Deal Stories

Can anyone use a feel-good business story right now?

15 years ago, DVS Managing Partner Kevin Lindsey mercilessly cajoled and harangued a friend, Janine Akers, for about a year into buying a business. “She was so smart, so confident and so driven, it was just so obvious she needed to own and control a business,” he said.

At that time, Janine was also the mother of two daughters under the age of four,  was running a home-based business, and her husband, Bill Akers, had recently bought into Ace Scale Company which was based in a different city. Hard to imagine a better time to make the jump and buy a business and create a dual entrepreneur household, huh?

Building a Business and Completing a Merger During Coronavirus

Eventually, Janine bought DataFile Technologies, a medical record scanning business, that consisted of two scanners, two employees and a handful of customers. There are so many incredible stories about this dual entrepreneur household making it work.

It has been amazing to watch this brilliant, fearless woman grow a small company into an industry leader with over 325 employees. Janine recently completed a successful merger with another industry leader, ScanSTAT Technologies, in the middle of a harrowing business crisis.

“When I first started DVS Group, I was driven by the idea of helping good people buy good businesses and they will do good in the world, which eventually became our why – Make Change Positive,” said Lindsey. “Janine embodies everything our Why and what that stands for.”

Janine was the first deal that was closed while social distancing was in place – which is a bit of a bummer, but we are confident that we will be able to have a real closing celebration soon enough.

Watch our world, as Janine Akers is only getting started!

We can’t wait for the second, third and fourth acts. #nofreelunchcards. You go, girl!

A special thank you to Erik Edwards, Bill Mahood, Steve Munch, Polsinelli, Michelle Brown, Kathryn Rhodes, CBIZ, Frankie Forbes, Forbes Law Group, Vistage.