A Golden Ticket?: Golden Circle Investment Bank taps into 'very overlooked' market
March 2026
Andrew Nussbaum and his team at Golden Circle Investment Banking are in the early stages of cashing in on a big opportunity.
There’s a very deep pool of capital out there, with a lot of major groups hungry to invest in or acquire businesses. But the investment banks that connect these groups with potential targets are constantly overlooking the little guy, Nussbaum says.
Granted, little in this sense means companies with up to $10 million in earnings. But that’s still small enough to be off the radar for a lot of the biggest players in the game, which according to Nussbaum spend too much time looking “way upmarket.”
Meanwhile, a lot of the business brokers currently helping those so-called “lower middle market” companies find buyers or investment dollars are simply underwhelming, Nussbaum says. Too many just throw up a listing online and don’t have the work ethic or know-how to find and deliver solid opportunities for those business owners.
Nussbaum, Joe Ryan and Mike MoranEnter Golden Circle, a Traverse City-based outfit dedicated to helping this specific size of company find buyers, investors or other companies to acquire.
“As one example, we had a company in Pewamo, Michigan, that was a $1 million [earnings] manufacturer. A great company in a small town,” Nussbaum said. “We ran our process and ended up getting them a great deal, and they sold to one of the largest private equity firms in the world. We’re doing that all over the country now.”
Golden Circle was also a key player in the recent sale of local favorite Stonehouse Bread to the U.S. subsidiary of Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bakery.
TCBN sat down with the Golden Circle team to learn more about their process and growth.
Lining it up
Nussbaum came up through a large investment banking firm in Omaha, Nebraska. He wanted to find a way to relocate to northern Michigan, where his wife was born and raised, so that they and their kids could be closer to family.
It was at his previous firm that he first noticed that smaller companies – many of which are very solid businesses with excellent growth potential – were more or less under the radar.
“They just don’t get the attention they should from investment banks, which are always way upmarket,” he said. “And so the vision I had was to take the investment banking services that I learned at my prior firm and apply it to the lower middle market. It’s just way overlooked.”
Nussbaum looked around and eventually connected with Curtis Kuttnauer, who together with Fred Manuel founded what was then known as Golden Circle Advisors in Traverse City in 2015. The pair primarily focused on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with smaller companies throughout the state. Nussbaum joined their team in 2024, added more staff and eventually bought out Kuttnauer and Manuel.
Golden Circle’s value proposition is that no one will work harder to find the right opportunity. Whether you’re an owner looking to exit or one looking to take their business to the next level, Nussbaum and team promise a “white glove” approach that starts with deep research into your company followed by an aggressive pursuit of potential buyers or investors.
“We take you to market with an extremely active approach” he said. “We don’t just spray and pray.”
Repeatedly doing this work has a snowball effect of sorts that puts them in better and better tune with investor groups and businesses looking to buy or invest.
“We have a pulse on where the private markets are, where the investors are, how they're thinking, because we have hundreds of calls with those groups on the other side every week,” Nussbaum said.
To this end they offer smaller businesses a much better idea of what they’re actually worth, which is a difficult thing to pin down. Do it wrong, and you could leave millions on the table.
“Publicly traded companies have investor research people everywhere, but if I'm a $1 million manufacturer in Pewamo, how the heck am I going to know how I'm perceived?” Nussbaum said. “We provide unbelievable insight on what's possible and real-time data for these owners to digest, not just something off the web.”
Because these businesses are often poorly or underrepresented, Golden Circle’s team can also drive much better deals for their clients.
“The reality of the situation is the investor groups have moved way downmarket, and now there's a big mismatch between the high sophistication of the investor groups and the advisors [working with smaller companies],” Nussbaum said. “We’re trying to line that up.”
A continued challenge is getting potential clients to see this value, though if they can get in the door, they can usually get their point across.
“We're competing a lot against business brokers who just put the listing on the web. And it's really tough because the owners don't necessarily know the difference in quality of what they're signing up for,” Nussbaum said. “But our win rate when we actually pitch is like 95% because they see the difference ... they're like, ‘Yes, let's do it.’”
Dry powder
Nussbaum and the team love the space they’re in. First, a variety of factors (including antitrust pressure and a search for better value) continue to cause large private equity firms and other investment groups to take a closer look at smaller companies.
“When I joined Golden Circle and had this thesis [about the lower middle market], folks weren’t sure if people were really going to invest down here,” Nussbaum said. “What I've found is there's far more attention down here on these deals than we could have ever imagined. And why do you think they're down here? Because they can get a good deal.”
Second, investors are rapidly turning that interest into action.
“On the investor side, the amount of dry powder that's on the sideline from the private equity firms, the private credit firms, it’s incredible,” he said. “They have mounds of capital that they need to get to work … and we're seeing the largest funds in the world create lower middle market funds where they'll invest in a $1 to $5 million earnings company.”
The good news for good businesses? If you were ever looking to sell – or for capital – now is the time.
“There are a lot more interested parties and funds that are out there that are looking to deploy capital than there are owners with quality companies that are ready to sell,” Nussbaum said. “There's a frenzy right now to find companies.”
The right team, the right place
Golden Circle’s team of six (and growing) has both bankers and those with deep experience in the business ownership world. It’s a big selling point, Nussbaum says.
“The team that we're made up of is very, very unique compared to other brokers or banks that are out there that only have finance people,” he said. “And that's a big differentiator for us.”
The talent and experience level is also “unparalleled” for a firm of its size and in this market, Nussbaum contends.
“Joe came to us from one of the largest investment banks in Chicago. Casey was at Duke University and could have worked at any hedge fund in New York or investment bank in New York. Mike's worked for some of the largest private equity groups in the world,” Nussbaum said. “A question I get all the time from investor groups on the other side is, 'How the heck did you get this group of people?'”
And for a lot of the team at Golden Circle, it’s personal. Associate Casey Donahue is a Traverse City native who went off to Duke University. Instead of following his classmates to New York or Chicago, he came home.
“For me, it’s just more impactful to be working in the lower middle market, especially coming from Traverse City and understanding the companies here and the market,” he said. “These people work their whole lives to build these companies, and they just don't have that much representation.”
Golden Circle will continue to grow in the coming years, Nussbaum says, and it’s mostly through word of mouth.
“You kind of see the ripple effect of when you do a deal, the lawyers, the advisors on the other side or on our side, they see the quality of work we're doing and it just turns into way more deals for us,” he said. "Or when we sell a company, they'll refer us to their friends because they've had their exit and they're thrilled.”
Traverse City is an excellent location for a variety of reasons to serve as headquarters, but the firm will likely open an office in Phoenix and probably Florida soon, Nussbaum says, to better facilitate a growing number of deals across the country.
"The vision is to really provide that high quality, lower middle market service to the different parts of the U.S., and doing so with people like we have already, just in those other key markets," Nussbaum said.
