We are an advisory and transaction firm. Our clients are founders or management partners planning business strategies for growth and succession.

Our strengths are listening, planning, assisting plan implementation, and transacting when appropriate.

We help our clients achieve their desired outcomes with assurance, with less risk. Our values, our reach, and our expertise are assets in your corner.

As you imagine the story of your business unfolding, we can help write the script, implement the plan, and transact the next stages and the ending.

Succession planning

All business growth is a succession from one phase to the next, including the succession from one ownership group to the next. Succession planning is a growth story you write that has a good ending. We will help you.

We are business succession advisors. Our story is told through our clients. Their stories become our story.

Here’s one. Years ago, a few people realized a way to make money, so they started a business together. The business did well, it grew. The founders worked hard, the business afforded them a generous life with means. The founders spoke generally of future retirement, mentioning possible monetizing events. These discussions were not frequent, they weren’t specific, and they were just verbal. 45 years went by. Some of the founders now want an exit. Without a mutually agreed plan with specific details, the founders must now come up with a succession and exit agreement to implement at this time, fraught with tension. A parachute plan for exiting founders could have been formulated years ago, to guide everyone in today’s situation.

Here’s another one. Company founders are enjoying the growth and success of the business they started. 20 years in, they see a future where they will want retirement. What does happily ever after look like for them? Will the next generation be able to take over? If not, will another group of employees be able to take over? How soon might these events happen? Will the founders have to finance a succession event, or can they retire with cash? If there isn’t a clear internal succession prospect, do they sell the company to another business in the industry, or to a private equity investor? If so, then when? Planning happily ever after for the founders begins today.

Your story is now. For the story to have a good outcome, a strategy and plan focused on all possible succession events will map out and prepare for the time when you will want to exercise your best options.

What we do

Our story unfolds by helping you. We serve by listening to you tell us about

• Timing of potential events
• Triggers and turning points along the way
• Teams of potential successors
• Targets of potential investors
• Tensions that may need addressing
• Temptations that can stall or impede planning and implementation

Then together we write a script for succession that concludes with a happy ending.