Trivest’s Tony Hill on DealMAX: ‘We Have Built Thousands of New Connections’

The Association for Corporate Growth opened registration for its DealMAX conference earlier this month. The event will return to Las Vegas on April 7-9, 2025, bringing together more than 3,000 middle-market M&A professionals for networking, dealmaking and idea-sharing.

This year, the DealMAX committee is chaired by Tony Hill, principal and the co-leader of business development for private equity firm Trivest Partners. Middle Market Growth caught up with Hill to hear about the relationships he’s built at DealMAX over the years, his advice for navigating the conference, and how DealMAX can help with building inroads in your local market.

Middle Market Growth: Tell us about Trivest Partners and your role there.

Tony Hill: Trivest Partners is based out of Miami, Florida. The firm has been around for over 40 years. Business owners choose us for two reasons: our founder-friendly approach to private equity and our unrelenting focus on growth and value creation. That reputation has, over the years, propelled Trivest to the top of the charts by virtually any metric you look at, especially deal volume. This calendar year, we expect to close 80 or more transactions.

I’m a principal and co-lead our business development department. I was brought on in 2019 to help scale and professionalize Trivest’s business development efforts. Specifically, they were seeking someone to build a best-in-class, data-driven business development department focused on regional coverage as well as strategic initiatives—essentially, specific channel strategies in areas or markets where we believe we can uncover deals that are great fits for our different funds.

When I joined in 2019, there were two of us in business development. Today, our team has ballooned to 13 professionals scattered across the United States and Canada. These days we are originating about 5,000 deals per year, and the vast majority of equity dollars that are going out the door are now being originated out of Trivest business development, which was not the case when we started on this endeavor five or six years ago.

MMG: How long have you been coming to ACG’s DealMAX, and what value have you gotten out of the conference?

TH: I first went in the late aughts, when DealMAX was still called InterGrowth. I’ve since gone in fits and starts through different stages of my career.

Most recently, as part of Trivest, I’ve gone most years. It’s been fun to watch the event evolve and to see it generate all this momentum, particularly since COVID, and how it continues to eclipse records year over year.

DealMAX is the largest M&A conference in the country for mid-market dealmakers and the best place to strengthen your network at the national level—both in terms of growing it via new connections as well as deepening existing ones, which is equally if not more important. If you plan correctly, you can absolutely accomplish both things. This is an industry where the aphorism “it’s not what you know, but who you know” really applies. I’m not saying it won’t be a little exhausting, but it’s well worth the effort. That’s why Trivest sends 12 to 15 people every year.

While you’re at DealMAX, you also get up to speed on all things deal activity—capital markets, products and services, who’s doing what, the rumor mill. All these things are circulating, and it’s a great feeling to be a part of that energy.

DealMAX is also a great place to practice the art of the pitch. It’s like the networking Olympics—you get all these reps in with bankers and PE groups and M&A partners, and you strengthen the art of how you network. Anybody would tell you that after Day One of DealMAX, they’ve really nailed their pitch.

On a more personal level, I’ve made a lot of friends at DealMAX over the years. We see each other at the conference, stay in touch during the year, and in an industry where everything is built on trust, that value is indispensable. One of the most valuable things I’ve gotten from DealMAX is the chance to build these long-lasting, trust-based relationships with counterparts across every vertical in the dealmaking space.

MMG: Is there a particular deal that stemmed directly from a connection you made at DealMAX?

TH: I’ll quote Trivest’s chief marketing officer who once said, “You can’t see the wind, but you can see its effects.” I think DealMAX is similar. You can’t always see how being there is driving your business forward. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t, but the bottom line is: We have built thousands of new connections over many years at DealMAX, which have led to hundreds—possibly thousands—of deals.

We have built thousands of new connections over many years at DealMAX, which have led to hundreds—possibly thousands—of deals.

Tony Hill

Trivest Partners

A recent one that comes to mind for me stemmed from running into Jeff Reichard from Dinan & Co., one of the most well-known and well-respected buy-side search firms.

I’d been speaking to Jeff for two or three years by phone and e-mail, and we finally connected in person at DealMAX. When we did, we hit it off talking about our daughters. One thing led to another and, as a result of that meeting, Trivest decided to retain Dinan and launch a search together. It was DealMAX that lit the flame finally and made us say, “Let’s do this.” We’ve since had a lot of success with Dinan and have closed numerous deals that they’ve originated for us.

MMG: Pre-scheduled meetings are a fixture of DealMAX, but plenty of connections happen through informal interactions. Can you point to a relationship that began through a chance encounter at the event?

TH: Back at InterGrowth in 2010, when it was in Miami at the Fontainbleau, I was still an investment banker. I was working the reception when I came across a young, slender, charismatic private equity professional named Jamie Elias. It was a brief interaction, but it was memorable.

Fast-forward a few years later, and Jamie is a managing partner at Trivest, leading our TGIF fund. He went on to hire me, and the rest is history.

MMG: Having attended DealMAX for many years, can you share any advice for navigating the event?

TH: It might not sound very exciting, but one thing I would encourage people to do is to block off an hour on one of the days. Don’t schedule any meetings—just wander around the lounge with no agenda.

You’d be surprised at the quantity and quality of the serendipitous, impromptu conversations that emerge just by walking up to some booths or stopping to have an espresso at the café, or stopping by a deal table to shake someone’s hand quickly.

Just go where the wind takes you. There are people crisscrossing in all directions, and it’s a lot of fun to be inside that crossfire. It also gives you an appreciation for the sheer scale of the conference.

Everyone’s tempted to load up their calendar with meetings—and by the way, do not do that; please make sure you have some gaps in there. But if you can find one big gap in your schedule to step back and see the big picture, it’s pretty cool.

A couple of years ago, DealMAX really started to hit critical mass with Aaron Polack of Lion Equity as committee chair, followed by Jenna Schlageter of Bow River Capital. I’m following in the footsteps of an ACG Global team, as well as two chairpersons, who have set DealMAX on a rocket ship trajectory. This year, we have a phenomenal main committee on board, so I’m excited to see how much bigger and dynamic DealMAX gets in 2025, because the momentum is absolutely there.

MMG: You’ve been active at the chapter level of ACG in local and regional markets. What would you tell someone who has only participated in local chapter activities about the value of attending DealMAX?

TH: I mean, you’ve got to go at least once, right? I’d start with that. Because you don’t know what you don’t know, and just because your sphere of influence is more local, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find opportunities to grow your network and grow your business at a national event.

And then secondly—and this is a little counterintuitive—you may find that DealMAX is a great place to meet folks who are local to you.

Over the years, there are tons of people from Miami and from Florida in general who I had heard of, but I’d never met them. And lo and behold, where did we finally connect? Yeah, at DealMAX. There’s some great chemistry there, too, because we’re two Miami people or two Florida people who have never met before, but we’ve got that instant connection—a “Hey, funny seeing you here” kind of thing.

So even if you’re only looking for local folks, you’re going to find people from every major market and secondary market and tertiary market at DealMAX, and they’re going to be easy to seek out. They’re there to work and network for two to three full days, so you’re going to have uninterrupted access to them. DealMAX can often be an easier place to connect with local folks than locally, where they have their routine, office hours and family responsibilities. Don’t discount the kinds of local connections you can make at a national conference like DealMAX.

Registration for DealMAX is now open! Click here to register to attend.

Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.