Aaron Wolfe is an entrepreneurial imagineer, inspiring and empowering owners of small and mid-cap private companies to achieve success and reach for their dreams.
As co-founder of Toronto-based SagePoint Capital Partners, he provides guidance through strategies, solutions and frameworks that promote strategic growth initiatives and business plan execution. Rather than focusing on defined industries or set transaction structures, he seeks to back credible entrepreneurs looking to unlock outsized returns.
Recently he shared his perspectives on business, leadership and the strategic vision behind his own remarkable success.
Q: Your business model is innovative and unique. You’re not simply a traditional investor or consultant. As you have described it, you align yourself with companies without needing a management role or board seat. How does that work in practice?
Aaron Wolfe: My perspective on industries, companies and trends is panoramic. I view opportunities through a wide lens, taking in the full vibrancy of the business landscape. There are countless professionals who are good at getting into the weeds, and I respect that. Every business needs people at the top paying attention to the numbers, the key data that can tell its own story of where the company is headed.
But every company also needs a big-picture leader or advisor — typically more than one, actually. The founder tends to be this person, someone whose dream led to the creation of the company, and on whose leadership skills the business wholly depends. But founders and owners can’t do it all.
They’re looking for someone with a similar outlook to partner with. A partner who understands the realities of business inside and out. A partner who has an intuitive feel for opportunities, and the right temperament to balance risks and rewards. This is what I enjoy doing, and this is the premise upon which SagePoint was created. SagePoint is more than an investor, coach or consultant cheering on the management team. We’re strategic partners who add real value to smaller, emerging companies, helping them capture market share and grow into major players in their sectors.
Q: Can you describe the background of SagePoint and what led you to this point?
Aaron Wolfe: I began to refine the concept of entrepreneurial empowerment as a student at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University in London, Ontario. There, I gained much more than a solid academic background and rigorous technical training. I studied business success from every angle — what made certain companies more successful than others, and what type of leader was the driving force behind these successes. My early conclusion was that success was highly correlated to the leadership and vision guiding the company.Since graduating, I have spent my time in Canadian and international capital markets, with stints on the private capital and public equities sides, as well in sell-side and buy-side capacities. I have worked with a number of businesses across a wide range of industries and throughout these experiences, I have reaffirmed by business school conclusion that success is tied to the strength and character of the leadership.
Justin, my partner at SagePoint, has had similar but complementary experiences. Collectively, we’ve been involved in transactions that span the gambit of the capital markets, and have built trusted relationships across the capital markets ecosystem: other capital providers, legal advisors and financial agents.
SagePoint Capital Partners was established with a vision of partnering with the founders and leaders of small-to-mid-cap private and public businesses looking to unlock outsized returns and realize their business dreams.
Q: How does SagePoint help a business unlock outsized returns?
Aaron Wolfe: There is no secret formula or one-size-fits-all approach. Our role changes with every leader and business we work with. Our role and engagement is dictated by the situation: sometimes we provide the processes and horsepower to complete acquisitions; other times we are active in helping to explain and assess different capital funding options and the tradeoffs between private equity investment or corporate credit alternatives; and in others it is about preparing a management team and its Board to go public. All along the way, it is about listening and asking questions to help test and refine the entrepreneurial vision.
Q: What are the most fun or exciting transactions to work on?
Aaron Wolfe: We are all about variety and trying to maximize outcomes for entrepreneurs and the stakeholders involved in the business. The most exciting part of our job has nothing to do with the specifics of a transaction; it is all about the look in an entrepreneurs eyes, and the sound and inflexion in their voice, when they achieve a significant business milestone they thought unachievable, or that they have been working tirelessly to overcome. When our partners are excited, we’re excited, and when we’re excited, we’re typically having fun.