RockWater Gives Thanks: NYC Holiday Party, Client Wins, and 2025 Plans

Hi friends,

Our regular M&A deal analysis will resume next week, when I’ll discuss Night’s acquisition of Bottle Rocket Management. The deal is yet another recent datapoint highlighting the rapid consolidation in the talent management space, which I wrote about at length here.

Also, BIG congratulations to Chas Lacaillade, BRM’s founder and a close friend of mine. Chas is a shrewd operator, and over the years I enjoyed watching him build a high-performing creator management company. Awesome to see him pick a strategic partner that aligns with his plan for future growth and improved client servicing. More to come in my transaction write-up next week, where I’ll opine on high level deal implications, but can’t go into deal specifics due to the NDA between our companies.

So yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US, a favorite holdiay of mine since I get to hang out with family and loved ones, eat good food, and don’t have to exchange gifts!

Therefore, a very happy Thanksgiving holiday to all those celebrating in the US, or even abroad. With giving thanks in mind…

2024 has been a special year for RockWater.

We’re working with more clients than ever before and earning them some big wins, hosting many premium exec events for builders and investors, publishing a lot of great M&A and industry analysis, and slowly growing our team. Further, markets and gowth trends are improving for our focus areas in media, agencies, and creator economy. Overall, we’re grateful for the positive momentum behind our industry, clients, company, and team.

Special shout-outs to Michael Booth, Mehran Syed, Adam Tung, David Robles, Philip Ruzol, Ray Moraly, and the many others who help us service our clients and build RockWater.

2024 has also been a special year for me personally.

I got engaged and am moving back to the beaches of NJ, where I grew up. It’s great to return to family and hometown friends, and to also spend more time working in NYC, just a 45 min ferry ride away.

I’m grateful and enjoying this year, knowing that the tides of entrepreneurship and life will always ebb and flow.

Alright, let’s get to a few company updates…

UPCOMING EXEC EVENTS

• On Dec 11th we’re hosting our NYC holiday party at the Daintree Rooftop & Lounge. Sign up here to get on the waitlist. Thrilled to co-host with Jeff Frommer, founder of OWM, an influence for equity platform.
• On Jan 11th we’re hosting a networking event in Dubai at the 1 Billion Followers Summit. We’re co-hosting with Ampverse and CEO Charlie Baillie. DM me if you want to attend.
• On Feb 12th we’re hosting a 200+ person networking event at the Export Dojo rooftop in Santa Monica. Will be one of our largest events in 2025. We seek a co-host, DM me if interested.
• See our full 2025 event calendar, and event sponsor opportunities, here

CLIENT ADVISORY: M&A and STRATEGY

• Back in October we pbulished our 2024 RockWater State of the Union on Creator x Media advisory. We celebrated some wins, recapped our 2024 client advisory work, and previewed our 2025 growth plans. A couple highlights include advising on the sale of two influencer marketing companies; Long Haul Management to Wasserman, and Bounty to gen.video.
• Our client pipeline continues to grow - many creator x media owners and investors are more confident about 2025 capital markets and revenue growth trends relative to the past few years.
• New projects we’re working on include M&A sale prep for a food-focused digital publisher that includes an ad agency, the merger of a podcast sales agency with a talent representation and production company, M&A sale prep for an influencer marketing technology platform, the go-to-market plan for a newly-funded creator content studio, and more.
• For our sell-side M&A projects, DM me to be added to our buyers lists.
• In case you don’t know what we do —> Our M&A and strategy team specializes in advertising and IM agencies, digital publishers, and social channels. DM me if you need help on valuations, budgeting, growth strategy, fundraising, or running a buy or sell-side M&A process.

OUR M&A NEWSLETTER AND LINKEDIN POSTS

• We’ve published a weekly M&A newsletter every Friday. See highlights and links in the “More RW Reads & Listens” section below. Sign up for it here.
• You can also read all our articles on our website, and also on LinkedIn.
• I post a lot about M&A best practices, industry news, deal breakdowns, our exec events, and more on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn to include me in your feed.

…alright, time to get ready for an afternoon hike. Hope you all have restful and restorative weekends.

Onward,

Chris

I'm the founder of RockWater Industries. We do financial and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. From M&A and fundraising to consumer research and go-to-market planning.?

DM me on LinkedIn or email me chris @ wearerockwater dot com