EP130 – 14 MSP Acquisitions in 4 Years – What Buyers Really Look For with Dave Middleton

EP130 – 14 MSP Acquisitions in 4 Years – What Buyers Really Look For with Dave Middleton

From It's a Numbers Game by Daniel Welling

April 5, 2026 · 32 min · Episode 130

About this episode

Dave Middleton discusses Flotek's M&A journey and what buyers look for in acquisitions.

Dave joins the podcast to discuss Flotek's M&A journey, having completed 14 acquisitions in three and a half years, and argues the MSP market is diverse, fragmented, and active, with frequent inbound opportunities. He explains deal sourcing through SEO, brokers, network reputation, and supplier referrals, and stresses sellers should do due diligence on buyers. Flotek prioritises cultural and values alignment before numbers, then evaluates stability, cash flow, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, geography, organic growth, and vendor/tech-stack fit, with a relentless focus on thorough integration. Post-sale, they reassure staff through one-to-ones, emphasise career growth in a larger business, and use phased service integration (often months 6–12) plus strong account management to reduce churn, while acknowledging some customers prefer small-MSP intimacy. On valuation, Dave says it depends on timing and competition, advises not fixating on price versus deal structure and certainty, and notes recurring revenue and longer contracts generally improve value. 00:00 Welcome and Goals 00:51 Biggest M&A Takeaways 01:57 Deal Flow and Market Supply 03:29 Sourcing Acquisition…

People in this episode

Host: Daniel Welling

Guest: Dave Middleton

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Flotek

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