The M&A landscape is shifting fast — are you ready? In this Ten Minute Talk, Brena Nath and Julia Brown break down why 2025 is shaping up to be a year of accelerated mergers and acquisitions. With decreasing interest rates and loosened regulations paving the way, both buyers and sellers are entering the market with renewed energy. Brown explains why running a business like it's for sale isn't just smart — it's essential for growth and investment readiness.
More than just strategy, Brown emphasizes that culture is the ultimate deal-breaker (or maker). It's not about office happy hours — it's about shared vision, operational discipline, and leadership clarity. This interview cuts through the noise and delivers actionable advice for companies navigating M&A in today’s evolving market.
More than just strategy, Brown emphasizes that culture is the ultimate deal-breaker (or maker). It's not about office happy hours — it's about shared vision, operational discipline, and leadership clarity. This interview cuts through the noise and delivers actionable advice for companies navigating M&A in today’s evolving market.
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00:00You need to have a really clear vision and mission that's executed frequently to your team internally
00:06and also need to be able to back up what you say with what you do.
00:18A topic and trend that's been very prominent, not only this year, but even the last handful of years
00:25is the topic of mergers and acquisitions, M&A. I know everyone here probably isn't a stranger to
00:30the concept, but there's a lot of details and nuances within it that I'm excited to dive into
00:36today on this 10-minute talk with Julia Brown. She's the founder of Telescope Advisors, but you
00:41also might be familiar with her as the fact that she led M&A at Lower and she also headed M&A
00:47integration at InsurTech. So bringing that background to this 10-minute talk to unpack
00:53some of the areas that maybe people aren't thinking about on the state of the market,
00:57what does it mean to run the business, what are some angles that you might not be looking at as a
01:01leader. So with that, just wanted to start off, Julia, and say thank you for joining me.
01:06Yeah, thanks, Brenna. I'm so happy to have an opportunity to address this audience and to talk
01:10with you. Kicking off, I wanted to paint a picture for everyone for the rest of this conversation.
01:172025 is already shaping up. I mean, there's been a lot of news out there when it comes to M&A,
01:24especially in acquisitions. How would you describe the current state of M&A? Maybe not even just 2025.
01:31We're already kind of going into April and May. We're entering the summer months, but how would
01:35you look at the state of M&A this year and what factors have brought us to this point?
01:41I think we're going to see increased M&A activity in 25 over 24. 23 was higher than 24 and 22 was
01:49higher as well. But everyone last year was bracing trying to make it through or see what the new
01:55administration was doing and what was going to happen. A few things that have happened are we're
01:59starting to see more relaxed regulation from a federal government perspective, which I think
02:07opens opportunity for more M&A deals. And also I'm finding that right now we're in an interesting
02:15position where the most recent couple of days, as rates are starting to drop, that's giving buyers
02:22a bit more oomph where they feel more confident to go buy a company because they've got a bit of a
02:28brighter outlook for what they're already housing and the ability to go bring in more and add to their
02:33company. And for sellers, it's also giving them like a little bit of oomph because they're feeling
02:38like I might be able to get more for my business now because I'm able to show more deals coming in,
02:43better profitability, that sort of thing. So I do think that there is like a renewed
02:48excitement around M&A for both buyers and prospective sellers right now. There were a lot of sellers who were
02:56on the sidelines fearful that if I sell now, I'm going to be selling for pennies on the dollar and I can
03:01stick it out. So why not continue sticking it out until it's a better day? And this may be the better
03:07day because people are tired. There are a lot of owners out there who want to retire or who want to
03:12start something different and just want to make sure that they are doing so in a way that is right for
03:18the people and the legacy of the companies that they work so hard to develop. So we may see some
03:23people who are on the sidelines getting back into the action now.
03:26I like as a word, side note, I think that's such a great way to express like just so you know,
03:34there's a little, you know, extra something in the air that transitions well into a quote that you've
03:40said that I think really wrung out that I think is a quote that's out there is running your business
03:45like it's for sale. So it never has to be. And you have great insights within that on bullet points
03:51for what does that mean in action that I think our audience would be helpful to hear and learn so
03:56they know to what you just said, if they have that extra ump in them. Okay, that's one part of the
04:03story. But there's this other part of the story of like, okay, you have this mindset for it. But how
04:07do you ensure that you're set up? Well, so can you dive into those parts? Yeah, I think I think of
04:12running your business like it's for sale very much like being super disciplined and what you eat,
04:17like if you think about from a nutritional perspective, when you're stressed out, and you
04:22haven't been sleeping well, you might be more inclined to like, go grab a burger through the
04:27drive through, right? And that's not really the right thing for you. That's not really nourishing
04:31you the same way that like broccoli would. It's the same thing in business, right? Everyone's
04:35stressed and operating out of fear a lot of times or like trying to bootstrap trying to like do
04:42whatever they can just to keep things running. And so maybe we have a tech stack that's like
04:47way too complex and bifurcated. We have contracts that we haven't tried to renegotiate because
04:52we just haven't had time to focus on it. We have operational overhead that we don't need based on
04:57our volume and based on our forecast for the future. But we haven't said goodbye to anyone
05:02because for whatever reason, because we didn't want to say goodbye to someone and then have the
05:07loan officer tied to that process or leave as well. Like, we just get sloppy, like our decision
05:12making, we get decision fatigue, we get sloppy, and we start to like, let things slide in the
05:17business. And we start to check out a little bit when things are really, really going off track.
05:22And we're really stressed out. Even, even when we're saying like, I got to get the business back
05:27on track, right? I got to grow, grow, grow, focus on revenue, focus on revenue. And as an owner,
05:31that's where your focus is. And there's stuff that starts to slide on the backend, right? Like
05:35things start to get out of control. So running your business, like it's for sale. So it never has to be
05:40what that really means is just being really disciplined. And do I have what I need to run lean and get
05:47the results that I need to drive profitability and position us well for the future? From your
05:53perspective, that's one level. What do you think is the most vital strategy in M&A that they need to
05:58be zeroed in on? I've said this in M&A a lot. And I think that this is true always, which is
06:04culture is going to outperform tactics every single time. And so when I'm saying like, have a tight tech
06:12stack, don't carry operational overhead that you don't need based on your volume and your forecast,
06:16all of these things. What I'm not saying is to like pull the rug out from people, right? Like
06:21I'm not saying like tomorrow cut commissions, like reduce bibs, cut support staff, like all of these
06:27things without a strategy. You need to have a really clear vision and mission that's executed
06:33frequently to your team internally, and also need to be able to back up what you say with what you do.
06:41You have to have alignment or else people will start to feel there's this integrity gap. And
06:46that will like plant seeds of distrust with your sales and operations people and really make them
06:51loose in the seat and make it so that they start reaching out to recruiters or actually taking
06:55recruiters calls. Internal communications is cannot be understated. That's one of the most important
07:02areas. And then making sure if you're going through an acquisition, if your company is being acquired,
07:08doing the due diligence to make sure there's a cultural fit. And that doesn't just mean like
07:13we all like to go to happy hours, right? Like my company likes to go to happy hours. And so does
07:17Brenna's like, I'm going to sell to you. No. What is, what is our risk? Like what's our stance on
07:24different risk, right? How do we handle compliance? How many days off do we give our people for paid
07:29holidays, right? Like what are our benefits looking like? All of this is a part of culture. You're signaling
07:35to your employees how you feel about them, respect them, what the importance of the consumer
07:40experience is, how they compare, what technologies you use, what vendor partners you have. All of this
07:46plays into culture. So people hear culture and they think, oh, that's like something soft. I don't have
07:51to really worry about that. Like HR, I'll take care of it. Or, you know, we're fine. That's not a big
07:56deal. It's a really big deal. And it means more than just pizza parties and happy hours.
08:00The bulleted list that you just gave there is such a great tangible example to your point. Like
08:06happy hours is kind of all, you know, kind of at the fun level. But, you know, to your point, PTO,
08:12how do we handle risk? What is our appetite for when challenges come across or different parts of this
08:18industry? And I think mortgage is really busy. And so getting down to that granular level ensures to
08:25your point that the culture beats tactics, which is so vital. Kind of as we wrap up, I wanted to ask you
08:33kind of this forward looking question. We dove into how executives can be strategic on looking at their
08:38culture, how they can be strategic on strategy. And, you know, making sure you're running your business like
08:44it never for sales never has to be. But what do you think the future looks like for this industry? We started off
08:49talking about where it stands right now. But what are your predictions for M&A for the rest of the
08:53year? I think we'll see more. I think we'll see more M&A and possibly even more indirect M&A where you
09:00have an IMB that's acquiring a book of servicing, right? Or you have an IMB that's acquiring a
09:08proprietary technology solution, whether that's an LOS, a CRM, or a POS. I think we'll see more of that.
09:16There was a lot of PE investment a few years ago in our space and exit's not going to be
09:21on the roadmap for a lot of those companies. So there may be some opportunities for PE firms to
09:27find synergy between companies within their existing portfolio and to push for that as a way of, you
09:35know, making one plus one equal three. Maybe it wasn't the original vision, but maybe it's a way to get
09:40something really great out of it. The other thing is there is also a lot of unspent capital within
09:45P's today that I expect there to be some additional new investment as we are looking at and talking
09:51about more end-to-end ownership of the home buying and home ownership experience for companies that
10:00participate in mortgage, fintechs, insure tech, mortgage tech, prop tech. I think there'll be more
10:06investment there. Those are a strategic call out. So I appreciate you kind of helping everyone frame
10:12what the rest of the year looks like. I'd also want to call out for anyone listening
10:16that I would recommend going to housingware.com and reading Julia's articles there. She dives into
10:20this more. You heard some of the bullet points that she listed out. She's able to go into this a little
10:25bit more so you can walk away with a clear kind of roadmap on how you should be looking at M&A this
10:30year. So with that, Julia, I appreciate you joining me on today's 10-minute talk.