StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Ken Marlin

Vice Chairman, D.A. Davidson & Co. · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveauthorLinkedIn ↗marinecorpsway.com ↗

In 2002, Ken Marlin founded Marlin & Associates, an international boutique investment bank specializing in M&A advisory for fintech, data, and analytics firms before merging into D.A. Davidson in 2021. Drawing on a decade of military service, he authored the 2016 book The Marine Corps Way to Win on Wall Street.

11statements → 2claims → 0claims resolved → 3.55/5average certainty → 1.91/5average debate potential → 4said about them ↓

2 not yet assessed how the 2 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 assertions · 4 opinions · 3 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 2 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 0 are resolved, 2 are not yet assessed. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Ken argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Ken Marlin on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Ken Marlin said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion
Marlin: Microsoft acquiring LinkedIn has zero strategic fit
“I contrast that with Microsoft buying LinkedIn, and I should say that I love LinkedIn. I'm one of the first thousand users of LinkedIn. We use it extensively in my company. I think it's a great service, and yet I think it has zero strategic fit with Microsoft …”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 14:29 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Opinion
Marlin: Verizon buying Yahoo is a smart move at a smart price
“But I would argue that Verizon buying Yahoo is a smart move that does advance them towards a clear, clear strategic objective, given the fact that, that Verizon had already bought AOL and had announced an objective of making AOL into the leader in consumer ori…”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 13:39 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Insight
Marlin: M&A advisory fees range from under 1% to 7%
“You know the bigger the deal, the smaller the percentage. So when you're talking about deals that are a couple of hundred million dollars, you're at under one percent. And when you're talking about smaller transactions, then it could be as much as seven percen…”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 3:54 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Insight
Marlin: M&A sellers should over-disclose potential deal-breakers early to build trust
“These transactions are based on trust, and both sides need to trust the other, but part of building that trust is being honest with the people on the other side, and so we tell them to over-disclose if there is a, if there's something that You know, could poss…”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 9:26 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Insight
Marlin: M&A sellers should underestimate financial projections if uncertain
“Perfection is to give people a set of forecast, a forecast that you're going to meet and to meet it because it shows a certain level of competence and management control that is impressive when people are going to do that. But you're absolutely right. I tell t…”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 11:19 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Opinion
Marlin: Fred Wilson is the smartest person at identifying new trends
“Right now, the guy I'm paying the most attention to, I suppose, is a CEO, but he's the CEO of a venture capital firm, and his name is Fred Wilson. And I think he is the smartest guy I know in terms of identifying new trends and taking advantage of.”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 17:33 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Opinion
Marlin: Joe Mansueto is one of the smartest CEOs in business
“I think Joe Mancueto is one of the smartest CEOs out there. He's done a tremendous job with Morningstar and so I would never bet against him. The particular strategic fit with Morningstar is going to be interesting to watch.”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 18:31 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Disclosure
Marlin & Associates averages 3% to 4% in advisory fees
“For us, I'd say we probably average around three to four percent.”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 4:10 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Marlin & Associates handled $1B in transaction volume in 2016
“For us in 2016, if I think about it was probably someplace around a billion dollars”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 4:27 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Disclosure
Marlin & Associates caps workload at 8 to 10 clients yearly
“We typically work with eight to 10 clients a year. That's about all we can handle. We try to give each one of them a lot of senior level attention.”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 4:39 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Marlin & Associates closed six deals in 2016
“That one was pretty close six.”
Ken Marlin Feb 5, 2017 ▶ 7:40 EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Associates with CEO Ken Marlin

The other half of the tape: Ken Marlin's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 4 times in 2 episodes on Top Founders. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Nathan Latka 4

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0021422017episodesmentions
0122017episodes it came up in
0011222017episodesmentions per episode
2017 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
EP 561: He Did $1b in 2016 Transactions (Takes on avg 3%) at his M&A Firm Marlin and Assoc Feb 5, 2017 12m
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more