Their pain
Every rep and warranty is a claim about a business the attorney didn’t build. When contracts are disorganized, IP was never formally assigned, or change-of-control consents were never tracked, they burn expensive hours chasing documents that may not exist — and the result is more qualified reps, more disclosure exceptions, and more leverage handed to the buyer. Worse case: a business that turns out not to be transferable craters in diligence, and the attorney wears a problem that was never legal.
How we remove it
We do the operating work before the buyer shows up — the contract record assembled, IP assignments and consents located, change-of-control provisions surfaced, owner dependency reduced. We flag what’s missing, so the diligence record is ready to hand to whoever runs the data room. When the attorney steps in, everything’s organized, in one place, and ready to review. Organized contracts mean tighter reps, fewer surprises, fewer re-trades.
Non-competitive + reciprocity
We don’t give legal advice, draft documents, or negotiate the deal — and don’t want to. We meet founders 12–36 months out and point them to attorneys we trust; attorneys meet founders at LOI whose business isn’t ready, and point them to us.
Your attorney makes the deal airtight. We make the business worth signing for.
The founder's piece: The Empty Chair →
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Their pain
A quality-of-earnings review surfaces a financial record that took ten years to get messy — and the CPA can’t retroactively un-mess it. Add-backs get challenged, working-capital pegs move, revenue recognition gets questioned, and every gap the QoE finds is a haircut on the multiple. The CPA reports what’s there; what’s there decides the price.
How we remove it
We get the records behind the numbers in order before diligence starts — the contracts, customer and vendor documentation, and operating data every figure traces back to, organized and in one place. So when the CPA claims an add-back or the QoE team asks for support, the backup is there and findable, not scattered across ten years of files. The accounting judgment stays with the CPA; we make sure the paper trail underneath it holds up.
Non-competitive + reciprocity
We don’t do tax, audit, or the QoE — that’s the CPA’s, and we defer to them on all of it. They meet founders whose books won’t survive a buyer; we get the record ready so their work holds. The tax and accounting questions go their way.
Your CPA defends the numbers. We make sure the record behind them holds up.
The founder's piece: The Empty Chair →
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Their pain
A banker can’t take an unready business to market and get a clean result. When the business isn’t sellable — owner dependency, a customer-concentration surprise, undocumented processes — the process drags, buyers find reasons to re-trade, and momentum and value bleed out of the deal. The banker sells what exists; an unready business runs a worse auction.
How we remove it
We make the business sellable before the banker takes it out — the operating system documented, the diligence record built, the founder-dependency designed out. The banker runs a tighter process at a higher number, with fewer diligence surprises to manage mid-deal.
Non-competitive + reciprocity
We don’t run the process, find the buyers, or manage the auction — that’s the banker’s, entirely. We meet founders before there’s a process and get them ready; bankers meet founders who needed to be ready yesterday, and send the early ones to us.
Your banker runs the process. We make sure there’s a clean business to run it on.
The founder's piece: The Empty Chair →
Refer a client →
Their pain
A founder’s single biggest asset is usually illiquid and trapped inside a business that can’t sell — and a botched or discounted exit wrecks the financial plan the advisor built. The advisor manages the money after the wire; they can’t make the business that produces it transferable. If the exit comes up short, so does the plan.
How we remove it
We make the business transferable in the years before the exit, so it actually sells — and sells for a number that funds the plan. The advisor is often the first to know a founder is thinking about an exit; that’s exactly when the business needs the work done.
Non-competitive + reciprocity
We don’t manage money, build the financial plan, or do the planning — that’s the advisor’s, fully. They flag the exit early; we get the business ready. We point clients back to the advisor for everything after the wire.
Your advisor plans for the money. We make sure there’s money to plan for.
The founder's piece: The Empty Chair →
Refer a client →
Posture
Investors and buyers sit on the other side of the table, but the interest is shared: nobody wants to acquire a business that can’t run without its former owner. That owner-dependency is the risk that surfaces in diligence, drags the close, and resurfaces the year after — and reducing risk is exactly what TO does for buyers. It’s also what TO can do for the companies already in your portfolio.
The benefit
With the TO operating system in place, diligence runs smoother with fewer surprises — the business no longer depends on the founder, and the records are organized and ready. On a portfolio company, the same work makes the asset more transferable, more valuable, and readier for its own exit when the time comes.
For a buyer, a prepared business is a de-risked one — going in, and across the portfolio.
The founder's piece: The Empty Chair →
Work with us →