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Inc. Magazine names Gridiron Capital to its 2024 list of Founder-Friendly Investors

NEW CANAAN, CT, October 29, 2024 – Gridiron Capital, LLC (“Gridiron Capital”), an investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, today announced it has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 2024 List of Founder-Friendly Investors. Inc. recognizes investors that believe in backing founder-led businesses and have successful track records of collaboration and remaining actively involved with the businesses they invest in. This marks the fourth time Inc. has recognized Gridiron in its list of Founder-Friendly Investors.

Gridiron helps transform growing companies through hard work, partnerships grounded in shared values, and a unique Gridiron culture that comes from hands-on experience building and running small businesses. Gridiron has a culture of integrity and respect and understands the importance of having alignment of values and vision with founders and management.

To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders completed a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital, and debt firms, and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships.

Tom Burger, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Gridiron, stated, “We are thrilled to once again receive recognition from Inc. with this year’s Founder-Friendly Investor award. For almost 20 years, Gridiron has been working with founders to preserve their legacies through a true partnership model. Having been founders and members of family businesses ourselves, we believe we understand what it means to be authentic and effective partners. We value the unique achievements and ongoing challenges that founders and management teams face and recognize the growth that can be achieved when these insights are combined with Gridiron’s bench of resources, capabilities, and diverse experiences.”

Kevin Jackson, Managing Partner at Gridiron Capital, added, “The Inc. Founder-Friendly Investor award is a Gridiron team achievement that highlights our strong team and their drive to collaborate with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams driven by a passion for building and growing their businesses through a shared strategic vision. We believe that relationships matter. We begin with respect for everyone in an organization and understand that a company’s people and culture are critical to success.”

Since its founding in 2005, Gridiron has invested in company partnerships with more than 215 growth-oriented companies, including 37 platform companies, many of which were founder-led at the time of Gridiron’s investment. Gridiron has extensive investment experience within consumer products and services, business services, and industrial growth segments in the United States and Canada.

See the complete 2024 Inc. Founder-Friendly Investors List here: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2024.

About Gridiron Capital, LLC

Gridiron Capital is an investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, and creating value by building middle-market companies into industry-leaders in consumer products and services, business services, and industrial growth segments in the United States and Canada. We help transform growing companies by winning together through hard work, partnerships grounded in shared values and a unique culture that comes from hands-on experience building and running businesses. As a team led by former operators and entrepreneurs, we know what it takes to run successful businesses on a day-to-day basis. Additional information is available on the firm’s website: www.gridironcapital.com.

About Inc.

The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

Contacts

Gridiron Capital, LLC
Thomas A. Burger Jr.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
tburger@gridironcapital.com