Powering the lower middle market.

Axial is the largest platform on the internet for buying, selling, advising, and financing private companies. Over the last 14 years, Axial has established a single, well-known platform that business owners and deal professionals trust to discover and connect with new transaction partners.

Why We Exist

The lower middle market is the backbone of the American economy, but it's still hamstrung by capital inefficiencies. We need a new way for great companies and great buyers and investors to discover each other and be discovered in return. In truth, the rolodex and the golf course was never good enough. We need a 21st century solution. That's why I founded Axial.

What is Axial?

Axial is a private deal network serving professionals who own, advise, or invest in small and medium-sized businesses in North America. Members use Axial’s tools to source and promote deals, making it easier to discover and carry out transactions within certain criteria. Axial’s main goal is to simplify the deal-making process by connecting the right people with the right opportunities.

How The Platform Works

Axial’s platform enables private and confidential lower middle market transactions. Unlike public deal listing sites, Axial sell-side members maintain full control and confidentiality over their approach to the market.

 

  • The buyside granularly describes their criteria and interests.
  • The sell-side inputs details of their represented company or transaction through a confidential research tool.
  • Axial’s algorithms analyze each buyside member’s deal criteria and privately recommend matching parties to approach, ordered by relevance.
  • The sell-side reviews buyside profiles, selects whom to engage, and can customize messages and attachments. All sending on Axial is done directly – there are no public listing (or deal searching) capabilities through Axial’s platform.
  • Buyside recipients receive the opportunities via personal email and their Axial account, knowing they fit their preferences and are from a qualified sell-side party.

 

For the sell-side, Axial efficiently discovers and prioritizes the right buyside targets. For the buyside, Axial maximizes coverage of relevant deal opportunities from lower middle market business owners, investment banks, and M&A advisory firms.

Enhancing Visibility and Trust in the Lower Middle Market

Axial revolutionizes reputation in the lower middle market, setting a new standard for visibility of expertise and experience. Our leaderboards, closed deal badges, platform metrics and publishing platforms allow members to showcase their achievements and credibility. These features make it simpler for market participants to demonstrate their credibility and engage one another with the appropriate levels of trust and confidence.

Our Values

01 Obsess Over Member Trust

Our daily choices reflect our awareness that we facilitate vital life-altering transactions for our members. We take this responsibility seriously and urgently work to deliver an even better member experience every day.

02 Expect & Deliver Excellence

We value consistency and are always chasing greatness. We are committed to continuous improvement and never settle.

03 Communication Matters

We listen well and genuinely. We are direct and compassionate, not one at the expense of the other. We engage in poised and constructive debate to help get to the best outcomes.

04 Invent & Simplify

We are open-minded - always looking for great new ideas that can elevate and transform the member experience. We find novels way to simplify complex status quos and bounce back quickly if they don’t work out.

05 Be an Owner

Axialites have the opportunity to make an impact starting day one regardless of their seniority. We create an environment where employees can think big, speak up, and take intelligent risks.

Our Team

Alfredo Garcia

Director of Go-to-Market

Alfredo Garcia

Director of Go-to-Market

Alfredo Garcia leads the go-to-market teams at Axial. Prior to joining Axial in 2018, he worked as an investment banker at PNC Bank, in their Asset Backed Finance group. Alfredo graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a B.S. in Business Administration and a minor in Music. In his free time, Alfredo loves to write music, go to live concerts, and play soccer.

David Krzemienski

VP of Product

David Krzemienski

VP of Product

Dave is Axial's VP of Product, overseeing the product strategy, design, and development functions at Axial. In his role, Dave collaborates with senior leaders, executives, and the engineering team to devise and execute Axial's product roadmap. Prior to Axial, Dave was the Head of Product for the private markets division of IHS Market, where he was responsible for setting the product strategy and driving product development prioritization and execution. Dave has over 25 years of experience in product development oriented operating and consulting roles. Dave graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BSE in Computer Science.

Kaitlinn Thatcher

Senior Associate, Marketing Operations

Kaitlinn Thatcher

Senior Associate, Marketing Operations

Kaitlinn Thatcher is the manager of business operations at Axial. Prior to joining Axial in January of 2018, Kaitlinn worked at multiple New York based FinTech startups in operations and office management. Kaitlinn has her BA from Fresno State University and MA from Fresno Pacific University.

Mark Romeo

Director of Member Success

Mark Romeo

Director of Member Success

Mark Romeo is a Team Lead at Axial, managing the Member Success and Professional Services offering to Axial’s buy-side members. Prior to joining Axial in 2017, Mark also managed a team at Credit Suisse in London, where he lived and worked for 7 years. Having resigned from Credit Suisse after attaining dual UK citizenship, Mark focused on his passion for creative writing, publishing articles in Business Insider, eFinancial News, etc.—as well as ghostwriting Thought Leadership pieces for CEO’s across various industries. Mark graduated from Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut—a Varsity wrestler, with a B.A. major in Economics as well as a minor in Creative Writing.

Nick Coetzee

VP of Operations

Nick Coetzee

VP of Operations

Nick Coetzee is Axial's Chief of Staff and Vice President of Operations, managing strategy, people, growth, and business operations functions. Prior to joining Axial in 2016, Nick was a Director of Growth for Humin, a social networking application that sold to Tinder in early 2016. Nick graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), where he also launched his own startup, Studiously.

Peter Lehrman

Founder and CEO

Peter Lehrman

Founder and CEO

Peter is CEO and founder of Axial, responsible for delivering the company’s vision to become the trusted platform where private companies and their trusted advisors connect with capital. Prior to Axial, Peter worked in private equity at SFW Capital Partners and was part of the founding team at Gerson Lehrman Group, where he helped to build the company’s global technology platform for on-demand business expertise. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and received his MBA from Stanford Business School. He lives in New York with his wife Eve and their four children.

Zach Werheim

Director of Engineering

Zach Werheim

Director of Engineering

Zachary Werheim leads the engineering team at Axial. Zach graduated from the University At Albany SUNY in 2014 with a degree in Computer Science. Before joining Axial, Zach led a team at Navisite developing the next generation of private managed cloud services, and at RotoQL building a greenfield tool providing recommendations for sports gamblers. He’s worked as a software engineer, Scrum Master, Product Owner, and engineering manager throughout these projects. In his spare time, Zach enjoys exploring the city, live-action role playing, board games, and craft beers.

Blake Vinson

Business Development Associate

Bob Ternosky

Staff Software Engineer

Brooke Thayer

Senior Manager, People Operations

Conor Cunnane

Sr. Manager, Partnerships

David Grimes

Staff Software Engineer

Joe Arlia

Senior Software Engineer

Ema Geniti

Senior Associate, Customer Success

Emil Andersen

Associate, Financial Operations

Kyle Schaefer

Customer Success Associate

Markus Jonsson

Staff Software Engineer

Marlon Sabo

Manager, Business Development

Matt Kilkenny

Senior Associate, Business Development

Matt O’Connor

Business Operations Manager

Max Gould

Senior Associate, Business Development

Megna Reddy

Customer Success Associate

Michael Lathrop

Senior Software Engineer

Sam Epner

Senior Product Manager

Simon Riker

Senior Product Consultant

Sofia Tofigh

Associate Product Manager

Tejan Kapoor

Business Operations Manager

Trevor Hock

Lead Product Designer

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