Generation Growth Capital

Cory Nettles, the firm's founder and managing director, leads investment decisions alongside Managing Director John Reinke. Nettles previously served as Wisconsin's Secretary of Commerce, giving him deep relationships across the state's industrial base. Investment committee decisions concentrate within this small senior team given the lean organizational structure typical of lower-middle-market funds.

GGC targets founder-owned lower-middle-market companies with EBITDA between $2 million and $10 million, primarily in niche manufacturing, value-added distribution, and B2B services. The firm focuses on businesses that need operational improvements or management transitions—often because a retiring founder lacks a succession plan. Post-acquisition, GGC installs professional financial controls and sales processes, then pursues add-on acquisitions to build scale.

GGC's investment activity concentrates on Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and nearby Upper Midwest states. Nettles' civic and governmental network in Wisconsin provides a sourcing advantage that would not replicate elsewhere, and the firm's hands-on operating model requires portfolio companies to be within reasonable travel distance from the Milwaukee headquarters.

The firm relies on a proprietary origination network built through Nettles' decades of public- and private-sector experience in Wisconsin. Relationships with regional business brokers, commercial bankers, attorneys, and accounting firms generate off-market or limited-auction deal flow in the lower middle market, where businesses rarely attract national buyer attention.

GGC holds portfolio companies for approximately five to seven years, a timeline consistent with lower-middle-market private equity. During the hold period, the firm executes operational improvements and completes bolt-on acquisitions to build scale and profitability. Exits typically occur through strategic sales to larger private equity platforms or corporate acquirers seeking regional expansion.

No. Generation Growth Capital is an institutional private equity firm, not a family office. It manages third-party capital from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's name references its focus on 'growing' companies across 'generations' of ownership transition, not a family fortune.