Acquiring Meaning

Business, Leadership, and Wisdom

Thoughtful conversations and insights designed to help you build a more meaningful life and career — with Austin Hartley of Parkland Capital Partners.

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About the Podcast

Business insights designed to build a more meaningful career.

Acquiring Meaning explores business, leadership, and wisdom through thoughtful conversations designed to help founders, executives, and operators build more intentional careers and companies.

 

Hosted by Austin Hartley, Managing Director of Parkland Capital Partners, each episode draws from real-world M&A experience and the lessons that come from advising founders through the most consequential decisions of their careers.

Topics Covered

Business strategy, leadership development, M&A advisory, exit planning, and the pursuit of a meaningful life and career.

Available On

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube — new episodes released weekly.

Hosted By

Austin Hartley — founder of Parkland Capital Partners, M&A advisor to founder-owned businesses in the lower middle market.

Episodes

Latest Conversations

Most ambitious people believe hitting their number will change how they feel. This episode explores what actually happens when wealth arrives and the internal work has not been done, and…
Most people think building wealth through real estate means buying a rental property and dealing with tenants. This episode breaks down how multifamily syndication actually works, from acquiring distressed apartment…
Austin Hartley, whose background spans mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and capital markets, introduces Acquiring Meaning, launching August 4th. He breaks down why the boomer business transition is a generational…
What happens when you build, sell, and exit 12 companies and still feel like something is missing? This episode unpacks the real cost of chasing external success without internal alignment,…
Justin Cross is a Navy veteran, former Lockheed Martin lead flight test engineer on classified F-22 and F-35 programs, and an entrepreneur who walked away from one of the most…
Aaron Williamson carried fellow Marines to their graves, went bankrupt and slept in his car, then built a career training Hollywood’s biggest names before walking away from all of it…

The Vision

Every business is someone's life's work.

Behind every acquisition, exit or empire is a person who made a bet on themselves, and usually paid for it in ways no one else saw. Acquiring Meaning exists to tell those stories: the late nights, the near-misses, the decisions that changed everything, and what’s left once the deal closes.

 

We sit down with founders, operators, dealmakers and builders to get past the headline numbers to what they learned and what it cost. We want every listener who is building something, or thinking about letting it go, to walk away with a clearer answer to one question: what is all of this for?

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Start the Conversation

Ready to Explore Your Strategic Alternatives?

Whether you’re considering a full sale, a recapitalization, a growth partnership, or simply want to understand what your business is worth – start with a confidential conversation.