Experienced Advisors to Family-Owned Businesses
Clients
We are excutives experienced with the needs of family-owned businesses. We know how to balance the near-term needs to maintain lifestyles, with the long-term need to build value for future generations.
Balanced Approach
Privately-held businesses that are individual or family-owned enterprises have tremendous independence, but also face significant constraints. Developing strategies that maximize the performance of the business, manage risks for the owners, and ensure that cash flow is maintained to fulfill short-term and long-term needs is essential for the wellbeing of the business and the owners. We understand how to strike this balance, while opening a range of options that may not have been previously considered.
We also understand that will family-owned businesses lines are not clearly drawn between ownership, Boards (if they exist at all), outside advisors, operating executives, family-members, and the intertwined lives of the owners. We can help you clarify roles and interests so that you can focus the owners and business leaders on a single clear vision for the business.
Preparing for an Exit?
Are you planning for an exit? If not, you should. Too often, privately-held businesses are operated with no consideration for a possible exit, then some unexpected event becomes the catalyst for a transaction. It might begin with an unsolicited approach by an interested buyer, or it might be triggered by a personal event that results in a change in heart of the owner(s). In either instance, the timing in unexpected and unplanned.
As a result, the lack of preparation results in a lower business value upon exit.
Generational Transfers
You want to hand the reigns over to the next generation, but you have been too busy to prepare them for the transition. We can help mentor and coach these new leaders before, during, and after the transition. Helping them avoid embarrassing and costly mistakes can protect your family’s wealth and reduce the likelihood of family strife. Let us handle the difficult conversations while you enjoy the fruits of your life’s work.
Private Equity Investors
The acquisition of a family-owned business requires unique perspectives and experience. These organizations often hold cultures that are tightly intertwined with the owners and have business strategies aligned to the family’s needs. Seldom are these business optimized for long-term growth and profitability.
Assessing these businesses, considering appropriate valuation, and developing transition plans are some of the many ways that we can greatly improve the success of these deals. Our familiarity with family business dynamics allows us to quickly establish rapport with the owners and leadership and get to the root of the opportunity.
Our approach is to apply a systematic process to explore strategic pathways to improve gross margins, increase sales, and eliminate unnecessary operating costs. We bring the practical experience of executing growth strategies that worked and the willingness to look outside-the-box to find the exceptional.