We are looking for one great business that keeps America running — to partner with, grow, and build for the long haul. This is not a transaction. It's a transition.
As former exited operators, we take your team, your customers, and the name above the door seriously. Everything we do is built around protecting your legacy.
You've gotten the calls: a financial model, no operating experience, and a five-year exit plan.
That's not us.
Private equity talks about KPIs and metrics.
— Mike Smerklo, Co-Founder & CEO
We think great financial metrics are a byproduct of focus and hard work,
not a goal to be achieved on their own.
We're looking to partner with a great team in essential physical services. Above all else, we value a culture of trust, respect, and operational excellence.
The best businesses are built on great people. That's where the conversation starts for us.
We've been here before, and we built something worth being proud of.
In 2003, Mike acquired ServiceSource via search fund for $14M, a small services business with $5M in revenue and 35 employees. Over the next thirteen years as Chairman and CEO, he built it into a global business with $300M in revenue and 3,000 employees across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific, before taking it public on the NASDAQ.
What he's most proud of from those years isn't the growth numbers. It's the culture they built, the team environment they operated within, and the relentless focus they maintained on customer experience and reputation. Those things don't happen by accident. They require investing in the right people, building a culture worth showing up for every day, and an owner focused on the long game.
Before ServiceSource, Mike was an early employee at Loudcloud (later Opsware), joining Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz from concept through IPO. In 2015, he co-founded Next Coast Ventures, growing it to over $500M in assets across five funds.
Mike was a YPO (Young Presidents' Organization) for nearly 20 years. He also wrote a book about how stinking hard it is to be an entrepreneur, Mr. Monkey and Me, a Real Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs.
After growing up in Ohio as the first in his family to go to college, Mike found his calling building and leading teams. He knows no other way than hard work, developing culture, and chasing something worth winning together. Breckman Industries is named after the street he grew up on in Toledo, Ohio, a reflection of his core values of humility, honesty, and hard work.
In his spare time, you can find him trying to keep up with his four kids, four dogs, and wife, enjoying the great outdoors, or savoring the quiet of a long hunting or fishing trip.
Michael led operational transformation projects at Oliver Wyman across transportation, maintenance, and field operations for regional, national, and global brands. His work projected over $700M in operational savings.
He then spent nearly a decade deploying $150M+ into vertical services and technology at Next Coast Ventures, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Buoyant Ventures. He's worked closely with founders on growth strategy, operations, and team building from inception through growth stage.
From working night shifts at a railyard in the dead of winter to supporting founders through their most critical decisions, Michael brings the same orientation: understand the operation, back the people, and build something that lasts.
Growing up in small town Vermont, Michael spent his early years working across every physical services job imaginable: construction, roofing, landscaping, cleaning tanks, you name it. What stuck with him wasn't the work itself, but the business owners he worked for. They were the ones sponsoring little league teams, donating to local schools, and showing up for their communities. He started Breckman to be that partner. For the business owners who give back, and for the people who show up every day to do the work.
In his spare time, you can find him eating Texas BBQ, charging up or down a mountain, or taking on the endless battle they call golf.
Let's have a candid conversation. Whether you're actively exploring a sale or just beginning to think through your options, no pressure and full discretion.
We're happy to think through it with you.
Or reach Michael directly — michael.maloney@breckmanindustries.com · 802-922-5783