The Conviction Standard: How We Back the Middle Market
The businesses that build the real economy deserve an investment bank that actually shows up.
By Bobby Jersey, SVP Business Development, Gar Wood Securities
I've spent my career around business owners, and I keep seeing the same thing happen to good companies. Someone spends ten, twenty, thirty years building something real – real revenue, real assets, real people who depend on it. Then the day comes to raise capital, sell, or bring in a partner, so they call a big firm. Too often, they struggle to get the attention they expected. The deal often gets treated as “too small,” or the whole thing feels more like a process than a partnership.
That’s the reality of the middle market: strong companies can still end up underserved by the big institutions. We built Gar Wood's investment banking division to do it differently.
We call it the Conviction Standard. Simple to say, hard to do – we only take on deals we believe in enough to put our own name behind them. That belief comes down to three commitments:
We back what’s tangible.
We don't chase stories. We focus on businesses with real assets behind them and real earnings underneath them – generally companies doing at least $1 million in EBITDA, on deals of $5 million and up, with underlying fundamentals we can understand and stand behind.
While a lot of the market chased the intangible, we planted our flag in the real economy: the operators across this country who build, own, and move real things of value.
In practice, that includes real estate and asset-backed financing, manufacturers and industrials, distribution and logistics, and equipment-heavy operators that keep the physical economy running. Our focus is on businesses and transactions supported by tangible assets and underlying fundamentals.We move at the speed of conviction.
One of the worst things an investment bank can do to an owner is waste their time. So we move fast, and we stay selective, and the two reinforce each other.
We size up opportunities fast, and we say no fast, because, for an owner, a quick no can be worth more than a slow maybe. When we say yes, it’s because we believe we can genuinely help – and that conviction lets us move decisively.
A quick no is a form of respect. A confident yes means we’re committed to the work.We run on relationships, not transactions.
There’s a version of this business run through portals, algorithms, and people you may never meet. That’s not how we operate.
When you work with Gar Wood, our senior team stays hands-on the whole way. We answer the phone. We remember your business between calls. We’re building something that outlasts the transaction, because the next deal – and the referral after it – comes from the trust we earn on this one.
You get a partner, not just a process.
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If you’re an owner, founder, or operator with a real business and a real decision in front of you – a raise, a sale, a recapitalization, a succession – you want a partner who looks you in the eye, gives you a straight answer, and moves decisively.
That’s the Conviction Standard: we’re selective about the deals we take on, direct about where we believe we can help, and committed to the work when we say yes.
If that’s the kind of partner you’ve been looking for, reach out.