Brad O Dell

Brad O'Dell is a Partner at Prospect Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm founded in 1998 that specializes in the "pre-lower middle market." He joined the firm in 2009 and has more than two decades of experience investing in and advising lower-middle-market companies across niche manufacturing, value-add distribution, and specialty services. In his current role he co-manages the firm's operations, oversees select portfolio-company relationships, and sits on both the firm's investment and management committees. He is one of the three principals who own and control the firm's advisory entity, alongside Erik Maurer and Brett Holcomb.

Before Prospect Partners, Brad built his career in lower-middle-market private equity and M&A advisory. He was a Vice President at Silver Oak Services Partners, an Associate at Willis Stein & Partners, and began his career as an Analyst at the M&A advisory firm Harris Williams & Co.

He holds a B.A. from the University of Richmond and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Trade press reported his promotion to Principal at Prospect Partners in January 2017; he has since risen to Partner. Note that although the source stub labeled him an "angel investor" making "seed round" investments, Prospect Partners is a control-oriented private equity firm and Brad's activity is buyout/recapitalization investing in established, cash-flowing small businesses rather than startup angel/seed funding.

• Invests through Prospect Partners in pre-lower-middle-market companies — typically ~$15M–$100M in revenue and ~$3M–$10M of EBITDA — that are "entrepreneurial in spirit yet ready for a partner to help them get to the next level."
• Pursues control transactions: management buyouts, recapitalizations, carve-outs, and generational ownership transitions, then builds companies up via add-on acquisitions ("build-ups").
• Sector emphasis: niche manufacturing, value-add / specialty distribution, and specialty services (with recent activity in residential home services, franchising, and consumer/events sectors).
• Firm invests roughly $2M–$30M of equity per platform and has completed 175+ investments across dozens of industries since 1998.
• Prospect emphasizes backing "passionate management teams" over rigid, prescriptive criteria — the "yes" tends to hinge on a strong operating team and a platform that can be scaled through buy-and-build.