meetup
Build It or Buy It: A Conversation with Matt Truty (OWN Indiana, Fort Wayne)
·
Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, 6411 Bass Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46818
OWN Indiana is hosting a fireside with Matt Truty in Fort Wayne on Thursday, September 17. First event we have run outside Indianapolis.
Matt has done both sides of the build-or-buy question. He led a roughly 120-person technical team at Sweetwater, then left and co-founded BT Pro Solutions with Caleb Bertsch. In January 2026 they acquired Spokane Computer, a 60-year-old software company serving the work-truck and truck-equipment industry, from a first-time seller. They added ZoomQ about a month later. He is also Board President of Fort Wayne Tech.
Nick Ladig is moderating. Most of the hour sits on the buy side, since that is where the questions usually are:
- How the Spokane Computer deal came together, working with a seller who had never sold anything before.
- What diligence and financing looked like on a 60-year-old software business.
- The first six months after close, and moving a legacy company forward without running off a customer base that had been there for decades.
- Buying a second company a month after the first, and what he did differently.
- Where starting from scratch beat buying for him, and where it did not.
If you are searching in Indiana or the Midwest, worth noting this is a room of owners and operators rather than a room of searchers. Good place to ask post-close questions of people who have actually lived them, and to meet sellers before they are for sale.
Schedule:
4:00 to 5:00, doors and networking
5:00 to 6:00, fireside plus Q and A
6:00 to 7:00, networking
General admission is $15. Refundable up to 7 days out, and transferable if you cannot make it. Presented by First Internet Bank, one of the larger SBA 7(a) lenders in the country.
Register: redacted
Message me here if you are coming in from out of town and want an intro to anyone in the room.
Matt has done both sides of the build-or-buy question. He led a roughly 120-person technical team at Sweetwater, then left and co-founded BT Pro Solutions with Caleb Bertsch. In January 2026 they acquired Spokane Computer, a 60-year-old software company serving the work-truck and truck-equipment industry, from a first-time seller. They added ZoomQ about a month later. He is also Board President of Fort Wayne Tech.
Nick Ladig is moderating. Most of the hour sits on the buy side, since that is where the questions usually are:
- How the Spokane Computer deal came together, working with a seller who had never sold anything before.
- What diligence and financing looked like on a 60-year-old software business.
- The first six months after close, and moving a legacy company forward without running off a customer base that had been there for decades.
- Buying a second company a month after the first, and what he did differently.
- Where starting from scratch beat buying for him, and where it did not.
If you are searching in Indiana or the Midwest, worth noting this is a room of owners and operators rather than a room of searchers. Good place to ask post-close questions of people who have actually lived them, and to meet sellers before they are for sale.
Schedule:
4:00 to 5:00, doors and networking
5:00 to 6:00, fireside plus Q and A
6:00 to 7:00, networking
General admission is $15. Refundable up to 7 days out, and transferable if you cannot make it. Presented by First Internet Bank, one of the larger SBA 7(a) lenders in the country.
Register: redacted
Message me here if you are coming in from out of town and want an intro to anyone in the room.
Event Type:
meetup
Format:
In-Person
Start Time:
Duration:
3 hrs
