In this episode, I sit down with P.V. Ramanathan, or Ram, to unpack the story of how he helped lead a management buyout of a struggling cathodic protection business in 2003 and turned it into Corrosion Technology Services ( https://ctscp.com/ ). Himself local to Dubai, Ram's company, CTS, includes 10 companies operating across 8 countries and 3 regions.

The free cash flow generation gave Ram the ability to build Neeti Fund, a fund-of-funds built around a simple but highly selective strategy: backing a small group of high-quality long-only and long-short equity managers with aligned incentives, understandable philosophies, and meaningful personal capital invested alongside clients.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why Ram calls his life “dull, boring, and unsexy”
5:09 Leaving India for Dubai with no passport
8:46 The accounting lessons that shaped his whole career
11:05 Learning the oilfield business from the rig floor
13:29 The turnaround opportunity that changed everything
16:07 Buying CTS through a leveraged management buyout
19:19 What Ram focused on after taking over the business
26:45 Why CTS refuses leverage and aggressive accounting
31:31 The case for a cash-heavy balance sheet
36:40 How Neeti Fund was born
43:16 Ram’s framework for picking elite fund managers
49:50 Red flags he’ll never ignore in an allocator
57:33 The story behind ValueX Middle East
1:08:52 Why money is an enabler, not the goal
1:11:05 Great allocators vs. average allocators

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Dan Lifshits, co-founder of Dwelly, explains how he is building an AI-enabled roll-up in the UK lettings market by acquiring independent agencies and modernizing them with software.

Dwelly has completed 9 acquisitions in just 24 months, combining a buy-and-build strategy with a technology-first operating model designed to improve service for landlords and tenants while making agency operations far more efficient.

In this episode, we go deep on why lettings is such an attractive category for consolidation, why organic growth is limited in this market, and why Dan believes acquisitions are the fastest way to build a modern property management platform.

We cover:

• Why lettings agencies are such attractive recurring-revenue businesses
• Why organic growth is structurally difficult in property management
• How Dwelly uses acquisitions to scale faster than traditional operators
• Why the business was hard for investors to categorize as either VC or private equity
• What actually changes after Dwelly acquires an agency
• How software and AI can improve visibility, communication, and efficiency
• What makes an ideal acquisition target in the lettings market
• Lessons from raising capital for a new kind of roll-up

Dan also shares the real story of Dwelly’s fundraising journey, including why so many investors passed at first and what it takes to keep going when the vision is unconventional.

If you are interested in roll-ups, vertical software, AI, private equity, or building a modern services business through acquisition, this episode is full of insight.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro: Dan Lifshits and Dwelly’s AI-enabled lettings rollup
1:34 The real fundraising story
2:02 Why the founders chose lettings after Uber and operational marketplace experience
5:06 Why acquisitions beat organic growth in property management
7:00 Why Dwelly was hard for investors to categorize as VC or private equity
10:01 How the founders evaluate industries and opportunities
11:45 Buying customers vs winning customers organically
16:26 Where rollups fail and why AI rollups are even harder
18:40 What actually happens after an acquisition and how integration works
25:34 Dwelly’s ideal acquisition target: size, recurring lettings revenue, and succession
32:18 Dan’s advice for founders struggling to raise capital

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

In this episode, we break down IDUN Industrier, a Swedish serial acquirer that has completed 20 acquisitions to date and now trades at roughly a 65x P/E multiple — an extraordinary valuation for an industrial holding company.

What makes IDUN so interesting is that it is not simply buying businesses for scale. It is building a portfolio of niche leaders: small, often overlooked companies with high market share, strong customer dependence, and positions that are difficult to replicate.

We explore how IDUN creates value through disciplined acquisitions, decentralized operations, co-ownership, and long-term capital allocation — and why investors may be willing to pay such a premium for that model.

Timestamps:
0:00 Why IDUN Industrier deserves attention
1:19 The power of dominating tiny niche markets
3:13 Why the market gives IDUN a premium valuation
4:32 Buy relevance, not scale
5:54 Meet the niche leaders inside IDUN’s portfolio
7:44 How IDUN actually creates value
9:42 Why portfolio design matters
10:40 M&A discipline over deal volume
12:20 Why IDUN resembles the best serial acquirers
13:44 Lessons for investors, buyers, and operators
15:32 The biggest risks in the model
17:45 Final takeaway: a blueprint for durable compounding

Sponsor:
https://capitalpad.com/ - A deal-by-deal private equity investing platform

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

#IDUNIndustrier #SerialAcquirer #HoldCo #PrivateEquity #CapitalAllocation #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #LongTermInvesting #BusinessAcquisition #MandA #Compounders