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Podcast: M&A Science
Episode: M&A Roll-Up Playbook: How Zayo Did 45 Acquisitions and Returned 8.5x | Dan Caruso (Part 1)
Description: Dan Caruso, Managing Director, Caruso Ventures; Founding CEO of Zayo Group Dan Caruso built Zayo from a startup into an $8.5B bandwidth infrastructure platform through 45 acquisitions. In Part 1, he walks through the full buyer-led playbook — how the thesis was built on a contrarian bet that everyone else got wrong, how proprietary deals were sourced through early relationship-building, and why fast integration wasn't a reputation problem — it was a competitive advantage. He also breaks down the metric trap most roll-up operators fall into: mistaking EBITDA growth for true value creation. If your board is tracking acquisitions indiv...