Exit Planning Advisor for Business Owners

Prepare your company for a transition with Exit Boston’s institutional approach to exit planning. Our advisors help middle-market founders clarify goals, identify value drivers, strengthen buyer readiness, and build a strategy for a sale, recapitalization, or ownership transition. From confidential assessment through buyer positioning, you receive practical guidance designed to protect your legacy and pursue a stronger outcome.

Business owners reviewing an exit strategy

Our Exit Planning Advisor Services

Focused advisory services that prepare founders, businesses, and transaction strategies for successful ownership transitions.

Exit Readiness Diagnostic

Evaluate owner independence, management depth, financial clarity, margins, recurring revenue, systems, and growth through Exit Boston’s Seven Pillars framework, then receive an execution plan focused on institutional buyer readiness and value improvement.

Target Buyer Strategy

Identify and profile private equity firms, strategic acquirers, family offices, and other qualified buyers using industry research, acquisition criteria, competitive analysis, and precedent transaction intelligence.

M&A Advisory

Prepare buyer-specific positioning and investment materials, manage a competitive process, and negotiate transaction structure around valuation, liquidity, rollover, timing, legacy, and continuity priorities.

Institutional Exit Readiness

Build a Business Buyers Value

A successful exit begins well before a company enters the market. Exit Boston helps founders view their businesses through an institutional buyer’s lens, uncovering opportunities to improve financial quality, operational scalability, leadership depth, and the credibility of future growth. The result is a clear, confidential roadmap that connects business improvements with your personal goals for value, timing, liquidity, team continuity, and legacy.

Advisor discussing business exit readiness
The Exit Boston Difference

Why Choose Exit Boston?

Experience-led guidance for founders preparing high-stakes ownership transitions.

Transaction Experience

Leadership brings decades of deal advisory experience across middle-market transactions and strategic transitions.

Institutional Lens

We assess founder-led businesses against the standards sophisticated buyers use to evaluate opportunities.

Buyer Intelligence

Research-driven buyer profiling helps align your company with qualified, strategically relevant acquisition audiences.

Founder Alignment

Transaction strategy reflects your financial priorities, timeline, rollover objectives, legacy, and continuity goals.

Meet the Exit Boston Team

Experienced advisors for complex founder-led business 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 are the five Ds of exit planning?

The five Ds commonly associated with exit planning are death, disability, divorce, disagreement, and distress. These events can force an ownership transition before an owner is prepared. A well-developed exit plan addresses contingencies by documenting objectives, strengthening leadership continuity, clarifying ownership arrangements, and improving financial readiness so the business is better positioned if an unexpected transition becomes necessary.

What does exit planning mean?

When should I begin exit planning?

What does an exit readiness diagnostic evaluate?

How do you identify the right buyer for my business?

Can exit planning help improve company valuation?

What information is kept confidential during a consultation?

Who is a good fit for exit planning advisory?

Still Have Exit Planning Questions?

Speak confidentially with advisors about your goals and options.

Recognized M&A Leadership

Awards and Recognition

2024 Axial Top Advisor recognition

2024 Axial Top Advisor

Ranked first in Massachusetts, tenth nationally

2025 Axial industry award recognition

2025 Axial Industry Award

Food and beverage M&A firm recognition

2026 Axial Advisor 100 recognition

2026 Axial Advisor 100

Featured among leading United States 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.