When I first connected with Patrick Briggs, I knew his story wouldn’t fit the typical founder mold. He’s not a “zero-to-one” creator chasing venture funding or a serial startup builder looking for the next big idea. Patrick calls himself a 10-to-50 operator: the kind of leader who takes something proven and turns it into something scalable.

After two decades in the startup and venture world, Patrick saw firsthand the imbalance between effort and outcome. Long hours, high burn rates, and slim odds of liquidity eventually led him to rethink the entire game.

“I realized the tradeoff in venture was broken,” Patrick said. “You pour in years of work for equity that rarely turns into real returns.”

That realization didn’t sour him on entrepreneurship: it redirected him.

The Shift: From Venture Dreams to Lower Middle Market M&A

Patrick stumbled into the world of lower middle market acquisitions by accident. What he found was a revelation: a path that didn’t require solving the “zero-to-one” problem.

“It was like getting struck by lightning,” he said. “I found this world where the product-market fit already existed and where all my scaling experience could actually compound.”

That moment of discovery set him on the path that eventually led him to Semify, a white-label SEO and digital marketing services platform backed by Broadtree Partners.

But before that deal, there was a decision point.

“I could go out alone, raise money, and figure it out myself or partner with people who’d already done it dozens of times,” Patrick explained. “To me, it was simple math: increase the probability of success by surrounding myself with people who’ve been through the fire.”

He chose partnership over independence, a move that accelerated his journey from operator to acquirer.

Partnering with Broadtree: Learning the M&A Engine

Patrick’s time with Broadtree Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm, was both a crash course and a proving ground.

While he brought operational and marketing expertise to the table, he admits the world of M&A was a “black box” at first.

“Every deal is different,” Patrick said. “You can’t pattern match your way through it, you just need reps. And Broadtree gave me those reps.”

Through those transactions, he learned how to evaluate companies not just for numbers but for fit: transparency, cultural alignment, and leadership continuity.

“You know you’ve got the right seller when they give you the ten things you didn’t ask for yet,” Patrick said. “That kind of openness tells you everything you need to know.”

The Semify Acquisition: Where Operator Meets Opportunity

When Patrick sourced Semify, it wasn’t just another deal, it was alignment.

Semify’s founder, Adam, had built a strong, process-driven company in a niche few outsiders understood: white-label SEO. The two immediately clicked over shared values and mutual respect for people and process.

On one of their first calls, they bonded over Andy Grove’s High Output Management, each pulling their own dog-eared copy off the shelf.

“That was it,” Patrick recalled. “We spoke the same language: systems, management, and growth through people.”

The deal closed in late 2021, marking Broadtree’s first foray into white-label digital marketing. Within a year, Semify had doubled its EBITDA and positioned itself for sustained expansion.

Scaling Through Add-Ons

Six months after closing Semify, Patrick led his first add-on acquisition: Digital Current, another white-label provider.

“Add-ons are way easier than platform deals, by a country mile,” Patrick laughed. “Once you’ve got the infrastructure: banking, payroll, HR, everything else plugs in smoother.”

But he quickly learned that smooth integrations still demand structure.

“The secret is starting integration early, identifying the people who’ll connect both sides and giving them the authority to lead,” he said.

By 2023, Semify acquired Agency Elevation, adding paid search and social capabilities, and later SEO Reseller, further strengthening its position in a fast-evolving SEO and AI optimization landscape.

The Integration Marathon

Patrick is quick to say that M&A doesn’t end at the deal table.

“Integrations are ten times harder than transactions,” he said. “You’re merging two sets of institutional knowledge, systems, and habits and turning them into one culture.”

He’s learned that integrations are less about process and more about people.

“It’s messy. It’s human. But if you do it right, that’s where the real value is created.”

Culture, Growth, and What Comes Next

Today, Semify has nearly 200 employees and continues to expand into new service areas like paid social, retail media, and AI search optimization.

Patrick credits much of their success to people-first leadership, the same philosophy that attracted him to Semify in the first place.

“I care deeply about the 196 people who work here,” he said. “If I don’t lead this business the right way, that’s on me.”

Looking ahead, Patrick is preparing for his next personal inflection point: the moment where he’ll need to evolve again to take Semify to the next stage.

“At some point, I’ll have to put the tools that got me here back in the drawer and pick up new ones,” he said. “It’ll be painful, but that’s growth.”

And when that time comes, he says, he’ll be ready to find or develop the next leader who can carry it forward.

Lessons for Founders and Operators

Patrick’s story is a blueprint for anyone caught between building and scaling, those who thrive not on invention, but on improvement.

His key lessons:

• Know your lane. Zero-to-one founders and ten-to-fifty operators play different games. Know which one you’re best at.
• Pick the right partner. Surround yourself with people who’ve done it before. It’s not about giving up control, it’s about multiplying your odds.
• Transparency wins. The best deals are built on openness, not optics.
• Integrate with empathy. Culture and communication make or break value creation.
• Growth is iteration. Every level requires new tools and a willingness to change yourself as much as the company.

Patrick’s Reflections on the Future

For Patrick, the next decade isn’t about consolidation, it’s about fragmentation as opportunity.

“The internet’s getting more diverse, not less,” he said. “That’s a massive tailwind for service providers who know how to adapt.”

He’s betting on continued innovation, especially in AI-driven search optimization and performance marketing.

“If you don’t like change, you won’t like extinction,” he said. “And right now, change is where all the opportunity is.”

Listen to the full episode below to hear how Patrick Briggs went from startup veteran to M&A operator and how he’s building Semify into a next-generation white-label powerhouse backed by Broadtree Partners.

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