ZorAbility was established by Sam Ballas, the CEO and Founder of East Coast Wings + Grill in 2016 for advisory and investment strategies for franchise models. Holding a seat on the International Franchise Association Board of Directors, Sam has graced many a stage addressing the gaps in emerging brands’ strategy for growth. Unit level economics is the “Holy Grail” for emerging brands and ZorAbility helps create a strategy for brands to become “royalty sufficient” which is the first true measure of brand validation and growth discipline. In 2019, Sam brought on three investors with unique backgrounds to expand the offering of services at ZorAbility.

Unisource Program Administrators (UPA) provides innovative and distinctive workers’ compensation cost reduction solutions for employers. As a national program administrator, UPA offers workers’ compensation through a nationwide network of independent agents. UPA offers specialty programs for restaurants and country clubs, as well as the hospitality, agricultural and health care industries.

Tenet Financial Group is a third-party administrator (TPA) with over a century of combined franchise funding experience. Our consultative approach helps match the right funding option(s) to each client's unique needs. We offer SBA Loans, 401(k) Rollover/ROBS, Term Loans and more. Tenet Financial Group provides a consultative service that creates financial clarity for our clients.

AC Inc. is an education & training company dedicated to helping brands maximize the impact of their franchisee support and coaching. Assess and certify your field coaches, train and staff your field coaches, or implement fractional field coaches to improve your franchisee profitability. The AC team has more than 100+ years of franchising experience as zors, zees, and coaches. The team is led by founder Angela Coté, who helped grow her family's iconic Canadian franchise brand, M&M Food Market, to almost 500 locations.

Software/Technology.

Baker Tilly US, LLP (Baker Tilly) is a leading advisory CPA firm, providing clients with a genuine coast-to-coast and global advantage in major regions of the U.S. and in many of the world’s leading financial centers – New York, NY, London, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA and Chicago, IL. Baker Tilly is an independent member of Baker Tilly International, a worldwide network of independent accounting and business advisory firms in 145 territories, with 41,000 professionals and a combined worldwide revenue of $4.7 billion. For more information visit us at http://www.bakertilly.com.

Talroo is helping organizations like Uber, McDonald’s, UPS, The Home Depot, Target and more, find and hire their essential workforces. Our data-driven job and hiring event recruiting platform turns the entire Internet into a help wanted sign. Our pay-for-performance model enables customers to maximize efficiency, not waste spend, and hire employees faster than they could with any of our competitors.

Rather than drive customers to a destination site, Talroo uses a consumer marketing approach to deliver job opportunities to candidates where they are already spending time online. Similar to what Google AdSense and Facebook Ad Networks do for their advertisers, Talroo uncovers the right candidates that companies are looking to hire.

Talroo leverages a search-and-match algorithm powered by state-of-the-art AI technologies. Our deep-learning processes analyze billions of signals daily, assessing the job seeker-employer relationship in real time. This produces significantly better search results for the job seekers, and higher quality applicant matches for the employer.

FranchisePerils, a division of ExecutivePerils, was formed in 2013 to solely focus on the franchise industry. We understand the unique challenges that franchisors and franchisees face and address them with innovative insurance products by trusted and proven insurance companies. By recognizing the unique characteristics of the franchise industry, FranchisePerils has been able to bring unparalleled value & expertise to both franchisors and franchisees. Our FranchisorSuite® policy is the ONLY policy of its type in the world. It is specifically designed to provide maximum protection at great value for franchisors.

MPK Equity Partners is a Dallas-based private investment firm partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs and executives to invest in and acquire growing, profitable, category-leading companies.

We are a patient and flexible capital partner with extensive experience working with management teams to drive growth, develop executive teams, and enhance brand and market position. We aim to complete only one or two investments each year, making us a highly selective investor able to devote a substantial amount of our time, resources, and personal networks toward being a supportive partner.

We invest in and have significant experience in a broad array of industries. As we develop relationships in certain industries, we will naturally build a deeper concentration in each – such is the case with our focus in the franchising space. Across our current and realized portfolio, we have invested in a total of 17 franchisors across the following verticals: home services; health, wellness, and beauty; restaurants; and youth enrichment. Few investment firms have more experience investing in founder-owned franchisors than MPK.

We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

ELEDLights is a supplier of high-quality LED lighting for franchises, specializing in brand-friendly lighting solutions for new construction builds, cost-saving retrofit solutions for existing locations, and lighting & controls for franchise headquarters, offices, and warehouses. We offer a complete range of energy-efficient products, provide complimentary lighting design services, can research and process instant money-back power company rebates, and have an easy online portal for ordering. Let ELEDLights help make your franchise system shine!

Early-stage venture through late-stage growth. Biotech, Life Science, FinTech, PropTech, consumer products, B2B SaaS and more. North America, India, and Israel. Wherever you are, whatever you do, Norwest is always looking for smart investments, and we have the resources to help solve your unique challenges and reach your ultimate vision. The one thing all our portfolio companies have in common is massive potential.

Scotty has been an entrepreneur dating back to his teen years, where he started small businesses mowing lawns, raking leaves and shoveling snow. In his early twenties, he began a career with a major news organization as a cameraman for the White House Press Corp. Several years later, Scotty could not ignore the calling of his entrepreneurial spirit, and so left the news industry to pursue a career in business.

After 35+ years of experiences Scotty has been a significant contributor in various senior leadership positions. Scotty is a team player and recently utilized his expertise in development to help build a well-known national fast-casual concept. His tenure in franchising has landed him on leadership panels at several franchise conferences. Scotty has also earned his certification as a CFE, Certified Franchise Executive.