Selling a Social Enterprise: An Owner & Her M&A Advisor Tell All Feat. Merry Korn & Sharon Heaton | Ep. 148

In this episode of The M&A Mastermind Podcast, host Nick Olsen sits down with both sides of a completed deal: business owner Merry Korn and her investment banker, Sharon Heaton of sbLiftOff. Merry built Pearl Interactive Network from scratch into a for-profit social enterprise employing over 1,300 people, then successfully sold it with Sharon’s guidance. Together they unpack what it really takes to plan an exit, choose the right M&A advisor, and navigate the emotional and strategic realities, a rare, candid look at the buyer-seller-advisor dynamic from two people who lived it side-by-side.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

  • How Merry built a 1,300-employee social enterprise with a mission-driven, “doing well by doing good” culture
  • Why thinking about the exit from day one shapes every strategic decision along the way
  • What separates a true M&A advisory partnership from an arm’s-length transaction
  • How GovCon-specific expertise created deal-saving workarounds a generalist advisor would have missed
  • Why Merry said no to several buyers before finding the right cultural and strategic fit
  • How election-year uncertainty directly impacted valuation and deal timing
  • The philosophy of under promising and overdelivering on price expectations
  • What deal-breakers to watch for when vetting a buyer’s reputation and intentions
  • Practical advice for owners a year or two out from their own sale

About the Guests:

Merry Korn is the founder and former CEO of Pearl Interactive Network, a for-profit social enterprise contact center she grew to over 1,300 employees across 30 states before selling the company. She is now CEO of MPK Enterprise Holdings and author of the upcoming book “Fired to Inspired,” launching in late August 2026 and available for pre-order now at firedtoinspired.com.

Sharon B. Heaton is the founder and CEO of sbLiftOff, a national M&A advisory firm focused on the lower middle market in government contracting (GovCon). A former lawyer and Senate staffer, she has helped transfer more than $12 billion in deal value and authored the Forbes Books title “LIFT OFF: 12 Things to Know Before You Sell Your Company.”

About the Show:
The M&A Mastermind Podcast provides actionable insights and effective strategies tailored for dealmakers in the lower middle market. Hosted by Nick Olsen, the show features conversations with leading industry experts who share valuable knowledge on topics such as industry intelligence, deal management, collaborative successes, and specialized expertise. Listeners who support small to medium-sized business owners will find practical tactics and advice they can immediately apply to advance their mastery in mergers and acquisitions.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review — it helps more lower middle market dealmakers find the show.

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Related Episodes: Net Working Capital is the Oil in the Gears Feat. Sharon Heaton | Ep. 78

Nick Olsen and Sharon Heaton dig into net working capital in M&A transactions — what it is, why it trips up so many sellers at the negotiating table, and how getting it right keeps a deal moving smoothly. A great companion listen for Merry Korn’s episode, since Sharon references the same negotiation dynamics she navigated during Merry’s sale. Watch on YouTube

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