Michael Girdley is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and chairman who has built, bought, and operated businesses across dozens of industries — and learned as much from the failures as the wins. As Chairman and CEO of Girdley Enterprises, he oversees a portfolio of companies while staying deeply involved in the operators and founders he backs.

At SMBash 2026, Michael delivers his keynote "Lessons From 100 Failed Businesses" — a rare and candid examination of what actually goes wrong when companies fail and what patterns separate the businesses that survive from those that don't. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience and hundreds of deals, Michael gives searchers and operators the honest framework they need to avoid the most common — and most costly — mistakes in the SMB acquisition world.