David Hook

David Hook is a Managing Director at Baymark Partners, a Dallas-area private equity firm that acquires and invests in growing lower-middle-market companies across healthcare, IT and business services, distribution, manufacturing, and tech-enabled services. He has been a private equity and venture investor since 1982 and, across his career, has served as a General Partner in firms managing roughly $165 million. By his own account he has invested in about 50 privately held companies, 14 of which completed IPOs and 5 of which were acquired for more than $165 million each.

Hook got his start in California's Silicon Valley, where he worked with Larry Mohr at Mohr, Davidow Ventures before co-founding the first Hook Partners fund in 1984. He went on to be a General Partner in seven Hook-related venture capital partnerships over more than 25 years, backing early-stage technology and semiconductor companies. In 1988 he moved to Dallas, Texas, anticipating the rise of the region's "Telecom Corridor," and helped build out venture investing in that ecosystem before transitioning to Baymark's private-equity, control-oriented strategy.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Hook attended Bowling Green State University before transferring to Wittenberg University, a private, Lutheran-affiliated liberal-arts school, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Accounting. He has stayed active in the regional investing community as a guest lecturer to MBA entrepreneurship students at Southern Methodist University and through involvement with groups such as the Southwest Venture Forum and the DFW Private Equity Forum.

• Invests in established, cash-flow-positive companies rather than pre-revenue startups; Baymark targets EBITDA of ~$2–$10 million (down to ~$300K for add-ons).
• Looks for businesses with recurring revenue, a defensible moat/competitive advantage, and a diversified customer base, operating in industries growing 10% or more per year.
• Pursues controlling-interest deals — buyouts, recapitalizations, and carve-outs of public companies — with a value-creation/operational-growth approach.
• Sector emphasis on healthcare, business & IT services, distribution, manufacturing, and tech-enabled (SaaS/e-commerce) businesses, headquartered in the United States.
• Personally brings a venture/early-stage lens from decades at Hook Partners, having backed technology and semiconductor startups through IPO and acquisition — useful context for founders in growth-technology niches.