The Firm
Viridian Pacific acquires family and founder-owned businesses in the lower middle market, primarily in Southern California. We raise capital deal-by-deal from a small group of committed co-investors. No five-year fund clock. No exit mandate built for someone else’s portfolio. No investment committee reviewing every decision.
The firm was built around a simple observation: most founders selling a business are doing it for the first time, and the process — as it is currently run by the market — is designed for buyers, not sellers. Auctions, multi-round bidding, retrading at the eleventh hour, diligence teams that treat the business like a hostile environment. None of it serves the owner.
Viridian Pacific runs the opposite process. One firm, one point of contact, one direct conversation that either leads to a term sheet or ends cleanly. Ninety days from serious conversation to close. The work is done upfront so the close is not a surprise to anyone.
What We Believe
A founder who hands over a business is handing over something larger than the financials — the team, the customers, the name on the door, the reputation built over decades. We believe buyers have a responsibility to continue that work, not unwind it.
Most lower middle market processes are optimized for the buyer. Ours is optimized for the founder — direct conversations, clear timelines, no auctions, no pressure to accept terms built for someone else’s model.
We hold businesses for as long as they benefit from our ownership. That discipline changes what we acquire, how we structure, and what we build after the close.
Porter Daughtry
Founder
Founder
Viridian Pacific was founded by Porter Daughtry. Before launching the firm, Porter spent nearly a decade in middle and lower middle market M&A — the first half advising on middle market private equity transactions, the second focused on the lower middle market where founder-owned businesses trade. His transaction work began at BDO in 2017 and has covered close to one hundred engagements across quality of earnings, transaction advisory, and deal execution, representing several billion dollars of aggregate enterprise value.
His deepest experience is in manufacturing and distribution, with broader exposure across business services, healthcare services, and specialty industrials — the same sectors Viridian Pacific targets today.
Across those engagements, the founders he worked with kept telling him the same thing: the process was harder than the decision. Viridian Pacific is the firm he built in response — structured from the beginning around how the owner experiences the transaction, not how the buyer runs one.
Porter grew up on a family-owned pine tree farm in south Georgia, an early exposure to operator-owned businesses that still shapes how he thinks about stewardship, continuity, and what it means to hand something down. He is based in the South Bay.
Where We Work
We’re based in the South Bay and we invest in Southern California because we live here. The founders we back meet us in their shop, their office, or over coffee a mile from the ocean — not on a plane from somewhere else.
At a Glance
Ready to Talk?
Whether you are exploring a sale or representing someone who is, write us directly. We read every message and respond within one business day.