Episode 424: The DealQuest Quarterly Roundtable With Brian Meegan And Sara Mostafa

There is more capital in private markets than most dealmakers have ever seen, and much of it has nowhere obvious to exit. In this second quarterly deals roundtable, Corey Kupfer sits down with his partners Brian Meegan and Sara Mostafa to break down what actually happened across the deal world in Q2 2026.

Brian and Sara are Corey's partners on the deal side of the practice, working alongside him across mergers and acquisitions, capital raises, and complex negotiated transactions in wealth management and well beyond.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

How record dry powder, a slowing IPO market, and the rise of continuation funds are reshaping exits, why cash at closing keeps giving way to earnouts and rollover equity, what is driving longer holds and stretched diligence timelines, what minority investors actually control, and why one founder near 450 million dollars in revenue decided not to go public.

THE ROUNDTABLE'S JOURNEY:

The conversation opens on the macro picture Corey brought back from the Echelon Deals and Dealmakers Summit, then moves through hard data on the collapse in private equity backed IPOs and the record surge of lower middle market deals coming to market.

From there it turns human, with Brian's deal in history on the founding of US Steel, Sara's debut segment on remarkable women in business, and Corey's closing reflection on choosing a path that fits your values rather than the default one.

KEY INSIGHTS:

Private equity backed IPOs fell from 424 between 2017 and 2021 to 70 between 2022 and the present, according to Dealogic, and that narrowing exit window is a major reason so much capital is stuck in private markets.

As dollars move down market, the lower middle market benefits. Axial reported a record 3,523 deals coming to market in Q2 2026, up roughly 4.79 percent over the same quarter last year.

Longer holds are now the norm. A New York Times report put private equity's unsold portfolio companies at 33,575 as of June 30, up from about 32,500 a year earlier and roughly 15,923 a decade ago.

Taking a minority investment does not mean keeping full control. Board seats, veto rights, tag along rights, and priority rights all come into play, a point Sara raised in a Family Wealth Report quote.