Dan Lee is a Partner at Pin High Strategies, a merchant banking and advisory firm serving independent sponsors and founder-led businesses on capital raising and strategic growth. He has spent 25 years investing in private companies across both debt and equity. Previously, Dan was a Partner at Garnett Station Partners and a co-founder of Comvest Capital Partners, which he helped grow from $250 million to $12 billion. He has partnered with more than 100 founders and small businesses to support long-term growth and value creation.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
-
- [3:36] Dan Lee explains how Pin High Strategies turns relationships into growth opportunities
- [5:40] What independent sponsors are — and why they’re booming
- [9:48] How independent sponsors now run multiple successful businesses
- [12:53] The secret to niching down and building a powerful ecosystem
- [14:43] Why scaling up changes deal size and market focus
- [18:37] Dan’s journey bouncing back after a major career setback
- [27:53] Creative capital-raising strategies for founder-led companies
- [33:07] Comparing banks, mezzanine debt, control PE, and non-control equity
- [42:41] Mentors who shaped Dan’s career and leadership style
In this episode…
Strong businesses don’t grow from setbacks alone — they grow when leaders turn experience and relationships into leverage. What separates founders who scale from those who plateau isn’t just strategy, but how well they activate networks and capital. How do entrepreneurs rebound from career shifts, tap deep connections, and leverage the rise of independent sponsors?
Drawing on decades of private equity and advisory work, Dan Lee explains how enduring relationships and strategic focus create a competitive advantage. As a partner at Pin High Strategies, he explains how collaboration, trust, and long-term alignment transform networks into genuine opportunities rather than one-off transactions. Dan also explores the growing influence of independent sponsors — operators who acquire and grow companies without traditional institutional funds — and why this model gives founders both flexibility and control.
In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Dan Lee, Partner at Pin High Strategies, to discuss building resilient business platforms and leveraging deep networks for capital and growth. They explore why independent sponsors are gaining traction, how strategic niches accelerate success, and how to turn professional setbacks into new opportunities. Dan also shares lessons on raising capital, scaling platforms, and building partnerships that last.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Special mentions:
Related episodes:
- “[Top Giver & PE Series] Mastering M&A Networking and Deal-Making With Lou Sokolovskiy” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
- “[Private Equity & Top Author Series] Servant Leadership Meets Private Equity With Adam Coffey” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
- “[Private Equity Series] Building Success and Diverse Leadership With Vivian Gonzalez” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
- “[Top Giver Series] Crafting Winning Teams for Growth With Patrick Ropella” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
Quotable moments:
- “The key in going deep is at the relationship level.”
- “I now know where I matter, and where I matter is in the people that I know personally.”
- “I was spiking the ball, and but it was, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
- “I gave it literally everything I had. And if it works, it works.”
- “My strengths are that I’m energetic, I’m passionate, and my weaknesses are that I’m energetic and passionate.”
Action steps:
- Focus on deepening relationships within your existing network: Build long-term partnerships with trusted contacts to create more meaningful and productive business opportunities.
- Identify and leverage your unique strengths — and complement your weaknesses with partners: Pair your natural abilities with collaborators who balance your gaps to achieve stronger results.
- Think strategically about capital options and growth: Explore diverse financing paths, including non-control equity, mezzanine financing, or debt, to maximize growth opportunities.
- Niche down and go deep in specific verticals: Concentrate on select industries or markets to develop expertise, stand out, and drive sustainable growth.
- Be honest with yourself about where you truly add value: Regularly reassess your contributions and pivot when needed to align your work with your strengths.
Sponsor for this episode
At Rise25 we help B2B businesses give to and connect to your ‘Dream 200’ relationships and partnerships.
We help you cultivate amazing relationships in 2 ways.
#1 Podcasting
#2 Strategic Gifting
#1 Our Predictable Podcast ROI Program
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 200 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.
We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.
What do you need to start a podcast?
When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk.
The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate.
We make distribution easy.
We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Podcasts. We’ll also create copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.
Cofounders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, Freshdesk, and many more.
The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.
Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.
Are you considering launching a podcast to acquire partnerships, clients, and referrals? Would you like to work with a podcast agency that wants you to win?
Rise25 Cofounders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.
#2 Our Comprehensive Corporate Gifting Program
Elevate business relationships with customers, partners, staff, and prospects through gifting.
At Rise25, thoughtful and consistent gifting is a key component of staying top of mind and helps build lasting business relationships. Our corporate gift program is designed to simplify your process by delivering a full-service corporate gifting program — from sourcing and hand selecting the best gifts to expert packaging, custom branding, reliable shipping, and personalized messaging on your branded stationary.
Our done-for-you corporate gifting service ensures that your referral partners, prospects, and clients receive personalized touchpoints that enhance your business gifting efforts and provide a refined executive gifting experience. Whether you’re looking to impress key stakeholders or boost client loyalty, our comprehensive approach makes it easy and affordable.
Discover how Rise25’s personalized corporate gifting program can help you create lasting impressions. Get started today and experience the difference a strategic gifting approach can make.
Email us through our contact form.
You can learn more and watch a video on how it works here: https://rise25.com/giftprogram/
Contact us now at [email protected] or message us here https://rise25.com/contact/
Insider Stories from Top Leaders & Entrepreneurs…
Never Miss an Episode and get Free UpdatesEpisode Transcript
Intro: 00:15
You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:22
Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, Founder of InspiredInsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Dan Lee of Pin High Strategies. You can check him out at PinHighStrategies.com.
Dan, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out. Since this is part of our Our Private Equity series. I just want to mention, and the reason we met Dan is actually Lou Sokolovskiy, and he talked about mastering M&A, networking and deal making. It was a fantastic episode. He’s like a true giver and connector. So thank you, Lou for making this happen.
And I just had Adam Coffey on the podcast who talks about, you know, private equity and some of the stuff he’s done. Another interesting one, Dan, maybe a good introduction for you. Vivian Gonzalez, who basically does more executive search for private equity backed companies. So that’s an interesting one. And same thing with Patrick Ropella. He does a lot of, you know, different things. And he helps with private equity and sometimes in the chemical industry and some of these interesting high tech industries as well. So that and many more on InspiredInsider.com.
This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help businesses connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. We do that in a few ways. One, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, accountability, and the full execution of production. So you just get to develop relationships and chat and we do everything else. And number two is we’re an easy button for a company’s gifting. So we make gifting and staying top of mind for clients, partners, prospects, even staff from a culture perspective, simple, easy and affordable. So just give us the addresses and we will send the gifts. And Dan, it’s not like we send one gift, it’s we like to think of it as a campaign of gifts. So think every four months for 3 to 4 years to these people. And we do the same thing for our clients and partners.
So, you know, you know, Dan, we call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background to make it stress free for a company to help them build relationships. And that’s been the number one thing in my life over the past couple decades is how do I give to my relationships? And I found no better way than to profile them and show the world what they’re working on the podcast and send them sweet treats in the mail. So check out Rise25.com or email [email protected].
And now I’m excited to introduce Dan Lee. He’s built two lending platforms including Comvest, which he took from $250 million to $12 billion over his 14 year tenure, and he tried his hand at private equity late in his career after getting fired, and he decided to become an entrepreneur, launching Pin High Strategies help support founders and independent sponsors. You know, build stronger platforms. So Dan, thanks for joining me.
Dan Lee: 03:22
Thank you Jeremy. It’s great to be here.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:25
You know, we’re going to get into, I really want to dig deep on Comvest. And what does the journey look like from 250 million to 12 billion. But let’s start off with Pin High Strategies and what you do.
Dan Lee: 03:36
Of course. Yeah. So listen, relationships. You nailed it. And what Pin High Strategies is about is capitalizing on relationships that I have had for 30 years, people that I’ve wanted to do business with. And now I get to choose who I’m doing business with. And we’ve got just some incredibly high caliber clients.
We’re serving independent sponsors and founders, helping them scale their platforms and raise capital. And we have just some amazing clients. A guy named Corey Singman at BBI Capital has been a foundational client for us. We’re just lucky to serve a really unique universe of people, and I get a chance to go deep with them and to figure out how we can be collaborative together, as opposed to being transactional.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:27
Did you serve these? I’m looking, if you’re listening to the audio, we are on Dan’s website here PinHighStrategies.com and it says, like who we serve independent sponsors, private equity firms, family offices, founder owned businesses, strategic acquirers. Do you serve all these in similar fashions or are they different?
Dan Lee: 04:43
So it’s different for independent sponsors. We’re typically helping them raise capital with the private equity firms, family offices. We are bringing them to the table, bringing deals to them as potential opportunities. And then founder owned businesses is like the independent sponsors. We’re helping them raise capital and really to think strategically about how they can optimize their growth and what type of capital, what type of operating partners resources can help them to really scale in a more healthy way, in a way, frankly, that that a private equity firm would think about it. So it’s bringing access to private equity resources to founder owned businesses.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 05:26
I want to walk through maybe an independent sponsor example, and I guess that goes with the founder owned business example for people who don’t know, first, explain what an independent sponsor is and then just walk me through a scenario. They come to you. And how does it work?
Dan Lee: 05:40
Of course. So a little bit of context, you’re independent sponsors didn’t exist 20 years ago. So this is an ecosystem that has grown, really started coming out of the great financial crisis. There were a few before that, but they really started exploding in the mid teens and and you’ve you’ve seen it grow from a universe of a couple hundred people up to thousands and thousands, literally.
Independent sponsor is a group is a guy or a group who decides I want to buy a business, but I don’t want to raise capital. I just want to focus on the business. And in many cases, it’s someone that’s spun out of a private equity firm, decided I’m going.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:15
Are they going to run the business also? They’re going to buy it and run it.
Dan Lee: 06:18
In some cases, it’s case by case. But, you know, some are just looking to invest and partner with the management team. Some will get more operationally involved for sure. But they realize, you know, I’m tired of being part of big companies, big institutional private equity quarterly board meetings. You know, no real impact on the ground.
I want to go roll my sleeves up. And so that’s what independent sponsors do. And they’re attractive to founders because they’re entrepreneurs. Right. So they’re starting their own firm. They’re taking a chance on themselves. They have no funding. They have no fund that’s paying them a management fee. So, and they have no team typically. It’s them 1 or 2 people that are looking to partner with a management team. They’re also a lot more flexible on structure.
So they tend to be more willing to do a non-control stake with investment in a company. Private equity, typically in the vast majority of cases, needs requires control. And so for a founder who’s looking to maintain control but raise capital and again get access to private equity resources, independent sponsors are a really unique way to thread that needle.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:18
So do they come to you and they have a thesis like I’m looking for a certain type of company or do you help them with that? Also, like when they come to you, what’s the situation look like?
Dan Lee: 07:28
Typically it’s more advanced. They’ve got a company that they’re deep in discussions with and or under LOI, and they need to raise the capital. We certainly get involved with them before LOI, but thesis development, they’re typically handling themselves and coming to us. We’ll certainly collaborate with them and give them our thoughts. We are a source of deal flow once they’ve developed that thesis.
So we bring, it’s very common. We’ll bring deals to independent sponsors once we know where they’re focused. We’re heavily focused on consumer services and products, including multi-unit services and healthcare. Those are kind of our primary areas of focus. And so we have a group of independent sponsors that I’ve known for ten plus years that we will bring deal flow to very highly curated deal flow. And then on the flip side, they’ll come to us when they’re looking for capital. In some cases, we’ll help them. We’ll show them the deal and help them raise the capital. So we really, there’s a lot of different ways we can add value to an independent sponsor looking to acquire a company.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 08:30
Is there a typical place where they engage with you because you mentioned they may be under LOI, then they contact you? I imagine that’s a little more stressful than if they contact you before and then go under like try and buy a company. But I don’t know.
Dan Lee: 08:48
So it depends on how well we know the group, to be honest with you. It depends on how much success we’ve seen them have. If it’s someone that we know we’ve seen has a track record of getting deals done, we’re likely to engage earlier with them because we know that they have well developed disease and they’ve closed transactions, they’ve managed businesses often and exited businesses.
But the answer is both have their stress. Someone that comes to us before LOI. Yes, there’s more time, but they might not get it under LOI. So that might just be spinning wheels versus LOI. Yes, more stress, but we’ve got time to get the deal done. And often that you can that makes you more credible with capital providers. Having it under LOI gets you a different level of traction in the capital community.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:31
It’s really interesting. And are they typically looking to roll up other companies because you mentioned you bring other deals. Is that typical? Like okay, this is the first one, but we’re looking to do five others in the same space. Or are they not going to just stop at one typically.
Dan Lee: 09:48
So it’s probably the most interesting development in independent sponsor land when when it really started to bloom 15 years ago it was a group, an individual or 2 or 3 people buying a company. And that was the kind of common model you buy a company, you focus your time on that, you build it, you exit it. What’s happened is.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:10
That’s what I thought you were going to say. But then you said, but we’re bringing them deal flow. So.
Dan Lee: 10:15
Yes. Well, so what’s happened is they’ve realized that they’ve got more bandwidth and they don’t need to focus all their time on just one. In some cases, if it’s a higher intensity situation, certainly they will need to. But in many cases the company is running fine. They just need growth, capital and guidance. The independent sponsor is plugging in operating partners or providing strategic input, but they’re not on the ground.
And so they’re almost more of an active chairman role. And so they’ve got leverage. Look at other opportunities. And because they have the credibility of closing a deal, and they’ve got a management team that will reference for them. They find that suddenly there’s a little bit of the dog that caught the car.
They suddenly start getting in on deal flow because people see, I see that you’re a founder friendly, transactional, you know, relationship focused. You’re not just transactional but you but you know how to transact. And so we’ve got our largest client, BBI Capital has six portfolio companies. And these are meaningful businesses. They’ve got EBITDA of 2030 million and upwards.
And so it’s really, that’s the one of the most exciting developments. If you look at the number of independent sponsors that owned more than one portfolio company ten years ago, it was a handful. There just weren’t many. Today I can give you a list of 100 that own at least two, and I can give you a list of 30 that own 4 to 5 plus. It’s really pretty remarkable how they’ve grown.
And last thing I’ll say, Jeremy, we’re on the stage, the next stage of growth in independent sponsors, because what fuels growth and independent sponsors is difficult private equity fund raising environment. So when it’s tough to fundraise in private equity, the mid-tier and even senior guys get frustrated because they’re not doing new deals, they’re not raising new funds, there’s no place to go upward in the firm if the firm’s not growing. Right. And so you’re really managing the portfolio.
And in many cases these are overlevered businesses. It’s frustrating. They want to go roll their sleeves up.
And now they’ve seen this is a model. It was really risky coming out of the great financial crisis because it hadn’t hadn’t been done. Now it’s being done. So now you’re going to see a lot of people following this path with the fundraising environment being so difficult in private equity.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 12:30
Interesting. I want to talk about going deep in niching. Okay. Maybe we’ll start with the present, and then we’ll talk about a life lesson that you learned in this, because I can’t wait to hear it. But you mentioned a couple specific niches in going deep now. Talk about what that looks like now for your company. And we can talk about life lessons later.
Dan Lee: 12:53
So look, I think the key in going deep is at the relationship level realizing. Fertilizing your background. Farming in your backyard rather than worrying about spreading seeds around the world. And so, you know, I now know where I matter and where I matter is in the people that I know personally who I have a long term relationship with. Maybe we’ve done business together, maybe we haven’t. But I know we’ve helped each other over the years.
So this person has shown me that they’re collaborative and that to me has made a massive difference in how I’m spending my days. It’s really in figuring out how can I be of service to the people that I know I’m going to build an ecosystem with? And that ecosystem is my first and second degree nodes of the network. How do I figure out how to just how to build an ecosystem of people that I know they’re all collaborative.
They may know each other, they may not, but they’re not focusing on each other. So let me figure out how we can build this together and really, you know, create strength in numbers and but within a very tight knit web of people. Right. Let’s get more deals done within this little cluster rather than focusing on trying to do everything everywhere.
[Continue to Page 2]
Pages: 1 2
