Roger Stepaniak

Roger P. Stepaniak is associated with Brass Ring Capital, a Minnetonka, Minnesota-based private investment firm founded in 2004. Brass Ring focuses on ownership transitions and growth initiatives for profitable lower-middle-market companies rather than seed-stage startups. Public sources are mixed on Stepaniak’s current status: Brass Ring announced in October 2019 that he had joined as a Vice President, Massinvestor lists him as “VP Business Development,” LinkedIn search results associate him with Brass Ring Capital, while CB Insights labels him a former Vice President and Brass Ring’s current team page does not list him.

Brass Ring’s 2019 hiring announcement states that Stepaniak had more than 25 years of M&A and corporate finance experience serving small to mid-market companies. The same announcement says his experience included deal origination, business and credit analysis, debt and equity placements, and financial advisory work, and that he had participated in more than 100 investment banking assignments valued at over $1 billion.

At Brass Ring, Stepaniak’s stated focus was sourcing new investment opportunities and answering questions about the firm’s investment parameters. His LinkedIn search profile lists University of St. Thomas under education and places him in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area.

• Brass Ring is not primarily an angel or seed investor; its public materials describe a private equity strategy focused on established, privately held businesses and ownership transitions.
• The firm targets “U.S.-based businesses with $1-5 million of EBITDA,” with a current “primary strike zone of $1-3 million of EBITDA.”
• Brass Ring’s LinkedIn company profile states its niche as “small businesses with revenues of $5 to $50 million, operating income of $1 to $5 million, and a proven business model.”
• Transaction types include private company sale / buyout, private company recapitalization, family succession, divestiture, add-on acquisition, and selective growth financing.
• Sector focus is broad but favors business services, diversified industrials, specialty manufacturing, and overlooked niche markets.
• Brass Ring prefers healthy, established companies with diversified customers, no single customer above 40% of revenue, gross margins above 25%, and EBITDA margins above 10%.
• The firm prefers management continuity, though it says continuity is not strictly required, and looks for cultural receptiveness to growth and change.