Bud Moore

Bud Moore is a founding partner and managing director of Valesco Industries, a Dallas-based lower middle-market private equity firm he co-founded (the firm has invested in private and family-owned businesses since 1993). At Valesco he is responsible for firm management — strategy development, portfolio management, new investment origination, and team development — and sits on the firm's Investment Committee. He has been an active advisor and investor in growth-oriented companies for more than 30 years.

Prior to his current role, Moore founded two specialty advisory firms focused on mergers, acquisitions, and corporate finance, developing deep expertise in manufacturing, value-added industrial distribution, and fabricated metal parts. That operating-and-advisory background underpins Valesco's stated approach of pairing capital with hands-on operational involvement, and Moore serves on the operations team for several of the firm's portfolio companies.

Moore is a graduate of the Texas A&M University School of Business (marketing). He is active in the Dallas M&A and corporate-finance community as a past President and board member of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), and has served as an associate board member of SMU's Cox School of Business, along with board roles at portfolio companies, trade associations, and charitable foundations.

• Invests in established, profitable lower middle-market companies, not startups — targets $15–$100M in revenue with a minimum of ~$4M in cash flow and a demonstrated history of profitability.
• Flexible structures: majority, minority, or debt — combining equity and subordinated debt to build companies over the long term.
• Core sectors: manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business/product-centric services.
• Prefers family- and founder-owned businesses with strong management teams, sustainable competitive advantages, and reasonable growth prospects; Valesco markets itself as a "founder-friendly" investor (named to Inc.'s Founder-Friendly Investors list in 2024 and 2025).
• Explicitly emphasizes investing in underserved communities and diverse workforces and female- or minority-owned and -operated businesses.
• Avoids: venture/startup deals, real estate and financial services, and turnaround/distressed situations.
• Thesis leans on the firm's "community matters in M&A" philosophy — value-add through operating experience and relationships, not just capital (the theme of Moore's M&A Masters podcast appearance).