Taking our own Advice
Our very first client was a man named Ernie. He had built a national consulting firm in the medical device space. Prior to our involvement, Ernie had been approached to sell his business. Like many M&A deals, it fell apart before going too far, but it planted a seed in the heads of Ernie and his partner.
The firm had been very successful. But the two partners had been living too much in the present and had not really thought about the business having an exit value. We met through a mutual acquaintance in banking, and our firm was engaged in early 1999 to help them think about how to build the company in size and value. After working with us, the firm doubled in size within a year and then was finally sold a couple of years after that.
Thus began two strong threads in our practice that continue to this day. The first is building value and growth for private companies. The second is using intangible assets to drive tangible results. These threads are probably familiar to you if you have been a subscriber to Trekking for a while.
As often happens in knowledge businesses, each of our partners began to specialize. Michael has done more and more work as a consultant and coach to private business owners. He is also one of the founders of the highly successful Exit Planning Exchange, an organization whose goal is to better prepare advisors to help owner-managed businesses plan for successful exit. Mary has focused on helping our clients to measure, manage and monetize their intellectual capital. She has helped found an informational website and has developed a world-wide following through her blogs and networking.
Today, we as entrepreneurs are facing the same challenging economy that you face in your own business. Over the summer, we encouraged our readers to prepare for this coming down cycle. We also told the story of a business that made changes during the last downturn that prepared it for a new and better level of performance coming out of the recession.
After a number of conversations, we decided to take our own advice. To make it easier for each of us to continue to develop in our chosen specialty, we have decided that now is the right time to spin off our intellectual capital practice into a separate company.
Although we will each own shares in both companies, Michael will lead Trek Consulting and focus on the growth, sustainability and transferability of privately-held companies. Visit Trek’s website www.trekconsulting.com.
Our new company, Intellectual Capital Advisors, will be led by Mary and will be focused on helping companies innovate and grow through effective intangibles management. Visit ICA’s new website www.i-capitaladvisors.com.
We believe that these changes will enable us to tell our story more effectively in the marketplace and to help our clients with two key trends that will survive the current economic challenges—the need for baby boomers to monetize their business ownership and the need for all companies to be more effective in managing the knowledge assets that will drive the next wave of growth in our economy.
This isn’t a goodbye. It’s an invitation to continue joining us on a trek to an unknown but (we think), promising future. We look forward to trekking with you for many years to come. 2008
