From Business Bridge to Building a Business

By Tuck Communications

Mike Lukasevicz Bridge’23 is founder at Axia Growth and cofounder at Weight Supply. After participating in Tuck’s Business Bridge Program at Dartmouth, he built a career working with private equity firms, investment banks, and founders on deal sourcing and outbound strategy.

You’re building Axia Growth, a deal sourcing and lead generation company serving M&A professionals. What gap did you see in the market that led you to build it?

I was recruiting for investment banking, and during that process AI kept getting better and more widely adopted. People were starting to see what it could really do. I saw the writing on the wall: analyst-level work—creating pitch decks, CIMs, or financial models—was going to become easy to outsource to AI at a fraction of the cost.

So what happens when the skills for the role you’re recruiting for become commoditized? Your labor becomes far less valuable.

That, coupled with my entrepreneurial mindset, led me to want to build something on my own. I started thinking about what wouldn’t be at risk from AI, and the answer was sales and human relationships. Deal sourcing is relationship-driven. You need a human in the mix, and it’s high leverage—much higher than building models or pitch decks.

In traditional finance, you don’t get to the point of creating deal flow until you’ve worked your way through analyst and associate roles and made it to VP or MD. I wanted to get there earlier. This was my path to doing that—riskier than the traditional route, but more aligned with what I wanted.

Axia works with PE firms, investment banks, and business brokers. What has surprised you most about building a company in the M&A services space at 23?

Honestly, how informal things are at the top. Going through recruiting—working with HR teams and sitting in interviews—makes everything feel very structured and corporate. But when you’re actually working with partners, founders, and portfolio managers, it’s completely different. I was texting with a potential partner who represents clients looking to deploy roughly $15 billion, trying to get us involved in sourcing deals. And it was just: “Hey—let’s try this.” That was it.

Learning that at 23 has been huge. It made me more comfortable reaching out to people I would have previously been hesitant to contact. That example reflects my experience working primarily with male clients, but the broader takeaway is that these relationships are far more human and accessible than they might appear from the outside.

What early decisions or habits had the biggest impact on your trajectory after graduation?

This actually started before graduation. During my freshman year, when I worked on my first startup, I realized I wanted to use my time in school to prepare for life after college. I came in as an athlete, but stepped away—partly due to injury and partly because I wanted to explore entrepreneurship.

The biggest shifts were really sacrifices. I chose to spend more time building businesses and developing skills outside the classroom than I did in it. I wasn’t involved in clubs—I was focused on generating enough income to support myself after graduation.

The goal was to be able to afford living expenses while building a business post-graduation. Thankfully, I achieved that. Technically, I still have three credits left to finish, so I haven’t officially graduated yet. I plan to complete them over the next year or two, but it won’t change my trajectory. It’s more about finishing what I started.

What advice would you give students who want to build something of their own but aren’t sure where to start?

I’ve thought about this a lot. I’ve talked to many people who want to build something but are still following the same path as everyone else. You can’t do both—you need to choose.

If you’re not sure you want to build yet, go work for a startup or small business. Learn how they operate and how they solve problems. You’ll start to notice gaps—and those gaps can become ideas for your own venture.

Before starting Axia, I worked for several startups and small businesses as a contractor—sending cold emails, building workflows, and creating automations. I started at $20/hour and gradually increased my rate to $150/hour. At that point, it no longer made sense to sell my time when I could build something of my own.

“You can’t want to build something and follow the standard path at the same time—you need to choose.”

Thankfully, I had saved enough to take that risk. As a first-generation college student on full financial aid, that financial cushion made a big difference.

The best way to find that kind of work is to reach out directly—LinkedIn, cold email, even cold calling if you can. That’s how I approach hiring, too. If someone applies without following up, I won’t see it. But if they reach out directly, they’re much more likely to get a response.

Having agency is one of the most important traits for an entrepreneur. If you can’t take that step to create opportunities, entrepreneurship will be a difficult path.

Looking back, what part of your early experiences, including the Business Bridge Program, most influenced how you approach leadership and entrepreneurship today?

Starting with the Business Bridge Program, the spreadsheet modeling course with Professor Reagan had a major impact on how I approach business. It gave me the foundation to model out projects and client campaigns—something I still rely on today.

AI can assist with modeling, but you still need someone who understands what they’re looking at and how to interpret it. That skill has allowed me to say yes to opportunities I might have otherwise avoided. For example, some campaigns we’re running won’t show returns for 12–24 months. But after modeling them out, we identified a potential 300% ROI. That level of confidence comes from understanding the numbers.

Beyond Business Bridge, working closely with startup founders and small business owners taught me a lot. I had multiple clients on 20-hour-per-week retainers, and I learned what effective leadership looks like in practice—how to manage people, structure operations, and build efficient systems.

One company in particular, Centrifuge, had a significant influence. I worked directly under their CMO (now CEO), and that’s where I learned the “running document” system we use at Axia. Each team or individual has a single document where every meeting is logged, creating a clear, ongoing record of progress and decisions.

I also learned the importance of asynchronous communication. With team members spread across multiple time zones, the company operated efficiently with fewer meetings and strong documentation.

If I had to summarize: if you don’t know what you want to do, go work for others and learn—but be intentional. If your goal is to build something, put yourself in environments where you can see how businesses actually run. That experience is invaluable.