RollUpEurope turns 1. Why should you care?

In partnership with

If you are new to RollUpEurope, watch this video to get a taste (literally) of what we are like:

Now seriously: we are putting our hearts and souls into this project. One year in, let’s take stock of: 

1. What is RollUpEurope? 

2. Why are we doing this?

3. What has and has not worked

4. How can you help

Before diving in, we want to thank everyone who has been:

• Reading (and contributing to) the newsletter

• Coming to our events

• Supporting us financially

• Listening to us b*tch how hard this is

We are very, very grateful. 

A special thanks goes to Tristan Alden, Josh Yulish and the team at SourceScrub. It is a business run by hustlers, for hustlers. If you are looking for a private company intelligence tool, shop no more. Just hit reply to benefit from a preferential rate. 

RollUpEurope is…

…a community for serial acquirers active primarily, but not exclusively, in the technology space. It is built around, and for two overlapping constituencies:

1. M&A and Finance practitioners 

2. Founders of serial acquirers / HoldCos / rollups

Of course we welcome investors, lenders, advisers, recruiters, software vendors etc. However the first two groups really are the “glue” that holds it all together. 

The end game is to build the marketplace for serial acquirers. The marketplace for talent, capital, know-how, vendors: everything.   

Make no mistake: we are not building yet another recruiter or debt adviser. We will continue focusing on the two things we love the most: acquiring (and growing) software businesses and producing content. Our partners are already seeing business flow their way and are happy to write affiliate checks. 

Why are we doing this?

Our vision is this: to catalyse wealth creation in Europe through ownership change, on a scale not seen since post WW2. Albeit in a wholly peaceful and capitalistic manner. 

It may sound fanciful and far-fetched, but it really isn’t. 

Europe has 10s of millions of SMEs, including 1M+ in the software space alone. Aggregated correctly, these SMEs represent an asset class with superior risk adjusted returns due to a) attractive in-prices and b) steady through-cycle profitability. 

Seeking generational wealth? No need to chase unicorns or emigrate to the US. The opportunity is right here, in Europe. 

We want to help smart, ambitious people to transition from corporate jobs to becoming business owners. As to their investment vehicles of choice, we really don’t care. Search funds, HoldCos or PE buy and builds. 

The business owners get the cash. The investors get the asset. The operators get the carry. 

And RollUpEurope gets a fee. Remember: we are building a marketplace!

What has and has not worked

At the outset, it was just like Steve Schwarzman’s experience with Blackstone: the phone never rang. Don’t get me wrong: everyone wanted to get in for free and to start selling. However, nobody wanted to pick up the tab. 

Soon, we were spending more time approaching potential partners and sponsors, than creating content.

Meanwhile attendance numbers kept surging and our networking events quickly became sought after. Among men. Not that there’s anything wrong with a “guys with pints” format (cue the Belgian beer video), but we knew that our target audience was much broader than that. For one, women represent almost half of all entry-level jobs in PE. 

Out of all ideas, the best one was a “Women in Rollups” event.  

After weeks of back and forth, we landed a call with a prominent PE firm with an ironclad Diversity, Equality and Inclusion agenda. 

We kicked off the call by enthusiastically pitching the concept. After politely listening to our pitch, the firm’s representatives responded that they were not interested in such an event since their own diversity metrics were in check. But how about you guys help us raise money for a new vehicle? 

Once I got off that call, I became overwhelmed at the cynicism (realism?) and wanted to cry. 

Instead, I went for a run and came back with a better plan. Rather than chase partners we will double down on content. We will speak to as many subscribers as possible. We will expand coverage beyond tech to things like GP stakes, accountancies and financial advisers. Finally, we will switch the venue to appeal to a broader audience. 

Want to support us? 

Number one, please come to our events. Helps us get more women and non Finance folks into the serial acquirer community. 

Number two, please keep reading the newsletter - and don’t be shy to share your feedback. 

Number three, tell us what we can do better, in the comments section below. 

Thank you! 

And please check out this newsletter’s sponsor: Value Investor Daily!

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