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Helping Business Owners Launch, Grow, and Exit.
Cornerstone guides entrepreneurs through high-stakes business sales, certified valuations, and strategic exits. Blending hands-on entrepreneurial ownership with Certified Exit Planning (CExP™) and Business Certified Appraisals (BCA), we maintain an industry-leading 97% transaction closing success rate.
Upfront Deal Underwriting
Most business brokerage listings fail due to late-stage diligence surprises, unverified discretionary add-backs, or un-bankable asking prices. At Cornerstone, we resolve these vulnerabilities before entering the market.
- Pre-Market Diligence: Tax reconciliation & normalized earnings models.
- Lender Pre-Approval: SBA 7(a) financing structured in advance.
- Virtual Data Room: Complete CBR documentation ready for qualified suitors.
- Objective Valuation: Realistic Most Likely Sales Price (MLSP) targets.
Our Approach: Institutional Rigor Meets Entrepreneurial Empathy
Cornerstone operates as an embedded strategic advisory partner rather than a passive transactional broker. We protect confidentiality, defend deal value, and align personal and financial outcomes.
Traditional business brokerages suffer from a 70–80% transaction failure rate because listings enter the market without deep financial scrutiny. Cornerstone conducts comprehensive upfront due diligence—normalizing EBITDA against filed corporate tax returns, pre-qualifying acquisition debt with partner SBA lenders, and preparing auditable virtual data rooms before launching blind marketing. By eliminating financial ambiguity early, buyer and lender due diligence proceeds smoothly to close.
1. Normalized Financial Modeling
Every discretionary add-back, non-recurring expense, and owner perk is rigorously verified against IRS returns to prove defensible Adjusted EBITDA.
Learn about Quality of Earnings →2. Lender Pre-Qualification
We partner with premier commercial and SBA 7(a) lenders to underwrite acquisition capacity prior to marketing, verifying that buyers can fund the transaction.
Explore Deal Financing →3. Strict Confidentiality Protocols
No identifying information is ever disclosed without a fully executed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and thorough preliminary buyer qualification.
Review Our NDA Safeguards →Advisory Services Engineered for Every Stage of the Business Lifecycle
From strategic pre-sale value building to certified valuations and high-stakes M&A representation, Cornerstone delivers end-to-end guidance.
Business Brokerage & M&A
Sell-side advisory for lower-middle-market companies generating $1M to $25M in revenue. We orchestrate blind marketing campaigns, manage competitive LOI bidding, and oversee closing.
Brokerage Details →Quality of Earnings (QoE)
Comprehensive historical earnings verification, working capital peg modeling, and customer concentration analysis. Crucial under new SBA SOP 50 10 8 mandates for $3M+ deals.
QoE Analysis Details →Business Appraisals & Valuations
Objective valuation reports by Dallas Romanowski, BCA (Business Certified Appraiser). We deliver both USPAP-compliant Full Appraisals and agile Opinions of Value (OOV).
Valuation Tiers →Strategic Exit Planning
Proprietary 6-component exit planning led by Chip Mayo, CExP™ (Certified Exit Planner). We calculate personal wealth gaps, de-risk operations, and build multi-year transition roadmaps.
Exit Planning Roadmap →Executive Leadership Coaching
Organizational alignment, management succession preparation, and key employee retention structures that transform founder-dependent firms into autonomous, transferable assets.
Leadership Coaching →Specialized Sector Practices
Dedicated M&A teams for Home Health & Senior Care, Software & SaaS, Media & Publishing, Professional Services, and Skilled Trade Sectors.
Explore Focus Industries →The 7-Step Sales Process: A Structured 5–12 Month Timeline
Selling a business is a high-stakes, multi-disciplinary transaction. Our proven 7-step process guides founders from confidential discovery to funded closing.
Introduction
Discovery meeting to evaluate personal objectives, financial expectations, timeline constraints, and mutual advisory fit.
Opinion of Value
Rigorous review of 3–5 years of balance sheets, P&Ls, and tax returns to model the Most Likely Sales Price (MLSP) and normalized EBITDA.
Alignment
Confirming owner willingness to proceed at supportable valuations, defining target buyer criteria, and establishing confidentiality guidelines.
Deal Preparation
Constructing the secure virtual data room, authoring the detailed Confidential Business Review (CBR), and drafting blind marketing teasers.
Selling & Vetting
Blind marketing to proprietary buyer databases, vetting candidate financial capability, executing NDAs, scoring suitors, and negotiating LOIs.
Due Diligence
Granting vetted buyer access to data rooms, tracking formal Q&A, updating TTM performance, and managing third-party lender underwriting.
Closing
Finalizing definitive asset/stock purchase agreements, coordinating escrow and lender financing packages, executing transition plans, and wire confirmation.
Representative Transactions & Value Transformations
Our track record spans complex private equity recaps, internal partner buyouts, and rapid venture-backed software acquisitions.
Filmwerks International
Global leader in temporary broadcast power and staging for high-profile events (Super Bowl, US Open Tennis, PGA Championships, Presidential Debates). Co-founders Michael Satrazemis and Susan McLean sought to de-risk personal net worth.
Cornerstone structured competitive negotiations with private equity suitors, closing a majority equity recapitalization while enabling founders to retain valuable rollover equity.
Flores & Foley Roofing
Premier coastal roofing contractor operated for over 20 years by co-founders Peter Foley and Rene Flores. Peter Foley wished to retire, while Rene Flores sought to expand the enterprise.
Cornerstone established a mathematically sound company valuation, negotiated friendly buyout terms, and structured seller financing, protecting a 20-year friendship and company continuity.
WorkDove.com / Performance Culture
Innovative HR Technology performance management software application co-founded by Dallas Romanowski, built entirely on scalable low-code architecture.
Rapidly accelerated recurring ARR metrics, orchestrated a multi-bidder auction process, and delivered substantial financial returns to founding investors within 5 years.
“Acme” Property Management
High-growth vacation rental company suffering from manual reservations, escalating HR compliance burdens, and disorganized cash-basis accounting.
Implemented automated PMS software, transitioned HR to a PEO, and installed GAAP accrual accounting with real-time operational scorecards, positioning the company as a prime acquisition target.
Founded by Entrepreneurs. Governed by Certified Experts.
Every Cornerstone advisor brings direct ownership and C-suite operating experience to your transaction.
Dallas Romanowski
Serial founder, author, and Business Certified Appraiser. Advised on 30+ M&A transactions with prior corporate leadership at IBM and Accenture.
View Full Biography →
Chip Mayo
Certified Exit Planner with over two decades guiding ownership transitions, executive portfolio strategy, and tech M&A roadmaps.
View Full Biography →
Brian Smith
Former President & COO of Cole National ($1.1B retail enterprise) and co-founder of Life Equity ($1.0B in institutional capital from Berkshire Hathaway & JP Morgan).
View Full Biography →
Susan McLean, MSA
Co-founder of Filmwerks International, leading financial due diligence through its equity sale to Seaport Capital and carveout to Sunbelt Rentals.
View Full Biography →Frequently Asked Questions
Direct, honest guidance on transaction mechanics, valuation methodologies, and advisory fees.
In traditional business brokerage, listings are posted with unverified financials. When buyers and lenders conduct late-stage diligence, they discover discrepancies in cash flow, taxes, or customer concentration, resulting in deals falling apart. Cornerstone conducts complete financial reconciliation and lender pre-qualification before marketing, ensuring that the company brought to market will withstand exhaustive institutional scrutiny.
An Opinion of Value (OOV) is a cost-effective, advisor-prepared estimate designed for internal strategic planning, benchmarking, and establishing asking prices. A Full Business Appraisal is a formal, USPAP-compliant document signed by a certified appraiser (such as Dallas Romanowski, BCA), mandated for IRS tax filings, SBA acquisition financing, estate planning, and legal dispute resolution.
Under SBA SOP 50 10 8 and 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, Small Business Administration lenders financing acquisitions of $3.0M or higher are mandated to commission an independent QoE report. Sellers who complete pre-market QoE engagements eliminate surprises, establish clear working capital benchmarks, and prevent lender re-trading or cancellations.
We market all listings blindly—never naming your business, exact address, or identifying client relationships in public channels. Prospective buyers are thoroughly vetted for liquid capital and industry capability, and must execute a binding Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before receiving our Confidential Business Review (CBR) or access to our encrypted data room.
Ideally, exit planning begins 3 to 5 years prior to your desired retirement or transition date. This provides sufficient runway to eliminate founder dependencies, convert erratic revenue into contractually recurring ARR, clean balance sheets, and build autonomous middle management that commands premium valuation multiples.
Ready to Discover the True Value of Your Enterprise?
Whether you are preparing for a near-term acquisition or mapping out a 5-year exit plan, our Managing Partners are available for a strictly confidential consultation.