Prepare your business for a thoughtful ownership transition with strategic guidance built around value, continuity, and your personal goals. Inside every institutional buyer's investment committee there is a version of the same conversation, and then somebody asks the question no financial statement can answer: what happens if this person walks out the door. Succession planning is how a founder answers it before it is asked, with a leadership team that has real authority rather than a title.
Succession advisory that works on owner independence and management depth before anything else in the plan.
Score the business on Owner Independence, Management Depth, Financial Clarity, Margin Quality, Recurring Revenue, Operating Infrastructure, and Growth Pathways. The pillars are cumulative: strength in five of seven is not five sevenths of a multiple, it is two unresolved risks, and buyers price risk aggressively.
Navigate internal ownership transfers, succession decisions, and corporate restructuring with guidance tailored to majority shareholders. Internal succession still needs a defensible number and a leadership plan, because co-owners, family members and lenders apply their own scrutiny even when no buyer is involved.
Discuss your goals, timeline, current business quality, and possible transition paths in a private conversation. Most founders leave it knowing which of the seven pillars is their binding constraint, which is usually not the one they expected.
David ran his manufacturing business for twenty-two years and built about $4 million of EBITDA doing it. Institutional buyers were circling. Then diligence began, and the committee did not ask about the machines. They asked who ran operations, who owned the client relationships, and who would execute the growth plan that justified the multiple. He had built a great business organised entirely around one person. That is the mirror moment, and it is a starting point rather than a failure. Six months of restructured decision rights changed how the company presented.
Succession work judged the way a buyer's investment committee will judge it.
Owner independence is the threshold question. The other six pillars assume it has been answered.
Our leadership brings decades of deal advisory, valuation, operational, and financial experience to each engagement.
A structured review of whether the people in key functional roles can hold them after a close, not a personality test.
Transition strategies account for liquidity, timing, employee continuity, cultural fit, and legacy priorities from the outset.
Seasoned advisors focused on complex founder transitions.
Founder & Managing Director
Rick McDonald is the Founder and Managing Director of Exit Boston, a New England middle-market M&A advisory firm headquartered in Danvers, MA. With more than two decades of active deal advisory work, Rick has been directly involved in 50 to 100 closed middle-market transactions, guiding founders and private business owners through company sales, recapitalizations, and strategic transitions. His deep expertise spans business valuation, institutional buyer readiness, and deal structuring tailored to each founder's financial goals and legacy objectives. Beyond his advisory practice, Rick serves as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Endicott College, reflecting his commitment to sharing knowledge across the financial community. His leadership has earned Exit Boston national recognition, including a top-ten ranking among U.S. M&A advisory firms by Axial.
Partner
Sevan Demirdogen is a Partner at Exit Boston, bringing over 40 years of executive leadership experience managing domestic and international businesses across multiple industries. His distinguished career includes serving as CEO and Board Member of Kano Laboratories, President and Executive Vice President of Scapa Group plc, and senior leadership roles at Illinois Tool Works. Sevan's deep operational background and boardroom experience provide Exit Boston's clients with invaluable insight into what institutional buyers look for in acquisition targets. His perspective helps founder-led businesses identify and address operational gaps, strengthen management structures, and position themselves for premium valuations. Sevan's global experience across North America and international markets makes him a trusted advisor for business owners navigating complex strategic transitions.
Co-Founder
Steve Vesey is Co-Founder of Exit Boston and a seasoned CPA with over 40 years of accounting and financial advisory experience. He has dedicated more than 25 years to preparing business valuations and has assisted hundreds of business owners with succession planning and exit strategy development. Steve's deep expertise in business valuation and exit planning forms a critical foundation of Exit Boston's advisory approach, ensuring that every engagement is grounded in rigorous financial analysis and a clear understanding of value drivers. His ability to assess a business through the eyes of both an accountant and a strategic advisor helps founders understand their true market value and identify opportunities to maximize their outcome prior to a sale or transition.
Partner
David Hockley is a Partner at Exit Boston and a serial entrepreneur and operator with over 15 years of experience scaling high-growth businesses across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East. Having personally driven more than $300 million in sales throughout his career, David brings a rare combination of entrepreneurial hustle and institutional discipline to every client engagement. He specializes in scaling founder-led businesses, preparing companies for strategic exits, and improving institutional buyer readiness. David's firsthand experience building and exiting businesses across diverse geographies gives him a unique ability to empathize with founders while providing the strategic clarity needed to attract competitive acquisition offers from private equity firms, strategic acquirers, and family offices.
Business Development Officer
Mike Camarro serves as Business Development Officer at Exit Boston, where he leverages a strong financial background to support client acquisition and advisory engagements. A former controller and CFO, Mike has extensive experience across retail, distribution, technology, and wealth management industries. He has led finance and accounting teams through the rigors of acquisition due diligence and post-acquisition integration, providing him with practical insight into what buyers scrutinize during a transaction. Mike began his career as an auditor at Coopers & Lybrand, building a disciplined financial foundation that informs his work with founder-led businesses today. His ability to bridge finance, operations, and business development makes him a valuable resource for founders preparing for institutional-quality exits.
Senior Research Analyst
Laura serves as Senior Research Analyst at Exit Boston, playing a vital behind-the-scenes role in every client engagement. She is responsible for delivering comprehensive middle-market industry analysis, competitive landscape mapping, buyer universe identification, precedent transaction research, and target buyer profiling. Her work ensures that Exit Boston's deal strategies are informed by current market intelligence and grounded in a thorough understanding of each client's industry and competitive position. By identifying and profiling the most qualified and motivated buyers for each transaction, Laura helps the firm create the competitive tension necessary to achieve premium acquisition outcomes for the founders it serves.
Chief of Staff & Administrative Director
Abbey serves as Chief of Staff and Administrative Director at Exit Boston, where she is the organizational backbone of the firm's day-to-day operations. With two decades of experience across financial services administration, executive operations, and client engagement management, Abbey brings exceptional professionalism and attention to detail to every interaction. She coordinates client communications, manages engagement pipelines, oversees deal timelines, and ensures the seamless flow of document workflows and client deliverables throughout each transaction. Her deep experience in financial services environments means she understands the sensitivity and precision required in M&A engagements, making her a trusted point of contact for clients navigating complex and high-stakes business transitions.
Director of Transaction Marketing & Investor Relations
Thor serves as Director of Transaction Marketing and Investor Relations at Exit Boston, where he leads the development and execution of the firm's confidential transaction marketing materials. His work includes crafting confidential information memoranda, executive teasers, investor presentations, and institutional transaction marketing campaigns tailored to the specific acquisition criteria of qualified buyers. Thor's expertise in presenting founder-led businesses in an institutional light is central to Exit Boston's ability to attract serious, competitive interest from private equity firms, strategic acquirers, and family offices. His materials are designed to communicate each company's investment thesis with clarity and precision, helping to create the competitive buyer tension that drives premium valuations for the firm's clients.
Assistant Director of Financial Analysis
Finn serves as Assistant Director of Financial Analysis at Exit Boston, providing critical analytical support across the firm's deal advisory engagements. His responsibilities span financial management, cash operations, financial modeling, accounting, and deal advisory analysis, ensuring that each transaction is supported by rigorous and accurate financial work product. Finn's contributions are essential to the preparation of the detailed financial analyses that underpin Exit Boston's valuation work and buyer-facing materials. His attention to detail and commitment to financial precision help ensure that every engagement reflects the institutional-quality standards that the firm's clients expect and that serious buyers demand. Finn plays an important role in supporting the firm's mission of preparing founder-led businesses for premium acquisition outcomes.
The commonly cited five D’s are death, disability, divorce, disagreement, and departure. Each event can disrupt ownership, leadership, cash flow, and decision-making if no plan exists. A succession plan should address how ownership may transfer, who has authority during an unexpected event, how the business will be valued, and how employees, customers, and lenders will be informed and protected.
Speak privately with advisors about your goals, timeline, and transition options.
Ranked among leading M&A advisors nationally.
Recognized for food and beverage M&A.
Featured among leading United States advisors.
Share your objectives confidentially, and our team will help identify practical next steps for your ownership transition.
For immediate assistance, feel free to give us a direct call at 617-EXIT-111 (617-394-8111). You can also send us a quick email at info@exit-boston.com.
For immediate assistance, feel free to give us a direct call at 617-EXIT-111 (617-394-8111). You can also send us a quick email at info@exit-boston.com.