Navigate Your Business Transfer Pathway

A business transfer is more than a change in ownership. It is a pivotal decision for your financial future, your employees, and your legacy. Exit Boston helps middle-market founders assess readiness, strengthen value drivers, identify suitable buyers or transition structures, and negotiate with clarity. Our institutional approach turns a company you run into an asset qualified buyers can understand, value, and compete to acquire.

Business owners reviewing a company transition plan

Our Business Transfer Pathway Services

Structured advisory services that prepare, position, and guide founder-led businesses through meaningful ownership transitions.

M&A Advisory

Guide a sale, recapitalization, or strategic transition with buyer-specific positioning, transaction marketing, competitive outreach, and deal-structure support aligned to your financial and legacy objectives.

Buyer Identification

Research and profile private equity firms, strategic acquirers, and family offices whose acquisition criteria, industry focus, and transaction history fit your business.

Seven Pillars Diagnostic

Assess owner independence, management depth, financial clarity, margin quality, recurring revenue, operating infrastructure and growth pathways to find the actions that improve readiness.

Institutional Readiness

Build a Transfer Plan Buyers Understand

Exit Boston brings an institutional lens to the decisions that shape a successful business transfer. We evaluate how your company operates without founder dependence, clarify growth and financial narratives, and develop a roadmap around your desired timing, liquidity, employee continuity, and legacy. Buyers do not pay for history; they pay for certainty that revenue will hold, that the team will execute, that margins are real, and that the growth they are funding is achievable without you in the room. Preparation is how that certainty gets built.

Advisor presenting a business transfer strategy
The Exit Boston Difference

Why Choose Exit Boston?

Practical transaction guidance grounded in financial, operational, and buyer-market insight.

Institutional Lens

Evaluate founder-led companies against the standards a buyer's investment committee and quality of earnings team apply.

Buyer Intelligence

Research-driven buyer profiling helps align each opportunity with qualified strategic and financial acquirers.

Integrated Expertise

Finance, valuation, operations, research, and transaction marketing capabilities inform every transfer strategy.

Proven Recognition

Ranked first in Massachusetts and second in New England in the Q2 2024 Axial League Table.

Meet the Exit Boston Team

Experienced advisors focused on high-stakes founder transitions.

Portrait of Rick McDonald, Founder and Managing Director of Exit Boston

Rick McDonald

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.

Portrait of Sevan Demirdogen, Partner at Exit Boston

Sevan Demirdogen

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.

Portrait of Steve Vesey, Co-Founder of Exit Boston

Steve Vesey

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.

Portrait of David Hockley, Partner at Exit Boston

David Hockley

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.

Portrait of Mike Camarro, Business Development Officer at Exit Boston

Mike Camarro

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.

Portrait of Laura, Senior Research Analyst at Exit Boston

Laura

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.

Portrait of Abbey, Chief of Staff and Administrative Director at Exit Boston

Abbey

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.

Portrait of Thor, Director of Transaction Marketing and Investor Relations at Exit Boston

Thor

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.

Portrait of Finn, Assistant Director of Financial Analysis at Exit Boston

Finn

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a business transfer?

A business transfer is the process of moving ownership, control, or economic interests in a company from one party to another. It may involve a sale to a strategic buyer, private equity firm, family office, management team, employee group, or family member. A well-planned transfer addresses valuation, financing, tax and legal considerations, governance, employee continuity, and the owner’s desired post-transaction role.

What are the four types of transfer?

When should I start planning a business transfer?

How is my business valued for a transfer?

Who could buy my business?

What information do buyers review during a transaction?

Can I retain ownership after a business transfer?

How confidential is a business transfer consultation?

Why do signed deals fail to close?

Have Questions About Your Next Move?

Speak confidentially with advisors about your ownership-transition goals and options.

Recognized M&A Advisors

Awards and Recognition

2024 Axial Top Advisor recognition

2024 Axial Top Advisor

Number one in Massachusetts, number two in New England.

2025 Axial industry award recognition

2025 Axial Industry Award

Recognized for food and beverage M&A.

2026 Axial Advisor 100 recognition

2026 Axial Advisor 100

Featured among leading U.S. M&A advisors.

Start With a Confidential Conversation

Share your goals and timing. Exit Boston will respond within one business day to discuss your next steps.

Contact Us Today

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.