Strategic Transaction Advisory Services and Restructuring

Exit Boston helps middle-market founders and private business owners evaluate strategic transactions, strengthen institutional readiness, and navigate ownership change with clarity. From preparing a company for sale or recapitalization to structuring shareholder transitions, our team brings financial, operational, and buyer-focused insight to every decision. Buyers do not pay for history. They pay for certainty that revenue will hold, that the team will execute, and that margins are real. Preparation is how that certainty gets built.

Business owners reviewing a transaction strategy

Our Transaction Advisory Services

Focused guidance for founders navigating sales, ownership transitions, restructuring, and institutional buyer readiness.

M&A Advisory

Prepare, position, and market your company for a sale, recapitalization, or strategic transition. We develop buyer-specific materials, run competitive processes, negotiate structure, and align the transaction with your financial and legacy priorities.

Exit Readiness Diagnostic

Evaluate owner independence, management depth, financial clarity, margin quality, recurring revenue, operating infrastructure and growth pathways through the Seven Pillars. Receive a confidential execution plan designed to strengthen institutional readiness and improve value before a transaction.

Shareholder Advisory

Navigate internal ownership transfers, succession planning, and corporate restructuring with clear financial guidance. We help majority shareholders assess alternatives, structure transactions, and execute transitions that support continuity and long-term objectives.

Institutional Buyer Readiness

Build Value Before the Transaction

A successful transaction starts well before outreach to buyers. Exit Boston helps founders assess the factors institutional acquirers examine, from financial quality and scalable operations to leadership depth and credible growth opportunities. Our advisory work turns those findings into a practical roadmap, tailored positioning, and a transaction strategy that supports valuation, liquidity, continuity, and legacy goals. The alternative is well documented: in 2025, diligence findings and disagreements over EBITDA together caused 46.6% of broken letters of intent.

Advisor presenting business exit strategy
The Exit Boston Difference

Why Choose Exit Boston?

Experienced guidance for complex decisions that shape your company’s next chapter.

Transaction Experience

Decades of deal, valuation, finance and operational experience. Ranked first in Massachusetts, Q2 2024 Axial League Table.

Buyer Perspective

We evaluate businesses through an institutional lens: the standards a buyer's investment committee applies before it will fund an offer.

Founder Alignment

Deal strategy considers liquidity, timing, rollover, employee continuity, culture, and legacy objectives from the outset.

New England Insight

Based in Danvers, we understand the region’s founder-led middle-market companies and industry landscape.

Meet the Exit Boston Team

Experienced advisors focused on your most consequential business transition.

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 transaction advisory services?

Transaction advisory services provide strategic and financial guidance for business owners considering a sale, recapitalization, ownership transfer, acquisition, or restructuring. The work can include evaluating readiness, analyzing value drivers, preparing financial and marketing materials, identifying qualified counterparties, structuring terms, and coordinating a competitive process. The objective is to help an owner make informed decisions and pursue a transaction aligned with financial, operational, and legacy priorities.

What is the difference between M&A advisory and business brokerage?

When should I begin preparing my company for a sale?

What does the Seven Pillars diagnostic evaluate?

How do you identify potential buyers for a business?

Can you help with an internal shareholder transition?

What types of companies does Exit Boston advise?

Is my information kept confidential during a consultation?

Why do transactions fail after the LOI?

Ready to Discuss Your Next Move?

Speak privately with experienced advisors about your business transition options.

Recognized M&A Leadership

Awards and Recognition

2024 Axial Top Advisor recognition

2024 Axial Top Advisor

Ranked first in Massachusetts, top ten nationally.

2025 Axial industry award recognition

2025 Axial Industry Award

Recognized for food and beverage M&A leadership.

2026 Axial Advisor 100 recognition

2026 Axial Advisor 100

Featured among leading United States M&A advisors.

Start With a Confidential Conversation

Share your goals and timeline. Our team will respond within one business day to discuss the appropriate 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.