Thirty-one years ago, Carl Allen embarked on his journey into the world of mergers and acquisitions on the iconic streets of Wall Street. Today, he’s back where it all began, walking the familiar pathways of his early career. As a junior analyst for Bank of America, Carl honed the skills that have shaped his career and expertise in dealmaking, now channeled into creating transformative business opportunities.

While revisiting the landmarks of his early days, Carl reflects on the timeless mechanics of dealmaking. Whether structuring billion-dollar rollups or negotiating smaller acquisitions, the principles remain the same: meeting sellers, building rapport, gathering critical information, and crafting deals that satisfy both buyers and sellers. However, while large-scale Wall Street transactions often focused heavily on financials, today’s smaller deals emphasize understanding the emotional drivers and non-financial goals of sellers.

As Carl shares his reflections, he emphasizes the importance of taking lessons from the past and applying them to the future. The skills, mindset, and values developed during his Wall Street days continue to shape his approach to acquisitions and inspire the next generation of dealmakers. Standing at the crossroads of memory and ambition, Carl looks forward to the endless possibilities that lie ahead.

Full Transcript:

I want to work three straight days on a deal, and I fell asleep and I had to wake me up until AM.

I probably had a thousand points of Guinness, in this puff back in my days.

Hey, guys. So, I’m back where it all started for me. Literally thirty one years ago, I used to work on Wall Street which is where I am right now. So I was, a junior analyst for Bank of America, started doing mergers and acquisitions, and, my business partner, Ross Serra, and I were doing a one billion dollar econ roll up as you know, in the health and beauty sector for women and we’re here pounding the streets of New York on Wall Street raising capital. So it’s getting out the way of a pizza delivery guy.

I’m sorry mister Aziz. There was a disturbance. And and it’s amazing. It it’s like nothing’s changed.

Obviously, there’s different buildings now. There’s different names on offices, but it’s absolutely phenomenal. So we’re walking down right to the other end of Wall Street to, to the Bank of America building where I actually used to work. But just being here, kind of the energy, I I kinda really missed it, but obviously, I was a young man back then.

You know, I was in my early twenties straight out of college, decided to, come and work on on the amazing streets of of Wall Street and learn an absolute turn. And as you know, a lot of those principles, a lot of that training, a lot of that mindset, a lot of that activity allowed me to create specializing in now. Mechanics are the same. You’ve got to meet sellers.

You’ve got to build rapport.

You’ve got to get information. You’ve got to make offers. You’ve got to structure deals so they’re a win for you as an investor or as an acquirer and they’re a win for a seller as well. You’re giving them what they want and often a lot of that stuff it is not financial.

Big deals, the billion dollar deals I used to do were obviously a lot more about math. The one to five million dollar deals that I’m doing today and some of the deals that Ross and I are looking at are a lot higher than that. They’re ten, twenty, thirty million dollars. But a lot of the kind of mechanics and a lot of the principles were exactly the same.

So, so we’re actually right next to the New York Stock Exchange, which is absolutely phenomenal.

I’ve had many a day coming out for my lunch and just kind of standing there and just taking a bit of play. We might go and see the ball as well.

They always say if you, if you stroke if you stroke the ball, you get good fortune. It’s always worked for me. It’s always worked for Ross. It’s always worked for me as well. So guys it’s phenomenal to be back here and, we’ll, we’ll catch you guys soon. Until then, bye for now. Bye.

Hey, guys. I’m outside my old watering hole, the full chilling.

So this place used to be absolutely rammed on a Thursday night. So so back on Wall Street, everyone used to work crazy hours like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then at around kind of seven, eight o’clock on a Thursday night, everyone would down tools, and we would come out for beers. And the full shilling was definitely the place to go.

Amazing Irish. But what they’ve actually done since I used to work here is they’ve they’ve got this like old, converted, like, bus, and they’ve turned it into an outside area because we used to all over spill out onto the street. So now they got this like but this bus thing going on, this conversion just to create more space. So it all be like blocking the streets drinking beer on a Thursday night, and then Friday, everyone would go into the office a little bit later.

We used to start at five AM in the morning at Bank of America. So we go in a little bit later, say seven, seven thirty on a Friday, then Friday would just be kind of an easy day. We’d all be struggling, with those handovers. But, it’s amazing.

All the other stores on here are all changed now. There’s like Poke bowls. Like Poke bowls weren’t a weren’t a thing in the early nineties, but, but the full shilling, this pub’s probably been around for about years and years and years. And I’ve, I’ve probably had a thousand points of Guinness, in this pub back in my day.

It’s exactly to say It’s incredible. It’s like this place is like stuck in a time zone. It’s not changed whatsoever. So we’re gonna go and have a beer.

So, it’s really amazing kind of reminiscing, being out here just looking at all these different places. And it’s bringing back so many memories when I was a young man playing my trade as a Wall Street m and a guy. It’s absolutely phenomenal. So we’ll see you guys soon. Until then. Bye for now.