Selling a business
A conversation, not a process.
Tell us the sector, the size and the timeline. Three sentences is plenty. You do not need a deck, an adviser or a data room, and you do not need to have decided anything.
We answer either way, and we do not shop the information.
Three things to know before you write.
We buy control
We acquire controlling interests; we do not make minority-only investments, and we are not looking for a passive slice of a company. If keeping majority ownership matters to you, we are the wrong call. We would rather say that in the first conversation than the fifth.
We are not going to sell it on
There is no fund, no exit calendar and nothing in the group prepared for sale. We have completed three acquisitions — Pyxl in 2008, then Cobble Hill and HOOK in 2025 — and we still own all three. Performance is measured over a decade rather than a quarter.
Your team keeps running the business
Leadership controls strategy, hiring and client relationships after an acquisition. Finance, people operations, legal and reporting move onto group standards; technology and AI, capital, and full-service marketing become available through the group. We are in the numbers every month and out of the day-to-day entirely.
And the company keeps its name
Each business keeps its own brand, leadership and profit and loss. The collective maintains its own identity separately and does not put its mark on the operating companies.
What we look for.
Six dimensions. These are the shape of the conversation, not a published threshold. We would rather talk than have you screen yourself out on a number we have not printed.
- Sector
- Service businesses where the client relationship, recurring work and specialized capability are the asset — and where better technology, AI or operating systems can create leverage without commoditizing the service. We know digital services, advisory, high-trust local services and wellness best. We will look outside those labels when the underlying economics, reputation and customer relationships fit.
- Ownership
- A controlling interest. This one is not flexible.
- Owner situation
- Owners who care where the company lands. Retirement, succession without a successor, or a founder who wants to keep operating with the overhead removed.
- Management continuity
- A leadership team that intends to stay. We do not buy companies expecting to replace the people running them.
- Business quality
- Repeat clients, honest accounting and a reason customers stay. Turnarounds are not what we do.
- Geography
- United States. We are in Nashville and Charleston. Remote-first teams are considered anywhere.
How a conversation works.
You write, or you call
Sector, rough size, and when you are thinking about. Three sentences is plenty. You do not need a deck, an adviser or a data room, and you do not need to have decided anything.
We answer within two business days
Either way. If it is clearly not a fit, you will hear that quickly, along with who we think might be a better home.
One conversation, usually an hour
With a principal, not an associate. We would rather understand the business and the team than review a model at this stage.
If both sides want to continue
We put the shape of a deal in writing before asking you for anything substantial. Diligence follows agreement on structure, not the other way round.
“I have a lot of confidence in where Pyxl is headed, and I know Bonnie and Brian, and the leadership team will continue building on that momentum.
I'm grateful for the relationships we've built and everything we have accomplished together.
Wishing all of you nothing but success, and I hope our paths cross again soon.”
If you want to leave
Leaving is not a complication. It is usually the point.
Most owners who write to us want out eventually — the whole point of selling is that someone else carries it from here. We are built for that. What we ask is that the handover is planned rather than improvised, because the promises you made to your team on the way out are the ones we have to keep.
I want to leave. Is that a problem?
No. It is the most common reason owners write to us, and wanting out is not a mark against a business. We are not looking for a seller who secretly wants to stay.
What we need to know early is who runs the company after you go, and whether that person is already inside the business.
How long do you need me to stay?
Long enough to hand over the relationships and the knowledge that only exists in your head. In practice that is months rather than years.
The length is set by the handover, not by a formula, and it goes in writing before diligence starts rather than after.
What if there is no successor inside the business?
Then that is the first conversation, not a reason to avoid having one. Sometimes a second-in-command needs promoting with a year of support behind them; sometimes the collective helps recruit a general manager.
We would rather fund and build the bench than ask you to stay longer than you want to.
Can I stay involved without running it?
Yes, and several owners want precisely that: keep two or three client relationships, keep a seat in the room on strategy, and hand off payroll, contracts and the operating load.
We write that arrangement down, so it does not quietly drift back into a full-time job.
Will my team hear it from me first?
Yes. You decide who is told what, and in what order. We do not announce anything, and there is no press release waiting for a signature.
Before closing we agree the communication plan with you — team first, then clients.
What happens to the people I hired?
They stay, and they keep reporting to the people they report to now. Leadership keeps strategy, hiring and client relationships. Finance, people operations, legal and reporting move onto group standards; technology and AI, capital, and full-service marketing become available through the group.
The commitments you made on your way out are the ones we inherit.
I am two or three years away from deciding.
That is a good time to talk, not a bad one. Knowing a business well before there is a transaction is most of what makes the transaction simple later.
We are content to keep in touch for years without a process attached to it.
Will you sell it on after I leave?
There is no document anywhere that obliges us to sell — no fund term, no exit calendar, no investor promised their money back on a date. Three acquisitions since 2008, all three still owned.
The Long Hold sets out the arithmetic behind that, including where it costs us.
Confidentiality, plainly.
There is no banker, no teaser and no list. What you send stays with the family and the small number of advisors we are legally required to involve. We do not circulate opportunities, add you to a pipeline or discuss your business with brokers or intermediaries.
If you would like the correspondence deleted after a conversation ends, say so and it will be.
A web form is not a secure channel. For anything sensitive, call 615-647-6792 and we will talk first.
If it is not a fit
You get a straight answer quickly. Where we can, we will name someone better suited. Nobody hears that you were considering it.
We would still rather you wrote. A conversation that goes nowhere costs us an hour and costs you nothing.