At what point on our multi-year exit runway should we engage our deal advisory team, and how do we manage them without derailing our quarterly operational priorities?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Hiring deal professionals at the wrong stage of your exit runway wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars and distracts your leadership team from hitting their quarterly targets. Building an advisory team requires deliberate sequencing.

Twenty-four to thirty-six months out, assemble your core foundational advisors: a specialized M&A transaction attorney, a seasoned quality-of-earnings CPA firm, and a fee-only personal wealth planner. Do not use your general corporate counsel or standard tax accountant for this work. You need professionals who evaluate mid-market balance sheets and purchase agreements every single week.

Their early mandate is diagnostic. The CPA tests your EBITDA quality, audits add-backs, and helps transition your books to clean accrual standards. The transaction attorney audits corporate governance, minute books, cap table mechanics, and employment agreements to identify toxic liabilities.

Do not hire an investment banker or M&A intermediary until you are twelve to eighteen months away from entering the market. If you bring an intermediary in too early, they will push you toward an immediate sale process before your operational foundation is fully optimized.

To prevent deal preparation from paralyzing your day-to-day business, assign your Integrator or Chief Financial Officer to serve as the single point of contact for external advisors. Create a dedicated quarterly Rock for due diligence preparation so deal tasks remain visible on your leadership team agenda without infecting your weekly Level 10 Meeting cadence.