The services we offer span the entrepreneurial cycle from pre-purchase to post-sale. We help entrepreneurs acquire and grow businesses while concurrently helping them plan for a successful exit. Regardless of whether the planned exit is through transfer of ownership to insiders (family members, key employees, workforce via ESOP) or by sale to a third-party, we can plan and implement the desired outcome.
The scope, design and implementation of our services are unique. Their coordinated application provides our clients with exceptional value and benefits. Our team features an exceptional range and depth of talent, experience and education. The professions represented include: business, law, accounting, engineering, psychology and executive coaching. We know of no other firm serving the needs of SMEs that can offer this full range of high-level, enterprise and exit planning coupled with the ability to affect the eventual transaction.
Success in the world of business requires a solid plan backed by the right human and capital resources. Our staff and suite of services address all three elements.
Enterprise and Exit Planning
Plans must be written in order to be actionable. They should capture the best thinking of experts from a range of professional backgrounds to achieve the highest potential value. Plans must be built on objective facts to be meaningful. Actual value however requires implementation.
Our strategic advisory and exit planning services share these underpinnings. We work with your advisors and supplement them with our own staff to form a team of professionals with all the skills required to assure you the best outcome. Business valuation is an essential set of facts that we bring into any engagement. Our knowledge in this field is not hypothetical or academic. Our valuations are routinely tested by the market through the transaction side of our business.
Human Capital
It is our belief that true entrepreneurs are born, not made. Our Credentialing® process helps people determine if they are getting on the right bus. If business ownership is right for them, the process gives them the tools necessary for success.
Our licensed psychologist and executive coach guides decision making across the full range of the entrepreneurial cycle. Family businesses present unique challenges that are often best resolved with the help of such a highly qualified professional. Assessment and development of management is critical for building business performance and value. The life transition inherent in retirement can often be enhanced with professional support for the entrepreneur, spouse and key employees.
Financial Capital
Washington DC has recently thrown countless billions of dollars at banks and too-big-to-fail dinosaurs. Little or none of that capital is available to SMEs for whom the capital markets remain virtually closed.
Our merchant banking capability can help provide capital when or as needed. We may co-invest as a means of enticing other capital into a deserving business opportunity. Our main office is in the Chicago Board of Trade Building at the foot of LaSalle Street. This is the heart of Chicago’s Financial District. We are a short walk from the offices of most Midwestern banks and private equity groups.
Our website has a wealth of information in a variety of formats (white papers, videos, etc). You are invited to browse and hope you find value. We are pleased to discuss your needs relating to entrepreneurship; whatever those might be. Call us at 312-212-8046 or contact us by email at info@brokerchicago.com




