Flipping the Script: Inside DealMAX with GF Data’s Ruben Burke and Ryan McCann

While data providers may see M&A conferences as an opportunity to seek out dealmakers, GF Data’s Ruben Burke and Ryan McCann say DealMAX flips the script and offers a chance for the dealmakers to come to them. The two sit down for the third episode of this year’s Inside DealMAX series to share how they engage with the middle-market M&A community, plus offer some sneak peeks into the latest of GF Data’s findings on the state of the market.

Register today at dealmax.org. Learn more about GF Data, an ACG company, at gfdata.com. Read a transcript of the podcast below.

Middle Market Growth: Welcome to the Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast, an ACG production. I’m Carolyn Vallejo, and we’re back with another episode of our Inside DealMAX series, where we’re going behind the scenes with guests involved in ACG’s flagship conference for the middle market taking place April 27 through the 29 at the ARIA in Las Vegas. Throughout this series, we’ll be exploring M&A trends, what you can expect on the ground at DealMAX, and networking tips from dealmakers and industry experts who will be there right when the doors open. Today we’re sitting down with GF Data’s Ruben Burke and Ryan McCann to chat about what the data says about the 2026 M&A landscape and their DealMAX experiences. Ruben and Ryan, welcome to the podcast.

Ruben Burke: Thanks for having us.

Ryan McCann: Thanks for having us, Carolyn.

MMG: Absolutely. We want to get to know you both a little bit better first so Ruben, we’re going to start with you. Can you tell us a bit about what you do at GF Data and how long you’ve been coming to DealMAX?

RB: Yeah, for sure. So I lead new business sales, and that’s from the initial point of contact to demoing the platform features, negotiating and finally executing a contract with our prospective clients. And this is going to be my third year attending DealMAX, which is pretty crazy to think about,

MMG: Goes by fast for sure. Ryan, same question for you. What’s your role at GF Data and your DealMAX history?

RM: I’m a senior analyst here at GF Data, and I head our data analysis as it pertains to the quarterly deal collection from our contributing private equity firms and the point of contact there for them, as well as heading the quality assurance and putting together our quarterly reports.

MMG: Got it. And just for a bit of fun, do either of you have travel or conference hacks that you could share? Ruben, let’s start with you.

RB: Yeah, for sure. So I’m very Type A and OCD, so I’d say for me, my biggest travel hack is packing a steamer. As soon as I get to any of these events, the first thing I do is take out my clothes and get them all ready for the time that we’re there. And that steamer is definitely a game changer for me.

MMG: Absolutely. And Ryan, what about you? What’s your travel hack or your conference hack?

RM: Unlike Ruben, I don’t have room to fit a fit a steamer in my carry-on, but I will say I do like to unpack all my, all my clothes and try to get them as de-wrinkled as possible. A little hack is hanging them up in the bathroom and taking a, a hot shower, so the steam gets in there and can de-wrinkle a little bit. And then in the mornings I try to wake myself up a little by utilizing the ice bucket that’s in the room going down the, the ice machine and then throwing that into the sink. Or at least at the ARIA, they have bathtubs. So if you want a quick little face submersion, or even taking an ice bath in the morning before the event starts.

MMG: That is a great hack and a really great way to wake yourself up and get energized because DealMAX is definitely, as we say, a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve got to be energized for it. So, you both are numbers guys, and I want to take a moment to talk about the data and what it says about the middle-market M&A landscape that we’re kind of looking at as we head to Vegas. Ryan, we’re going to start with you here. You are currently analyzing Q4 data and the reports are going to be dropping soon. We talked a little bit about this on our members only webinar last month, but are there any kind of sneak peeks you can offer us about how the 2026 M&A market is shaping up?

RM: Just a little background on GF Data. So we cover the lower middle market and we define that as $10 million to $100 million dollars in enterprise value on three to 18 times trailing 12-month EBITDA multiples. Intuition there, you get sub three times in more distress type situations and 18 plus it’s more venture capital-based transactions. So either way the information gets skewed. We just decide to cover that middle ground of three to 18 x. So all the information that we collect is in those parameters, and as you said, we’re finalizing our, our Q4 findings in full year 2025 findings that should be released to our subscribers this week. But a little bit of what we’re seeing high level from those, those reports and coming out of 2024 and we saw a decent bit of momentum and a lot of optimism heading into 25. There were declining interest rates across the board and a seemingly pro-business administration coming into the, the White House. But any and seemingly all, all momentum was derailed and optimism went out the went out the window and in Q1, as we saw, pretty significant drop in deal volume, quarter on quarter from Q4 of 24, where it was just around a hundred to just about 70 and then quarter one. So a lot of that had to do with tariffs and we saw that that was prolonging and outright killing a lot of deals. And that’s very sector specific, but manufacturing as a whole really, really took a hit year on year and killed any momentum that was, that was coming out of, out of 24. And if you look at valuations from or in the manufacturing space in 25, comparing that to back the 2021 where the near zero rates and a lot of momentum and platform acquisitions being completed, multiples are not, are not on that level. So we think that’s driving a lot of delays in the transactions there. And that’s kind of the, the, the mantra for the entire market. GPs are struggling to exit platforms with valuations on average below level seen in 21 and 22. So longer holding periods a strange debt market. So overall leverage contribution is down and that’s, you know, while rates are falling still, they’re relatively high compared to what we saw in, in 2021 in the beginning of 22 before, before these rate hikes then. And that’s it’s driving a lot of sponsors to, to fall into the more competition for a on acquisitions. And that’s kind of been the, the focus or what’s been really the, the driver of the market. And as in the lower middle market in the past two years, we saw a substantial increase in add-on acquisition since the beginning of 24. And that has continued through the end of 2025. And with that, we’ve seen a steady decline in top line growth since 2022. While margins have held up financial performance and, and revenue growth has started to decline to that point, GF data has a statistic that we call the, the quality premium that looks at the difference in valuations between what we call above average financial performing companies and non above average buyouts. So to hit that metric, companies have to come to market and transact with 10% plus in both trailing 12 month revenue growth percentage and trailing 12 month EBITDA margins. So if you hit both of those metrics, then you are designated an above average financial performing company. We’ve seen that premium compress significantly since 2023, and it is looking at just about 3% in full year 2025. And a lot of that is due to following top line growth numbers since the beginning of 2023, while margins have held up, a lot of these would be above average companies are being bumped down into that a non, that non above average segment there, thus compressing that premium. And a lot of it has to do with this, this, this add-on driven market because a lot of those add-ons fall into the 10 to $25 million range sub $50 million range. A lot of, a lot of them are great add-on acquisitions because that top line growth is not at the forefront of a buyer’s mind. It’s more so how applicable is this to the platform acquisition? How could this bolster up our existing portco, with us struggling to exit the time because valuations are not holding up to those numbers seen in the open season of 2021. So main point is 2024 and into 2025, we’re still seeing this really market driven by add-on acquisitions and less exits from, from sponsors on the platform side of things.

MMG: And I know GF Data also released a small deal report late last year that also had some pretty interesting insights. Are there any key takeaways that you can provide us?

RM: Yeah, so on that add-on note, we’ve expanded our coverage a little bit to include deals that fall between the one and a $10 million size. We did that because of the, the dynamic of add-ons having a more prevalent presence in the lower middle market. So we actually launched a small deals report that really drills down into deals within the, the one to $25 million space. What we saw there is a lot of this, this competition driven by sponsors looking to incorporate strategic bolt-ons to their current platforms is really driving up multiples in that sub $25 million space. And a lot of that could be due to a struggling debt market. Add-ons can be financed different ways and can utilize existing credit facilities from platforms that were transacted in 21 and 22. So that’s, that’s driving a lot of that add-on activity. So we wanted to provide our subscribers with more of a detailed explanation and kind of the, the trends that are happening with the add-on market there.

MMG: Well, a lot of what you just mentioned I’m sure resonates with what dealmakers and dealmaking partners are seeing and hearing about anecdotally, so it’s fascinating to see that the data really backs that up. We’re going to turn to you, Ruben, we’re of course here today to talk about all things DealMAX, and you spend a lot of time at the GF Data booth. Tell me about what the experience is like on the deal floor.

RB: Yeah, absolutely, and this actually helps me think about another best practice that I have for DealMAX, and that’s before I get to the GF Data booth, is to get at least one or two bottles of water just because you’re having so many interactions throughout the day, there’s definitely a buzz of energy at DealMAX. So this event presents a really unique opportunity for us, go to these type of events all over the country, and we’re not just attending a CG events, but typically data providers are not who deal makers are going out of their way to talk to at these type of events, right? They’re trying to talk to the bankers, the buyers, or those service providers that are more adjacent to the actual deal lifecycle. But having said that, the script is flipped at DealMAX in my opinion, in terms of engagement. The floor is just constantly moving with buyers, brokers, bankers, valuation pros from all over the world that are looking to engage with data providers and demo the product that you have. Something that we’re excited about. I actually randomly threw a demo that I was having last year, ended up meeting some members of ACG Spain, I speak Spanish, they were asking about our data, we flipped it in Espanol and had a really good dialogue and we’re carrying on conversations to hopefully expand GF Data’s coverage into Spain. And the genesis of that conversation all happened to our booth, you know, so definitely a lot of energy, a lot of opportunity to engage with people and they’re open to hear from the data providers, which is exciting for us.

MMG: Awesome. And I know of course you’ll be back on the deal floor at the GF Data booth again this year. So what are some of the things that you are most excited to debut?

RB: Yeah, for sure. So the phrase I think is the next generation, the next gen of GF Data over the last 18 months, we’ve really enhanced the platform in numerous ways, like being able to query our leverage data deal terms, converting from enterprise value to EBITDA ranges, creating visuals with the quant data that we bolster within the platform itself. So we’ve always had a really valuable library of private domain IP on private company transactions in the lower midmarket, which is typically opaque. And that’s what we really hit on, right? And our strategy has been to unlock more of that IP on the front end for users to be able to create custom reports as they’re needed instead of just relying on some of our static reporting that Ryan alluded to earlier here, that we do those quarterly reports, right? But then another thing that I’m super, super excited about that I think’s really going to open up those chambers is the far site partnership that we’ve entered into in the integration is really going to be the next phase of this evolution. So I’m really pumped to showcase that and what the new GF Data is going to enable deal makers to do within our database moving forward.

MMG: So I imagine that spending any time in a booth kind of tests your skills and making connections with people. Any networking tips or strategies that you swear by, Ruben? I know that you mentioned having a bottle of water, which of course seems important. Anything else?

RB: Yeah, so this might age me as a millennial, but something I always tell myself is to keep it simple, stupid, it’s a Michael Scott quote from The Office, and I just think it holds so much truth, you know, and, and also I always tell myself to carry myself like the type of person I would want to engage with, right? Everyone engages with promoters or sales personas of some sort in your day-to-day lives, right? And we all remember the types of people that leave an impression on us, and even if we weren’t going for their product or it wasn’t for us, just that impression that they leave on you, it at least says something, right? So outside of that, just identifying a through line is my go-to move in the first, I would say 30 to 60 seconds in an interaction. So what I mean by that, just to warm things up, you know, where’d you go to college? Where’d you grow up? Do you like sports? Do you like music? You know do you like food? What’s your thing? Right? And let me start peeling that and let’s just find some commonality and, and get the blood boiling and start talking from there.

MMG: Awesome. And Ryan, same question. Any networking tips that you swear by?

RM: I would say when you meet someone, it, it always helps me to repeat their name back to them, although everyone’s got name tags with their names, their positions, and the companies they work for on hand at DealMAX. And a lot of the times they can flip around without you knowing. So it could be tough to see name tags and for that farewell, you know, you want to have that name on hand. So repeating it back to them is always a way for me to remember. And then also just keeping in mind that, you know, everybody’s human and it’s never that deep, these interactions, you know, they’re there to learn about your product, they’re there to learn about you as a person, and it’s not a test, don’t treat it as one, just be a human and have a conversation.

MMG: Absolutely. It’s all about human connections here. Ryan, I’m curious too, is there, you know, maybe an event or a feature for DealMAX that you’re looking forward to this year?

RM: Yeah, so Ruben had alluded to it earlier. You know, the script may be flipped a little bit at DealMAX in that there are always a lot of service providers or other data platforms out there showcasing their products. And I always like to, as a refresher and, you know, a breather of getting away from the booth stepping away and, you know, going and having demos with these other data providers and seeing what other tools are out there, just so you know, I can increase my exposure and learn a few things. And just back on that networking tip is you get to shake more hands and building up that that network, and it’s getting to learn a lit little bit more about what’s out there.

MMG: Finally, I ask all our guests on the Inside DealMAX series, if you had to convince someone who might be on the fence to go to DealMAX this year, what would you say? Ruben, let’s start with you.

RB: I mean, really simple here. Going back to the Michael Scott motto here. Just book it. Go. I mean, the ground that you can cover and the amount of connections that you can make over the course of two to three days. I mean, for me, I’m doing at least 15 demos a day, which is really, really phenomenal from our perspective. So I just think the ground that you can cover in a limited amount of time, the exposure, the visibility that the, the platform provides, I mean, it’d take you about six months, if not longer, to make that many connections hitting the pavement on your own.

MMG: Ryan, how about you? What would you tell someone if they were on the fence about going to DealMAX this year?

RM: Same as Ruben just said. You get the biggest bang for your buck going to DealMAX because there’s so many different deal professionals there from all over the country and all over the world. So you get to interact or have the opportunity to interact and do business with, with people from all different walks of life. So I would say if you’re on the fence, pull the trigger and you won’t regret it.

MMG: All right. Ryan McCann and Ruben Burke of GF Data, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. We can’t wait to see you in Vegas.

RB: Thanks for having us.

RM: Thanks for having us, Carolyn.

MMG: To learn more about GF Data and view their latest reports, visit gf data.com. And if you would like to join us in Vegas, maybe even see Ryan and Ruben and learn more about GF Data in person at DealMAX this year, you can learn more at dealmax.org.

This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.

The Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To hear more interviews with middle-market influencers, subscribe to the Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud.