When Stefan Katanic first began pursuing agency acquisitions, he was still deeply involved in the day-to-day work of running Veza Digital.
He was leading sales, solving operational problems, managing people, and trying to create enough space to pursue a growth strategy he had never executed before.
Two years and five acquisitions later, his role—and the company around him—looks very different.
In this episode of Agency Acquisitions & Exits, Stefan returns to discuss how M&A transformed him from a founder-led salesperson into a CEO focused on acquisitions, investor relationships, leadership, and capital allocation.
His story is not simply about closing deals. It is about becoming the type of leader capable of building and managing a larger, more professional organization.
The Decision to Pursue M&A
Stefan’s interest in M&A began after meeting another agency owner who had sold his business.
The owner described feeling as though he had reached a “glass ceiling.” The agency was profitable and supported a good lifestyle, but it no longer gave him the same sense of progress or possibility.
That idea stayed with Stefan.
At the time, he was operating several agency businesses, including White Label Agency. Rather than selling everything, he decided to test the process by divesting one of the assets he no longer wanted to operate.
He listed the business on several marketplaces but received almost no traction for months.
Around the same time, Stefan and Peter connected. Their conversations quickly shifted from selling one agency to using acquisitions as a broader growth strategy for Veza.
Stefan completed Peter’s M&A course, began speaking with agency owners, and committed to finding his first acquisition.
The early months produced conversations but few tangible results. Stefan continued because he viewed every unsuccessful discussion as another step toward the right opportunity.
That consistency eventually led to the first transaction, and then four more.
Creating Space for Corporate Development
One of Stefan’s first challenges was making room for acquisitions while remaining responsible for net-new revenue.
At the time, approximately 80% of his attention was still directed toward sales. He was an effective rainmaker, but the company’s dependence on his ability to close business prevented him from fully moving into corporate development.
Hiring a salesperson did not immediately solve the problem.
After several attempts, Stefan realized that replacing founder-led sales was not a single hiring decision. It required stronger processes, more experienced people, and a gradual transfer of responsibility.
Over time, he removed himself from the sales process. Today, his involvement is largely limited to reviewing reporting around cash, new accounts, revenue expansion, and retention.
The transition allowed him to focus on the areas that now create the most leverage for Veza: acquisitions, investor relations, leadership, and capital deployment.
Professionalizing Finance Before Scaling Further
Veza’s finance function also needed to mature alongside its acquisition strategy.
Stefan openly admits that he previously had little interest in formal financial reporting. That approach may work while an agency remains relatively small, but it becomes increasingly dangerous once outside capital and multiple acquired businesses are involved.
Peter introduced Stefan to an experienced CFO who helped rebuild the company’s finance function.
What had previously been a small accounting operation developed into a broader team that included a CFO, financial controller, accounts receivable and payable support, bookkeeping, and accounting resources.
This was not a quick cleanup project. It required time, attention, and a meaningful investment from the business.
The result was greater visibility into Veza’s current performance and a stronger ability to forecast where the company was going.
Clean accounting showed what had happened. A stronger finance function helped the leadership team determine what could happen next.
That level of financial rigor also changed the quality of Veza’s conversations with lenders and investors.
Rather than relying exclusively on Stefan’s vision for the business, the company could present organized financial statements, combined acquisition models, and evidence that its growth was being managed responsibly.
Learning to Use Debt as a Tool
Like many entrepreneurs, Stefan grew up believing debt was inherently negative.
His perspective changed as he learned more about leveraged acquisitions and the expectations of professional lenders.
Debt is not automatically good or bad. It is a financial tool.
The responsibility of the buyer is to demonstrate that the company can generate enough cash flow to service the debt while continuing to operate and grow.
Because Stefan is Canadian and could not rely on the same SBA financing options available to many American buyers, Veza had to explore other sources of acquisition capital.
He spoke with venture debt providers, brokers, investors, and other financing groups before finding a lender that aligned with the company’s strategy.
The lender was relatively new and wanted to establish a track record in the market. Veza gave the firm an opportunity to support a growing agency using acquisitions as part of its expansion strategy.
The relationship became more than a source of capital. The lender also contributed to deal diligence, accountability, structuring, and introductions to other potential capital providers.
That experience reinforced an important lesson: the best lender is not necessarily the firm offering the lowest headline rate. A valuable financing partner understands the business, supports the strategy, and helps the buyer make better decisions.
Building a Team That Can Support the Next Stage
Rapid growth also created challenges on the people side of the company.
Some employees adapted to Veza’s changing direction. Others were uncomfortable with the pace, uncertainty, or evolving expectations.
Acquisitions altered reporting structures, responsibilities, teams, and career paths. Not everyone wanted to work inside a company changing that quickly.
Stefan also recognized that managing people was not where he created the most value. His direct communication style and limited interest in day-to-day personnel management made it necessary to strengthen the company’s people operations.
Veza brought in experienced operational leadership, including a fractional COO, to evaluate talent, improve accountability, and determine which individuals could support the next phase of growth.
Peter compares this process to building a professional sports team.
The employees who helped a company reach its current level may not always be the same people required to reach the next one. A founder can invest in developing existing talent, recruit more experienced people, or combine both approaches.
The right decision depends on the company’s goals and the speed at which it intends to grow.
For Stefan, bringing in experienced leaders allowed him to stop learning every function personally and focus on the responsibilities only he could perform.
Turning M&A Into an Operating System
After five acquisitions, Veza’s approach to M&A is no longer dependent on Stefan remembering what to do next.
The company uses a collection of repeatable tools and processes to evaluate opportunities, involve internal leaders, and manage risk.
One of the most important is the acquisition audit. Potential targets provide information about their finances, clients, teams, operations, and overall business model.
That information is combined with meeting notes, financial statements, emails, and internal discussions to build a more complete profile of the opportunity.
Veza also uses a “questions to resolve” process.
The team identifies every material question that must be answered before proceeding with a deal. Those questions may relate to finance, sales, client concentration, marketing, personnel, integration, or business continuity.
Each issue is documented, assigned, discussed with the seller, and resolved as the transaction progresses.
The process is intentionally tedious.
That discipline is what makes it valuable.
A buyer cannot eliminate every risk, but it can reduce the likelihood of being surprised by a problem that should have been discovered before closing.
The Advice Stefan Would Give His Earlier Self
Looking back, Stefan’s first piece of advice is simple:
Listen to experienced people before listening to yourself.
He would also encourage his earlier self to look beyond surface-level answers, investigate issues more deeply during diligence, and accept that the composition of the team will continue changing as the company grows.
Most importantly, he would create more acquisition conversations.
Instead of running one outreach campaign, he would run ten. Instead of trying to protect time for both daily operations and M&A, he would remove himself from lower-leverage responsibilities sooner.
Acquisitions became less mysterious once Veza developed the right people, processes, and discipline.
The greater constraint was not understanding how to complete a deal. It was creating enough quality opportunities to find the right ones.
Transactions Change the Founder
Veza has now completed five acquisitions, including two acqui-hire transactions involving agencies in South America and the United Kingdom.
Each deal has added capabilities to the company, but the larger transformation has occurred in Stefan himself.
He began the journey as an agency operator and salesperson who wanted to use M&A to reach a larger goal.
He is now building a professional finance function, managing lender and investor relationships, evaluating capital decisions, developing an acquisition pipeline, and constructing a company that can eventually attract sophisticated buyers.
The destination has evolved as his capabilities have evolved.
That may be the most important lesson from Stefan’s story.
M&A does not only change the size of the business. It changes the responsibilities of the founder, and requires that founder to become capable of leading the company that exists on the other side of the transaction.
Listen to the full conversation to hear how Stefan built the people, processes, and financial infrastructure required to complete five acquisitions and prepare Veza for its next stage of growth.
