.   about

Built by a
former #1-ranked broker.

Most marketing agencies serving business brokers and M&A advisors are tourists in the brokerage world. The Listing Practice is not.
01
the story

Equal parts broker and marketer.

Steve Abdalla owned and operated a VR Business Brokers franchise in Hawaii from 2004 to 2010, where he was named the network's #1 producer across all 110 VR franchises in 2007 and Most Valuable Intermediary the year before. He recruited, trained, and led a team of up to ten agents across four islands. He directed all marketing, including website optimization, Google Ads, SEO, seller seminars, direct mail, and eleven byline articles published in The Pacific Business News, Hawaii's business journal.

Before the brokerage, he spent six years as a Vice President at Launch Pad, a Silicon Valley boutique marketing agency, where he helped launch more than twenty high-tech startups including four acquired by publicly traded companies. After VR, he traded algorithmically for his own account for several years, before returning to marketing. He served as CMO and later General Manager of Power Almanac, a B2B data company, where he led a full marketing transformation that doubled revenue in twelve months and facilitated its subsequent acquisition.

The Listing Practice is the synthesis of those two careers. It is not a marketing agency that picked brokerage as a vertical, and it is not a former broker who dabbles in marketing. It is a specialist who has operated meaningfully on both sides of the bridge.
02
credentials

Verifiable history.

Brokerage
  • VR Business Brokers franchise owner, Hawaii (2004–2010)
  • #1 producer of 110 VR franchises (2007)   source
  • Most Valuable Intermediary, network of 500+ brokers (2006) source
  • Recruited, trained, and led team of up to 10 agents across four islands
  • Eleven byline articles published in The Pacific Business News, Hawaii's business journal, for example, advice for thriving in market downturns source
  • Active CBI recertification (expected late summer 2026)
Marketing & operations
  • CMO & GM, Power Almanac (doubled revenue, led to acquisition)
  • VP, Launch Pad — Silicon Valley boutique marketing agency
  • Helped launch 20+ high-tech startups, including 4 acquired by public companies
  • Senior Associate, Bain & Company
  • Stanford MBA · UC Berkeley BS Mechanical Engineering (High Honors)
  • 20+ years P&L leadership across software, financial services, brokerage
03
principles

What shapes every engagement.

01

The Practitioner's Advantage

Built by a broker, not just for them. We do not need you to explain why seller qualification is critical nor how you're different from real estate brokers. We start from the inside of your business, not the outside.

02

Diagnosis Before Prescription

Every engagement starts with a diagnosis, not a pitch. The free Website Review is the first step: your site set side by side against the best broker and M&A advisor sites in the country. The marketing programs we deploy are prescribed by what we find, not pre-packaged before we look.

03

The Program Matters, the Execution More

Some broker campaigns fail because they run the wrong program for their market. More fail on execution: copy that does not persuade, loose targeting, landing pages that do not convert. Knowing how brokers actually win listings is what makes a campaign land. We match programs to your market and sequence them, starting with the two that produce signal fastest, but the real edge is running them well.

04

One Firm, One Territory

Conflict-free exclusivity. We will not represent your firm and a direct competitor in the same market. Period.

05

Operational Leverage

Marketing complexity is a high-cost distraction from closing deals. We handle the technical work, the operational complexity, and the initial qualification, so your time goes where it should: high-value calls with motivated sellers.

06

The Listing-First Philosophy

Secure high-quality listings and the buyers will follow. Every system we build is engineered for seller attraction.

Marketing run the way a broker would run it.

The listings our work generates earn the next month's retainer, not a contract. Most engagements start with a free Website Review, and the work begins within a week of a signed engagement.