Wednesday, May 25, 2011

While not the proverbial "Floodgates" opening, the mid-size business buy-sell market is showing signs of life and John Martinka, known by people far and wide as "The Escape Artist™," and his clients are taking advantage of this. In the three months ending March 2011 three of John's clients have closed deals, two more are moving towards closure and two others are negotiating. This is in addition to John's work helping clients achieve large exits for their small businesses and his coaching of CEOs and business owners.

The most recent deal was former venture capital company owner, Bill Tenneson, who purchased Commercial Sound and Video (CSV) in Seattle, WA. Following is what Mr. Tenneson wrote (and posted on LinkedIn within 24 hours of the deal closing).

"John successfully acted as my advisor/investment banker to help my buy a >$10MM operating business. John is extremely well connected in this market place in Washington, is well regarded by other service providers, resulting in strong deal flow. John also has a unique method of finding available businesses, which often results in a great transaction for all parties. I strongly recommend working with John and would use his services again in a minute."

Mr. Tenneson has long background of investing in companies, managing them and being a board member. He worked with Mr. Martinka to locate, analyze, secure financing and structure a deal for CSV. CSV is a highly profitable, 20+ year old firm that provides high end audio, video, teleconferencing systems and similar.

In addition, in March 2011 Mr. Martinka held the first meeting of his CEO Leaders Group. This group of 10 charter member business owners and CEOs is limited to Mr. Martinka's clients, past and present. The group will meet quarterly and the initial meeting was a roaring success. Within two hours of adjourning members were emailing each other with their satisfaction with the event. The first email said, "Just wanted to take a moment say thanks to John for setting this up and to the group for the insightful dialog. I have several takeaways from our meeting and look forward to our next gathering." Others commented that it far exceeded their expectations.

As the economy improves and the market opens up expect to see more of Mr. Martinka's clients at the forefront of deals.

Mr. Martinka has been helped over 100 clients with buy-sell transactions. He is a charter member of the Society for Advancement of Consulting from whom he has received Board Approval in "Business Acquisitions & Sales." He is very active in the community having coaching 15 years each in youth baseball and soccer, served on the Hopelink Executive Leadership Council, is on the board of the NW Student Exchange, is president elect and very active with the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club and has been active at the District level with Rotary.