Episode Summary
Mark Homer spent about 13 years building GNGF (Get Noticed Get Found), a legal marketing agency. He wasn't trying to sell. He thought an exit was two years away, and he had two letters of intent out to acquire other agencies when a cold inbound came in. Most buyers he'd spoken with arrived with a fixed playbook. This one asked what he was looking for, then built a structure around the answer. Because Mark had been running quarterly due diligence on his own agency, the sale moved quickly. He closed at the end of August 2024 and did a six-month earnout.
He came out of it knowing how M&A worked and wanting to use that. After looking at several agencies, he bought into Refine Labs alongside CEO Megan Bowen. What drew him was the brand: a thought-leadership presence that keeps Refine Labs in the conversation, supports premium pricing, and makes other agencies want to join. Mark and Tristan Pelligrino walk through how Refine Labs explained M&A to its whole team as a career path, how it built a buy box by asking frontline salespeople and strategists what clients kept requesting, and how one LinkedIn post from Megan turned into more than 50 conversations.
The second half covers Refine Labs' first acquisition, MOBI Solutions, an off-market deal with owner Rachel. The two firms had nearly identical core values, and both had been fully remote from day one. Mark explains how a cross-functional acquisition team ran due diligence with a risk register and a 30/60/90-day plan. Their job was to surface what nobody had thought of, not to kill the deal. He also covers what he'd change next time: more time in diligence and other leaders brought in before the LOI. He closes with where the buy box stands now, with AEO and SEO at the top.
Guest-at-a-Glance
Mark Homer, CEO & Founder, Grandin Holdings
- Founded and ran GNGF (Get Noticed Get Found), a legal marketing agency, for about 13 years. Sold it in August 2024 after a cold inbound, followed by a six-month earnout.
- Set up Grandin Holdings after the sale. He co-owns Refine Labs with CEO Megan Bowen and leads its M&A work.
- Led Refine Labs' first acquisition, MOBI Solutions, a marketing operations agency (announced October 5, 2026).
- Worked in software product management and product marketing at larger companies before agency life.
- Recently added consulting and advisory work for agency owners to Grandin Holdings. He says he talks with four or five agencies a week.
- Find him: grandinholdings.com · linkedin.com/in/markhomer
Key Insights
1. Do due diligence on yourself before anyone asks. Mark wasn't planning to sell when the call came. While working through two acquisitions of his own, he had asked his controller and operations team to keep contracts, insurance, and records current every quarter. "Doing it on yourself, you find some holes pretty quickly," he says, and that preparation is why the sale went so fast. Founders who think an exit is years away tend to assume they'll clean things up later. Mark's story suggests the opposite: being ready can decide whether an unexpected offer becomes a deal. Self-diligence also tells you how healthy the agency is, whether or not you ever sell.
2. Brand is an M&A asset, not just a marketing asset. When Mark looked for his next move, a strong brand was at the top of his list. He'd seen thought leadership drive inbound at GNGF through speaking, a book, and a podcast. He'd also seen that agencies whose brand stands apart from the founder can charge more. That paid off on the buy side too. Prospects told him "we love Refine Labs" before the first call, sellers wanted to join, and one post from Megan led to more than 50 conversations. For founders, a known brand widens deal flow, keeps you in the conversation, and makes you a place other owners want to land.
3. Build the buy box from your own frontline. Refine Labs didn't start with a generic acquisition thesis. It asked salespeople and strategists what clients requested that the agency had to refer out, turn down, or deliver without enough expertise. Then it ranked those gaps by what the market would actually pay for. The result was a short list: marketing operations, AEO and SEO, the data layer, and "baby Refine Labs," smaller firms that look like Refine Labs without the brand. Mark's view is that adding a service line makes a cleaner first integration than buying the same services, because nobody has to ask whose job overlaps whose. Founders thinking about acquisitions, or about being acquired, can see from this how a thoughtful buyer decides what fits.
4. Diligence isn't about killing the deal. After the LOI, Megan led integration with an acquisition team drawn from across Refine Labs. Mark told them that if they found a deal-breaker, they should raise it quickly, but their real job was to find what nobody had considered and log it in the risk register. Insurance differences, security tooling, payroll across states, a sales deck, and a new service page were all planned before close. When the deal was announced, five people at Refine Labs already knew what they'd be doing on day two. For a seller, that is what the promise to "take this off your plate" looks like in practice.
Episode Highlights
The buyer who asked a different question (~03:30) Mark describes the call that led to his exit. Every other buyer came with a playbook and a target EBITDA. This one asked what he wanted, where he was in his journey, and built a structure to fit, including an unusually short six-month earnout. Mark now runs his own buy-side conversations this way.
"They were a different buyer. Like, how do I be a different buyer out there?"
Explaining M&A to the whole team as career growth (~17:26) Refine Labs presented M&A at an in-person all-hands as part of a three-year vision, not as a leadership secret. Mark explains how it was framed: when an agency stalls, everyone's career stalls with it. Adding people, services, and revenue opens paths into management and leadership roles that don't exist yet.
"Where do you want to be in three years, five years, ten years? If we don't have growth, you're probably gonna want to be somewhere else."
One LinkedIn post, 50+ conversations (~30:03) Mark explains that the pipeline came from consistent, low-key LinkedIn outreach plus Megan Bowen posting publicly that acquisitions were part of the growth plan. More than 100 people reacted to one post, which led to more than 50 conversations. Three LOIs produced one closed deal, which matches the three-to-four-LOIs-per-close rule of thumb Mark had heard.
"We just were very upfront and said part of our growth strategy is going to be to acquire agencies… If you know anybody, let us know."
A seller who wanted to keep doing the work (~42:45) Rachel, MOBI Solutions' owner, loved her team, her clients, and the work. She didn't love running the business. Refine Labs already had full-time sales, finance, and HR, so it could take those jobs off her plate and let her grow her service line. Mark says his own experience as a seller is the biggest reason these conversations build trust.
"We've already solved some of those other things that you don't have to do anymore."
What they'd do differently next time (~50:12) The MOBI deal was a share sale, not an asset sale, which called for more diligence on a tight timeline. Mark would want three or four more weeks in diligence. He'd also bring other Refine Labs leaders in before the LOI for more viewpoints, and lean on the acquisition team rather than double-checking diligence himself.
"I think we uncovered more than we would have if I just would have been doing it all myself."