynamic career and just to, like, raise a, you know, live nicely in a good with good weather most of the time, good.

Meg Williams: Weather and wonderful suburbs like Sandy Springs.

Rachel Simon: Yeah.

Meg Williams: Which which I can I can honestly say I sit here at home in my Sandy Springs home right now. So, um, near.

Rachel Simon: Me.

Meg Williams: Near and dear to my heart. Uh, but there are wonderful little pockets, like Sandy Springs all over, um, the Atlanta area. And it is a great it’s a great place to live.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. So, uh, what are some of the trends you’re seeing as far as the, you know, organizations that you’re working with?

Meg Williams: So, you know, obviously, uh, inflation is a big topic right now. So mostly what we do is we, we throw events, um, and networking opportunities for these companies to come together, right? So, um, when people ask me what I do and I say I’m the executive director of ACG Atlanta, that that doesn’t really explain. They’re like, well, tell me, what does that mean? The two things I say is I’m a I’m a matchmaker and I’m an event planner. Um, so these events that we have are are dual purpose. They’re for networking, but they’re also for people to kind of feed their pipeline, like I said. So, um, the, the trends that we’re seeing, we did a little over 30 events last year just here at the Atlanta chapter. Um, we’re seeing attendance rise at those events. People are eager. I think that’s still a little Covid hangover. People want to be with other people. So less and less virtual events and more and more in person events. We’re seeing, um, so we’re seeing increase in in attendance. We are seeing increase in costs. Um, so costs of of having the events and that sort of thing Uh, the other the other thing some of the other chapters are seeing, we here in Atlanta have not seen as much. Not everybody knock on some wood. But, um, most of our events are sponsored. And so we’re always looking for sponsorships, and, um, those have not dried up for us here in Atlanta. Uh, I think in some other areas, some companies are kind of pulling back the purse strings a little bit. Um, particularly some of the banks and that sort of thing. So, um, I think you’re seeing that in some other areas. But, uh, as far as Atlanta goes, we’re kind of just moving steadily along.

Rachel Simon: Um, Lee, any, you know, hop in here?

Lee Kantor: Sure.

Rachel Simon: Um, the question for.

Lee Kantor: People who aren’t for people who aren’t familiar with ACG and one of your venture mentioned 30 events, kind of. Can you give us a rundown of what happens at an event? Is it education? Is there a speaker? Is it networking people? Um, you know, are just meeting each other like what’s the, you know, kind of a 360 view of what happens at one of your ACG events.

Meg Williams: That’s a great question. Um, and probably something I should address more often because people may not may not know that. Um, so we do a mix. We have a variety of events here we are size wise, Atlanta is probably number 5 or 6 out of the 61 chapters. So we have about 550 members here. Obviously, not all of those members come to every event. Um, you can kind of pick and choose what is what is your cup of tea? So we have everything from our M&A South Conference, which I think we’ll talk about later, which is our largest event with 1250 people. Um, and is is both networking, um, deal making. So one on one meetings all day long. Um, it’s a three day event. So that one is, is very busy and and buzzy and, and so that one is, is not for the faint of heart, I would say. Um, and then we do smaller events. You know, we we love the sporting events. So we run out below the chop and we’ll, we’ll have that for a Braves game. And we might have 60 to 75 people. And that’s purely networking, no programing. On the other other hand, we might have a lunch and learn at the Buckhead Club and have a panel of speakers from businesses all over that are giving us an update on the M&A market. Um, so we do have some content events that are educational, and then we have some that are purely networking. We have some that are large, like M&A South 1250. And then we have, um, you know, events that are pop up happy hour. It might be 50 folks. So if you want something more intimate and that’s more your style is kind of one on one talking. Uh, those those will be what you would choose if you want to get the most bang for your buck and meet as many people as you can and pass out a million business cards, then you’re going to want to pick one of our larger signature events.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you go.

Rachel Simon: Oh go ahead Lee.

Lee Kantor: Well, I just want to be clear. Like, if I’m like, say I’m an aspiring middle market company CEO, do I attend this event to kind of get the lay of the land and meet some people that I might need later? Or if, um, or if I’m a banker, am I going because I have to know the, you know, the leadership of all these up and coming businesses that I might want to get involved with. Like, I’m just trying to understand. Yes. Uh, kind of the dynamic of what’s going on between the people. I would imagine there’s a lot of financial people who want to give their ear to the ground to know what’s happening in the business community here, and they’re going to be there. But am I going to be there as an entrepreneurial CEO or an executive to meet these financial folks?

Meg Williams: Absolutely. So our general makeup, uh, our private equity mezzanine capital lenders, investment bankers, and then what we call M&A advisors. Um, so that’s anything from accountants, um, corporate development lawyers. Anybody who touches an M&A deal is is invited to our events. So if you have any part of that deal, whether you are buying a company or selling a company or acquiring a company, uh, all of those advisors and sort of what used to be called third party advisors are all going to be in the room as well, because you can’t do the deal without them. Um, you have to have those accountants and attorneys and valuation folks. We also do have the corporate CEOs and CFOs that come because, let’s face it, eventually they may be in a position to sell or want to acquire another company. So they want to network with these folks and and be involved. And we have programing just for those CEOs and CFOs of these, these growing companies. We have a whole event around that called the Georgia Fast 40 the awards, where we honor the 40 fastest growing companies in the state of Georgia. Um, that happens in June every year. So those folks stay part of the ACG ecosystem and do attend our events. Most events are going to have the third party, uh, M&A advisors and investment banks and private equity groups that those are typically kind of the three large pockets of our attendees.

Lee Kantor: And then do you do it by niche, like I was just we were able to broadcast from Fintech South. So obviously Fintech South is a big global event. It was at the Woodruff Arts Center this year, and it was just filled with a bunch of entrepreneurs and people investing in entrepreneurs. Um, but that was primarily focused on fintech. Do you are your events kind of niched like that, or are they kind of, uh, you know, more freewheeling than it could be industry agnostic. So, you know, there could be a tech startup, but there could also be a manufacturer.

Meg Williams: Absolutely. So I would definitely say we’re industry agnostic. We’ve got a little bit of everything. So you’ll see healthcare, you’ll see fintech, etc.. So you we we really we do not discriminate. Um, we, we love all the verticals. So again anybody involved in any M&A deal is, is who, who our market is.

Lee Kantor: And that’s what’s great about Georgia right. Like our economy is so diverse. There can be a lot of verticals where like you mentioned some other cities and states, they are not as, uh, you know, not as many industries are there.

Meg Williams: Right. And there’s, you know, we’re hearing a lot about ag tech lately. Um, so a lot of healthcare is is big right now. So the the makeup is kind of constantly changing as well, which is why I prefer not not to put limits and boundaries on that. Right. So next year it could it could totally change. The ecosystem could change. And the atmosphere in the market could change. So, um, we want to be inclusive of of of anyone in the market.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And I think….

Rachel Simon: Interesting.

Lee Kantor: Go ahead. Sorry. No, you go ahead.

Rachel Simon: The problem of recording on zoom. Um, it’s interesting to look at the list of the past 40. And just to see to your point, companies, everything from, you know, SAS health care technology to agriculture focused businesses because of, you know, again, to Lee’s point, just the variety of industry in the state of Georgia. And it’s a fun list I had looked at like the last couple of years of companies on there, and to sort of see companies moving all around. And, um, it’s, you know, I would encourage people to go to your website, ACG atlanta.org. Right. And um, and take a peek at it, take a peek at the list of fast forwarding companies. Yeah.

Meg Williams: The companies. That’s such a fun event for us. That’s, um, sort of our, I would say our second largest event. Uh, we had about 350 people this year. It’s an event where you get to be in the room with 40 CEOs and C and 40 CFOs of the fastest growing companies in Georgia, so it’s a hot ticket. Um, that event, but it’s it’s a really celebratory event. And, and so cool just to see what we we they’re like our babies, right? We keep up with them. We want to know what’s going, you know, as they continue to grow and succeed. And we love it when they’re an alumni honoree, when they’ve won before and they can get up and accept their award. And we can say this is their third year winning. Um, we love that. So we love hearing their, their names in the, in the news, um, you know, flock safety. And we just heard about right after the, the really, really unfortunate, um, event that happened at Apalachee High School. Um, they really credited that company as, as how they were able to get that fast response. Um, the teachers there were using that, that company’s Technology, so I hate to hear it in association with that, but I am thrilled that that kind of a product is out there and that a company like Syntex is, is making that technology. So.

Rachel Simon: I know you just had a new event in last couple of weeks. Uh, so why don’t you tell us a little bit about that. And then I definitely want to save some time to talk about M&A stealth.

Meg Williams: Yeah, yeah. So, um, we we had our usual events this year, which, you know, our signature events, our M&A South, the Georgia Fast 40 Awards, which I just talked about uh, and then we also do taste of ACG Atlanta, um, which is again a great fun night. Uh, where we, we have it used to be a wine tasting. Now it’s, it’s all sorts of tasting, uh, of all different things. We have the Bourbon Whisperer come and do a bourbon tasting, and, um, companies are able to, like, have an exhibit table and just be able to talk with you as they’re as they’re pouring wine. And it’s it’s a fun networking event. Uh, this year we also added an event called the Spring Summit, and it was what I like to call a hype event for the fast 40 Awards. Um, we announced the winners, but not their ranking. So it sort of created a little buzz, um, prior to the event, so that people got excited and, and made sure they wanted to, to to be at the fast 40 Awards. Um, we did that at the Atlanta History Center. We had Governor Kemp come and he congratulated all of the companies, um, for for the business, the over $2 billion that they’ve brought to the state of Georgia. Um, so that was a really cool event. And then we had, um, two representatives from the the Federal Reserve kind of give us an update and again, congratulate these companies. So that was a great event. And it is I, I’m happy to say it is here to stay. So that will become an annual event. Um, we I think everyone really liked hearing the update on the market. Hearing an update on the state of Georgia from Governor Kemp, and also being able to congratulate those companies.

Rachel Simon: And I think, uh, I want to reiterate what you said, that these companies have contributed $2 billion to the state economy. That is that’s incredible. I mean, that is absolutely incredible to see. And I’m sure, uh, you know, we all reap the benefit of that.

Meg Williams: Yeah, it’s it really and the number of jobs as well. So it’s just incredible what they, um, what what they do and what they’re, what they contribute to the economy of Georgia.

Rachel Simon: Absolutely. Um, so let’s let’s talk a little bit about M&A South, which is in February every year. Um, and I do have a little funny story to share about that. But you tell us about the event and um.

Meg Williams: Oh, good, I can’t wait. I love a funny story. We are.

Meg Williams: So excited to have Maddie South back at Avalon again this year. We have a great partnership with them. Um, if you’ve not been out there, I highly, highly recommend. Um, they have a great conference center which we use. We sort of take over the whole the whole place. So the conference center, the hotel and all of the wonderful mini restaurants. So, um, it’s a it’s a little bit outside of the city, but once you get out there, you don’t have to drive or, um, you can walk everywhere. So it’s it’s going to be February 3rd through fifth this year, which is almost always that first week in February. Um, back at Avalon last year, we had over 1200 attendees. Um, over 50% of those were from outside of the state of Georgia. So it’s really a unique conference. It’s the it’s the premier deal making conference in the South. And part of the reason for that is that it’s the first out of the gate for the calendar year So, you know, you’ve got the holidays and January is a little bit sleepy. And then people are kind of like, oh, I need to, I need to fill my pipeline. I need to start networking and getting some deals in my pipeline. Um, and this is kind of the first opportunity of the year for them to do that. So we have a lot of people come from New York and Boston and Dallas and LA and, um, coming to to make those deals and, and network.

Meg Williams: Um, we have corporate development officers, accountants, lawyers. Um, our exhibitors are made up of over 200 private equity groups, investment banks and mezzanine capital funds. Um, so you will see them on, on the, the showroom floor, sort of doing their deals. They have 20 minute meetings. Some of them will do it all day for two days, which just exhausts me even thinking about it. Um, and then you’ll have some of our sponsors around the room as well that are that make up those M&A advisors that are there to, to sort of market to these groups because again, the deal cannot be cannot be done without them. So, um, you know, this is this represents this conference represents about 6300 deals and over $702 billion invested. So it’s it’s a huge conference. It’s a wonderful like I said, there’s a buzz in the room. People are excited to start their year off. Um, and it’s it’s just become our our most signature event. And and word has luckily again everyone knock on wood word has spread and the exhibitor tables sell out. The hotel sells out. So registration is open now. So if you go to ACG. Org slash Atlanta you can you can sign up for that. And I highly advise to do that quickly.

Rachel Simon: That’s amazing. Um, so my funny story is I have a client who attended last year for the first time. And, you know, he was like, I’m going to take full advantage of M&A South. It’s like two days of great opportunity. And he booked himself with like a full calendar of 20 minute meetings and was like about to pass out from exhaustion by the end of that. And he’s like, I will never do that again. Not that. Not that many meetings like go! It was incredible, but pared down the meetings with some breaks because he gave himself no breaks.

Meg Williams: Build yourself in some breaks. It is um. It is not a sprint. It is a marathon. That event. Um, I usually I essentially move out there for the week, but it kicks off on Monday afternoon. Um, the exhibitors are starting to set up their tables. And then both, both Monday night and Tuesday night are cocktail receptions, which is a fun networking event. The meetings are all day. We also have content, so we’ll have breakout sessions, um, that you can choose to go to if you want to hear about a particular topic or there’s a speaker that you want to hear. Um, so those are going on throughout the day too, that are optional. Some folks will will use those as their break so that they’re not talking for that, that 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Um, and they just they just want to go sit in a room and listen to someone. Um, so that’s available. We always have a great keynote session. Um, the past two years, it’s sort of, uh, revolved around sports. Last year we had Dale Murphy and, um, some other great folks from the Atlanta area come and kind of talk about the business of sports.

Meg Williams: So we we have not announced our keynote yet this year, but I know it will be exciting. So there’s those opportunities as well. And then my sort of funny funny thing about M&A South, I always tell people, even if you’re local, try to get a hotel room out there one of the nights because after after all the ACG sanctioned events of the day after that cocktail party ends at 630, what happens is these companies, um, have dinners and parties at all of the restaurants out there. So there’s so much more networking to do. And I always say the bar at the hotel at Avalon at 9:00 at night is the place to be if you want to get a deal done. Uh, if you come back from dinner, you can look over there at that bar and it’s three deep all the way around. And I think so much gets done around that bar. So, uh, if you are going to come pace yourself, get get your Red bull ready, get some tennis shoes on. Be ready to go from seven in the morning till till midnight. Maybe so, but it will be worth it. It will be worth it.

Lee Kantor: Now can you.

Rachel Simon: Your throat lozenges? Yes.

Lee Kantor: Um, Meg, can you share some advice for folks who are going, maybe for the first time or to maximize their time in those 20 minute sessions? What are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to having those, you know, when you’re kind of banging out a bunch of those conversations like, what are some of the the information you should have at the ready in order to kind of make the most of your time with these people.

Meg Williams: Absolutely. So a lot of these folks are this is this is wrote to them. They they’re used to this, but there are those who are coming in for the first time. Right. And so, um, biggest piece of advice would be to do your research ahead of time. So we have a great software that we use to schedule the meetings. So you know who you’re meeting with. You can request meetings. You can accept them. You can frankly, you could deny them, I guess, if you wanted to. I don’t think that happens very often. Um, but you you schedule those meetings so you know who you’re meeting with, and, and you can get information on that person from that software. Um, my biggest recommendation would be to do a little bit deeper of a dive on that person, either via LinkedIn or the firm website or whatever, and be prepared because you do only have that 20 minutes. I will tell you, these these folks that are having these meetings, they are there to do business So the fun and the networking and all of that happens later. But during the day in those meetings, they are serious business and they they want to get down to brass tacks. So I would say have your one sheet ready, have have your, you know, all of your stats in your head memorized, ready to go multiples, EBITDA, all of those things. Um, just be ready for that and, and be prepared, but also do a little research on who it is that you’re going to be meeting with and their firm so that you’re ready ahead of time.

Lee Kantor: Rachel, do you have any, um, you want to piggyback on that?

Rachel Simon: Yeah. So, uh, you know, you your words are music to my ears when you say do your research, because the best place to go and do that research is to start with someone’s LinkedIn profile. Um, and so a tip to everyone listening is that if your profile is outdated and incomplete, it makes it so much more difficult for somebody to understand what you’re all about. Why? Why they should take that meeting with you. Right. Your profile could be the difference between why someone accepts or maybe says, I’m going to take another meeting. Um, so making sure that that, you know, you’ve got branding in for your organization, it’s crystal clear what you do, who you do it for, the problems that you solve. And hey, if you need y’all need help with that, you can come and ask me. I’ll give you some tips, but I think that’s amazing advice. Um, and truly, LinkedIn is really the generally the number one place people are going to go to do that research.

Meg Williams: It is LinkedIn is such a valuable resource. One other really valuable resource for our members. Um, this is this is what I always say is the big the the the two big things about being a member versus a non member with ACG. Um, you don’t have to be a member to come to our events. Your registration cost is going to be much higher if you’re not. Um, so if you’re going to go to 2 or 3 events in a year, you’re really better off to go ahead and and get a membership. Uh, the membership, the two biggest things that come with that. Number one is the reciprocity of our chapters. So you can attend an event at member pricing at any of the 61 chapters all over the world. Mhm. Um, so if you’re, if you travel to Boston or if you travel to London or if you travel to LA, you know, you can always look up what that chapter is doing that week and hit up one of their events so that that’s one of our, our biggest perks of membership. Um, the other one is that you get access to our database of over 15,000 global members. So if you are a member attending M&A South or another conference or anything like that, um, I highly encourage you to look in the database as well. Use that database to see and you can filter by different firms and, and see who you want to meet with and use that database to get a little more information on on the folks that are maybe requesting a meeting from you. Um, so use that in in conjunction with LinkedIn, I think would be the true gold star there to get all the information you would need.

Lee Kantor: So is there.

Rachel Simon: That’s amazing.

Lee Kantor: Is there still an opportunity, like for sponsorship or tickets for the M&A South? Like what?

Meg Williams: Absolutely.

Meg Williams: We are not sold out. Um, sponsorships are available. They are going very quickly. This is a real opportunity for firms to get their name in front of a large amount of people, um, and be able to have time to network and chat with them. So there are some conferences where the sponsors are, are like in another room or outside in the hall and, and not really in the main showroom floor. That’s not the case at M&A South where everybody’s in the room together. Because again, we agree you can’t do the deals without these M&A advisors. So they need to be in the room. Uh, so it’s a great opportunity. We have several that are left. If you are interested again you can go to ACG. Org slash Atlanta. Click on events. You will find everything you need to know about M&A South and and our other events as well. If you’re interested in sponsoring something smaller or something later in the year, we’ve got opportunities for for all of those.

Lee Kantor: Well, Meg, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Rachel Simon: Absolutely, absolutely.

Meg Williams: Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.

Rachel Simon: Thank you. Meg, um, this was a great. ACG, I’d highly encourage people to come check out events. There’s so many different kinds of events to, um, to attend and just get a sense of what you all are all about.

Meg Williams: Thanks again guys.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.