Aaron Kroll, second from left, and Trey Cherry, second from right, at last year’s RVA 25 event. (Photos by Stephanie Jenkins)
Sterling Point Advisors turned heads last year when it topped the annual RVA 25 list of Richmond’s fastest-growing companies with 15,326 percent three-year revenue growth.
In the 12 months since, the five-year-old M&A advisory firm has worked to keep the momentum going by representing buyers and sellers of privately held businesses.
Looking ahead to the unveiling next month of this year’s RVA 25 rankings, BizSense checked in with Sterling Point co-founder Aaron Kroll to see what the company has been up to – and whether it has a chance to come close to matching that whopping growth rate that landed it atop the list in 2022.
Kroll said the firm has closed 43 deals since its founding in 2018, up from about 30 a year ago. He said it expects that tally to reach 45-50 by the end of 2023.
Pets are a big part of that rising deal count.
Kroll said more than 30 of the firm’s deals to date have involved the sale of veterinary practices, due in large part to a wave of private equity money flowing into the industry. And he said Sterling Point has another 10 such deals in the works.
“Vet practices are hot,” said Kroll, who founded Sterling Point with Trey Cherry. “Someone should write a book about the craziness we’ve seen.”
Kroll said private equity investors are drawn to vet practices because they’re mostly cash-based, as there’s typically no insurance involved when customers pay for services and no accounts receivable.
Vets like selling in such deals, Kroll said, because the private equity investors typically come in to take care of the business side, freeing the doctors from that part of the enterprise.
“If you let them go be a vet and they don’t have to worry about a profit and loss statement, they’re going to make you money,” he said.
The vet segment is so important to the firm that Kroll said it recently hired a managing director to work deals specifically in that industry.
Kroll and Cherry fist bump/high-five on their way to accept their RVA 25 trophy last year.
That’s not to say Sterling Point isn’t seeing deals in other industries. One of its most active current deals in terms of buyer interest is the listing of a commercial landscaping company.
“We have kind of a weird array right now: distribution, financial services, home services. So we’re expanding a little bit and are still industry agnostic,” he said.
The firm is also geographically agnostic, with deals coming from all over the country, including Illinois and California of late.
Sterling Point is up to 12 employees, with boots on the ground in Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, North Carolina, in addition to the firm’s headquarters in Innsbrook.
Its sweet spot for deals remains those valued at $5 million to $50 million.
“In that range you’re dealing mostly with founder-run companies. We really like dealing with the founders themselves. We can relate to them,” Kroll said.
While they’re still riding the momentum of a rising number of closings, Kroll said they’ve learned the importance of patience in the M&A industry.
“There will be months we have no closings. Then all of sudden it will be back to back to back,” he said. “We have a lot of deals in the market right now, 10-15, but several have been pushed into next year.”
As his firm awaits the unveiling of latest RVA 25 rankings and growth percentages at the Nov. 6 awards ceremony, Kroll said it’s safe to say that 15,000-plus percent growth rate Sterling Point garnered last year will be tough to top.
“What we’re seeing now is larger profits but maybe not the huge revenue numbers. We’re in a good stride right now and still growing,” he said.
General admission tickets for the Nov. 6 RVA 25 awards ceremony are sold out. Click here for info on how to sponsor the event.
Aaron Kroll, second from left, and Trey Cherry, second from right, at last year’s RVA 25 event. (Photos by Stephanie Jenkins)
Sterling Point Advisors turned heads last year when it topped the annual RVA 25 list of Richmond’s fastest-growing companies with 15,326 percent three-year revenue growth.
In the 12 months since, the five-year-old M&A advisory firm has worked to keep the momentum going by representing buyers and sellers of privately held businesses.
Looking ahead to the unveiling next month of this year’s RVA 25 rankings, BizSense checked in with Sterling Point co-founder Aaron Kroll to see what the company has been up to – and whether it has a chance to come close to matching that whopping growth rate that landed it atop the list in 2022.
Kroll said the firm has closed 43 deals since its founding in 2018, up from about 30 a year ago. He said it expects that tally to reach 45-50 by the end of 2023.
Pets are a big part of that rising deal count.
Kroll said more than 30 of the firm’s deals to date have involved the sale of veterinary practices, due in large part to a wave of private equity money flowing into the industry. And he said Sterling Point has another 10 such deals in the works.
“Vet practices are hot,” said Kroll, who founded Sterling Point with Trey Cherry. “Someone should write a book about the craziness we’ve seen.”
Kroll said private equity investors are drawn to vet practices because they’re mostly cash-based, as there’s typically no insurance involved when customers pay for services and no accounts receivable.
Vets like selling in such deals, Kroll said, because the private equity investors typically come in to take care of the business side, freeing the doctors from that part of the enterprise.
“If you let them go be a vet and they don’t have to worry about a profit and loss statement, they’re going to make you money,” he said.
The vet segment is so important to the firm that Kroll said it recently hired a managing director to work deals specifically in that industry.
Kroll and Cherry fist bump/high-five on their way to accept their RVA 25 trophy last year.
That’s not to say Sterling Point isn’t seeing deals in other industries. One of its most active current deals in terms of buyer interest is the listing of a commercial landscaping company.
“We have kind of a weird array right now: distribution, financial services, home services. So we’re expanding a little bit and are still industry agnostic,” he said.
The firm is also geographically agnostic, with deals coming from all over the country, including Illinois and California of late.
Sterling Point is up to 12 employees, with boots on the ground in Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, North Carolina, in addition to the firm’s headquarters in Innsbrook.
Its sweet spot for deals remains those valued at $5 million to $50 million.
“In that range you’re dealing mostly with founder-run companies. We really like dealing with the founders themselves. We can relate to them,” Kroll said.
While they’re still riding the momentum of a rising number of closings, Kroll said they’ve learned the importance of patience in the M&A industry.
“There will be months we have no closings. Then all of sudden it will be back to back to back,” he said. “We have a lot of deals in the market right now, 10-15, but several have been pushed into next year.”
As his firm awaits the unveiling of latest RVA 25 rankings and growth percentages at the Nov. 6 awards ceremony, Kroll said it’s safe to say that 15,000-plus percent growth rate Sterling Point garnered last year will be tough to top.
“What we’re seeing now is larger profits but maybe not the huge revenue numbers. We’re in a good stride right now and still growing,” he said.
General admission tickets for the Nov. 6 RVA 25 awards ceremony are sold out. Click here for info on how to sponsor the event.