Exit Planning

Most small businesses don't sell — not because they aren't worth it, but because they aren't ready when it counts. Buyers find problems. I find them first. I work with $1M–$5M founder-led businesses preparing to sell in the next few years. I go inside and do the actual work — getting knowledge out of the owner's head and into systems a buyer can evaluate, reducing owner dependency, cleaning up financials, documenting SOPs, and making sure contracts, vendor relationships, and key-person risk won't kill a deal at the table. The result: a business that holds up under due diligence and sells at a number that reflects what was actually built. Stella and Main works with a maximum of two clients at a time — intentionally. This is hands-on, inside work. Not a program. Not a course. Not coaching. Rachel is in it with you. If you've been told your business isn't ready, if you suspect it won't hold up once a buyer starts digging, or if you just want to know where you actually stand — that's exactly where we start. stellaandmain.com | rachel@stellaandmain.com | 253.314.4335

Blue Sky Business Acquisitions is a Wisconsin-based M&A advisory and business brokerage firm serving buyers and sellers of small businesses. The firm provides exit planning, business valuation, transaction advisory, and value-growth consulting, and prepares lender-ready loan packages for banks, SBA lenders, and alternative financing sources. Co-founders Mathew Breselow and Thomas Flanagan hold Certified Exit Planning Advisor and Certified Business Intermediary credentials.

Alden Ridge Advisory provides exit preparation and buy-side advisory services for small business transactions. The firm offers Exit Preparation Reviews for sellers and fractional direct investment execution for buyers, with principal experience closing 20+ PE transactions ranging from $5M to $50M.

ExitWorks is an Atlanta-area advisory firm that works with founder-led businesses to remove owner dependency, whether they're planning to leave their business in 2 years or 20. The firm runs a full diagnostic across 24 growth drivers, sequences priorities by impact, and then installs leadership, decision-making, financial, and revenue systems rather than delivering recommendations alone, backed by an outcome guarantee. ExitWorks focuses on professional services and manufacturing businesses doing at least $1M in annual revenue and measures the outcome with a 30-day owner absence test. Founder Steven Nootbaar is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®) who previously spent roughly a decade as the operational backbone of a Florida insurance agency, building it from a 15-person mom-and-pop shop to the #1 general agency for Florida Blue in the state, further operating as a national brokerage when it was ultimately acquired.