Speakers: Maritess Bott and Sal Burd
Maritess:
All right. Hello, everyone! Welcome to our latest installment of our podcast. You might be listening on audio or watching on video. We have a wonderful guest today, my good friend Sal, and we are going to talk about his company and how his company may be able to help you and your network—your family members, your friends—who own businesses. It’s definitely a great resource, a really great resource. So I really wanted to interview Sal to share a little bit about himself and how this came about, as well as how we can help any business owner who is looking for assistance in growth or managing it, or so many different things.
We’re all business owners here, and almost every day there’s something I wish I had an expert in my back pocket to ask questions of. That’s exactly what Sal’s company does.
All right—how are you doing, Sal?
Sal:
Good morning, good morning, everybody. Thank you, Maritess, for inviting me here to this podcast. This is something new—first time doing a podcast, so I’m a newbie.
My name is Sal, and I am the founder of a company called Your Deal Source. We are a marketplace for small businesses, for C-suite executives, and lenders to privately held companies. The idea of Your Deal Source came about in the midst of the pandemic. As an outsourced C-suite executive, I worked with a number of different clients, and I saw how I was struggling as a consultant to find clientele, and how the clientele was struggling with being shut down.
What do we do? What’s going to happen with finances? What’s going to happen with business practices? What’s going to happen with people? Nobody knew anything.
So the idea came from a need for strategic advice to privately held companies. Every smaller company out there is always looking for financing and capital. There are a lot of companies on the internet that do one thing or another, but no one really does everything in tandem. There are very few educational resources out there to teach the business owner how to manage finances, manage debt, manage growth, hire people, or create a marketing strategy.
That’s the idea behind Your Deal Source. We’re focused on six or seven different disciplines for consultants to privately held companies: sales, marketing, finance, operations, legal, HR, and sometimes IT.
Maritess:
Those are great areas, and I can totally see how in 2020, we were all in a panic. What the heck do we do now? Especially those in industries like travel—they definitely needed some additional help.
I want to go backwards and tell the audience a little bit about your background, Sal. Tell us about your career—how you got to where you are today. I know you’ve done a lot of things we’ve talked about before.
Sal:
Exactly. Over the last 35 years or so, I’ve been in the C-suite—primarily Chief Financial Officer roles—in a number of different entities. I started my career at Arthur Andersen way back when, and then grew into various areas: from privately held companies to publicly traded companies, billion-dollar enterprises, and multinational companies.
The last nine-plus years, I’ve been a partner at a company called B2B CFO. We’re one of the largest strategic consulting companies in the U.S. It’s been a great journey. I’ve learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes—that’s how you gain experience, right?
Maritess:
Right. You learn a lot.
What’s your favorite part of helping these business owners?
Sal:
Watching the business owners grow and experience the true power of knowledge. A lot of business owners I come across know how to create a widget or deliver a service. They know their market, but they really don’t know much about HR. They struggle with corporate finance, sales management, or other areas where real experts are needed.
For a privately held company, hiring a full-time marketing guru is too expensive—and frankly, it’s overkill. If you have a $15–30 million company, a marketing executive demanding a $300–400K salary plus bonuses is a bit much.
That’s where guys like myself—C-suite execs with experience in big corporate—come in. We help smaller enterprises grow and build. That’s where YDS comes in. That’s what it’s all about. Your Deal Source is a really good platform for education.
Maritess:
Yes. I think we all, as business owners, have the “disease of control.” We want to control everything, and it’s hard to delegate. Even though you might know how to create the widget, you don’t know about HR and marketing, and you’re so involved in the actual business that people just have a hard time realizing they should have somebody outside to help them out.
Sal:
Correct. One of the biggest areas we coach at B2B CFO is the concept of Finders, Minders, and Grinders. A business owner needs to give up certain things in order to grow. Business owners are generally Finders—they look for business, for ways to grow and evolve.
But then, you need time to go out, meet people, and grow your business. You have to have someone managing the store—you can’t do both. That’s where hiring executive experts with experience comes in. That’s what it’s all about.
Maritess:
Right. And in that model, Minders would be like your executive managers—taking care of accounting and everything else. And the Grinders are the rank-and-file people.
Sal:
Correct. Exactly. A lot of people have a hard time delegating. That’s one of the things that gave rise to the entire industry of outsourced or fractional executives. It came from the need of business owners to have executive-level expertise in a privately held company, where they can’t afford full-time but absolutely need part-time or fractional help.
Maritess:
It sounds like Your Deal Source allows business owners to have fractional CFOs, fractional marketing people, fractional HR—so they don’t need to use funds on a full-time person in that role.
Sal:
Correct. A full-time CFO, if they’re really good, would be bored in a smaller company within months. CFOs don’t do accounting, journal entries, or collections. They focus on strategy and building the company. Once you put certain things in place—same goes for marketing, sales, legal—you sit back and let execution happen.
Having someone like that on staff full-time would be overkill. That’s the idea behind part-time or fractional roles—CFOs, marketing executives, sales executives. That’s the idea of Your Deal Source.
Maritess:
I love it. I really do. If business owners could stick to what they’re passionate about and delegate the rest, their businesses would probably grow exponentially.
Sal:
The biggest challenge for small business owners is capital. To grow, they need capital, usually from a bank, a lender, or an investor. But if their infrastructure, sales, or marketing strategy isn’t right, lending is still possible—it just gets very expensive.
That’s where we come in. We get companies prepared, moving in the right direction, so they can grow and access the capital they need. That’s the whole idea.
Maritess:
That really is the magic. When you first told me about Your Deal Source, I thought it was just funding and financing. But after looking at the website and talking to you, I see it’s a full-service resource—not just “Here’s your money.”
Sal:
Correct.
Maritess:
I love that. So, if you’re a business owner, what’s the best first step—should they contact you or go to your website?
Sal:
The first step is to contact us. There are phone numbers on the website, or you can email me at [email protected].
For now, we guide business owners to where they need to go—lending, strategic advisors, or other services. Eventually, it will be a full-blown marketplace where business owners can find resources based on algorithms on the site.
At the moment, we’re helping people through logic and getting the word out.
Maritess:
And I think people need to understand—finding consultants is hard. Googling it can be risky—you might get scammed. With Your Deal Source, it’s all in one place, and you’ve already vetted great people to work with business owners.
Sal:
Correct. There are two big issues. First, when business owners need help, they usually ask someone they know—a banker, lawyer, or a neighbor. But those people don’t always know the exact situation, and they may refer someone who isn’t qualified. That wastes time and money.
Second, many vetted consultants don’t advertise on those big freelancer sites—they get blended in with the crowd, and it doesn’t work.
We have a vetted group of exclusive consultants we’re adding to every day.
As for lenders, especially non-bank lenders, they’re hard to find and often don’t clearly explain what they do. Business owners end up in a dilemma: “I need capital, but where do I find it?” That’s where we come in.
Maritess:
Yeah, I love that because I think banks are making it more difficult to get loans. There are certain things they want to see—they want the numbers to be perfect. But we know it’s not always perfect. There are always challenges.
I think having somebody like you would be better for a small business owner. You can really explain the numbers, because numbers are flat—you don’t always see what’s behind them. But what’s behind those numbers can really help grow a company over the next three to five years.
Sal:
Over the last 15 years, since the 2008 banking crisis—
Maritess:
Rec Two.
Sal:
Yes, exactly. Getting a loan from a bank is becoming increasingly difficult. That’s why non-bank lending has become a huge part of the overall lending landscape for privately held companies. As much as 45% of annual lending to privately held companies now comes from non-bank lenders.
That’s the reality.
Now, non-bank lending is expensive. And if you’re not ready for that kind of capital, taking it in can really cost the company. That’s where we come in. That’s where all the experts come in.
We help companies strengthen their weak areas, grow, and develop. Once growth starts to happen, it becomes much easier to find a lender who is less expensive and can offer larger amounts of capital.
That’s what it’s all about.
Maritess:
Yes, great. It’s a circular, interconnected strategy.
Sal:
Exactly.
Maritess:
I’m going to tie this into what I do—succession planning, business succession planning.
There’s obviously the mode of a business owner to grow, grow, grow. But at some point, they need to look at themselves and say, “Where’s my exit strategy? What does that look like? And how can I make my business that much better to be sold?”
Can you share a little bit about that?
Sal:
Yes. A long time ago, a friend of mine said, “We’re all humans, and we’re born with an expiration date. We just don’t know what that date is—thank God.”
But businesses are not born with an expiration date. Businesses are created for longevity.
If you do it right, transition in small businesses is possible, and it’s a good thing. Unfortunately, not a lot of companies are ready for transition. Buying and selling companies is exceptionally difficult in the privately held marketplace.
So, companies have to be ready for transition. Business owners have to be ready for transition. There’s a lot more involved than just buying or selling. You’re creating an asset—you’re creating a large part of your financial wealth.
If you do it right, that wealth can be monetized. If not, it could be lost.
So it’s always a challenge.
Maritess:
And I think that working with you and your team of consultants, a business owner will have that much more assistance to keep the business growing so that it can be sold one day.
The stronger everything is in your infrastructure, the better your business will look to a potential buyer.
Sal:
Correct. Buyers are always looking for strong businesses. Even though everyone tries to negotiate the cheapest price, they still want the strongest companies—those with the strongest management, infrastructure, reporting, and so on.
All of those things reduce the risk for the next buyer. And when risk is reduced, buyers are willing to pay a higher price.
That’s a fact.
That’s what we do. All of our consultants—everyone on the site—are experts in building strong infrastructure. Be it sales, marketing, or operations, these are the people who can really drive the value of the business.
We’ve seen differences in purchase prices increase by as much as 20–25% with the addition of some of these experts.
Maritess:
Significant. That can make a huge difference between a really great retirement versus one that’s… well, not so great.
Sal:
Exactly. It’s a huge difference.
Maritess:
Well, awesome. I appreciate your time today, Sal. This has been really insightful.
For those viewers and listeners who would like more information, please take a look at Sal’s website: yourdealsource.com. It’s in the comment or information section of this podcast and video.
Definitely check it out and contact Sal. He’s a great resource. You can see—he’s easy to talk to, not intimidating, a wonderful guy. We’ve known each other for a while now, and I really, really highly recommend anyone who needs this kind of help to talk to Sal.
Thank you again, Sal. I hope you have a great day. And thank you to everyone who’s listening and watching—we appreciate it.
Sal:
Thank you.
Both:
Bye-bye!
[Music]
