From Succession to Scale: David DeVoe on What's Driving RIA M&A Today (EP.42)

David DeVoe, Founder and CEO of DeVoe & Company, has spent more than 25 years advising independent RIAs through some of the most significant decisions of their professional lives. He joins CAIS CMO Alex Cavalieri at CAIS Live | Leaders in Wealth to share his view on what's driving M&A activity for the independent advisor, and where he believes it’s heading.   David also discusses why organic growth has become an important metric in firm valuation, what a real growth culture looks like from the inside out, and why he believes succession planning is about to re-emerge as the dominant force in deal activity. He shares his framework for evaluating cultural fit in M&A and the questions he believes every founder should be asking before they go to market. Chapters Chapter 1: The Structural Shift in RIA M&A (02:42) Chapter 2: The Psychology of the Independent Founder (05:10) Chapter 3: What a Firm Health Diagnostic Really Looks Like (08:11) Chapter 4: Organic Growth as a Valuation Multiplier (08:59) Chapter 5: Why the Industry Underinvests in Growth (10:40) Chapter 6: Building a Comprehensive Integrated Growth Strategy (13:18) Chapter 7: Starting With Purpose (16:57) Chapter 8: Dynamic KPIs and the Long Game (21:46) Chapter 9: Making Culture Tangible in M&A (29:59) Chapter 10: Five to Seven Years of Activity Ahead (31:38)