M&A Advisory

M&A Advisory for Agencies and Creative Firms

Most founders will go through a transaction once. Most M&A advisors or business brokers have never worked inside a creative agency. That gap has a cost: generalist advisors know how to run a process, but they don't know what healthy utilization looks like, why client concentration carries different risk in an agency than in a product business, or why the multiple a founder gets depends more on financial infrastructure than on revenue size. They learn the business during the deal. That's the wrong time to be learning it.

I bring deep fluency in creative services financials, a CPA background, and transaction experience on both sides of the table. I've worked with founders preparing to sell, with acquirers evaluating targets, and with the buyer category most advisors don't see coming: tech consulting firms acquiring creative and content capability they can't build fast enough internally.

The Buyer Landscape

Who's Buying Creative Firms Right Now

The buyer pool for firms in this range is more varied than most founders realize, and each type wants something different. Knowing which type of buyer you're talking to changes what story you tell and what they'll scrutinize first. That's part of what I bring to the process.

$ PE & HOLDCOS
PE Firms & Holding Companies

Consolidating at scale. Will stress-test every number you give them. Financial rigor and clean infrastructure matter enormously here.

$ STRATEGIC
Larger Agencies

Buying capability and client access. Weigh cultural fit alongside the financials. Often looking to expand a service offering or enter a new market.

$ TECH CONSULTING
Tech Consulting Firms

Acquiring creative and content expertise they can't build internally fast enough. One of the most active and least understood buyer categories right now.

Sell Side

If You're Thinking About Selling

Transaction fee or fixed fee

I work with founders who've decided it's time to sell, or who are seriously evaluating whether it is. I manage the full process: assessing the business honestly before a buyer does, closing the gaps that erode value or create deal risk, building the financial narrative that tells the story of the business accurately and compellingly, running outreach to the right buyer categories, and vetting potential acquirers so you're spending time with buyers who are serious, qualified, and the right fit.

That last point matters more than most founders expect. Not every interested buyer is the right buyer. I bring the market knowledge to tell the difference early — before you've invested time, exposed sensitive financial information, or spent months on a deal that was never going to close.

Who it's for

Founders who are ready to go to market, or actively evaluating whether a transaction makes sense.

Why preparation matters

Founders who go through the Exit Readiness Program before entering a transaction are in a meaningfully different position than founders who bring in an advisor after a buyer has already shown interest. The preparation is the advantage that pays off in the transaction.

Buy Side

If You're Evaluating an Acquisition

Transaction fee or fixed fee

I work with acquiring agencies, holding companies, and tech consulting firms evaluating creative services targets. Because I actively work the sell side of this market, I bring buyer intelligence a purely advisory relationship can't replicate. I know what sellers are preparing, what gaps they have, and what the financial story looks like before it gets packaged for a buyer audience.

The question I answer isn't whether the process was run correctly. It's whether the financial story the target is telling is accurate, what the numbers mean for a creative services business, and where the risks are that a generalist advisor wouldn't catch. Client concentration, revenue quality, utilization patterns, scope creep buried in the P&L, overhead allocation that obscures true department profitability — these are the variables that determine whether an acquisition creates value or destroys it.

Who it's for

Agencies, PE firms, holding companies, and tech consulting firms acquiring creative services capability. For acquirers actively building through acquisition, this can be an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time transaction engagement.

The CPA advantage

As a CPA, I go deeper into the financials than most M&A advisors in this space are equipped to. The variables that determine whether an acquisition creates value or destroys it are often buried — and I know where to look.

How M&A Connects to the Rest of the Work

A founder who comes to me for M&A guidance and finds out the business isn't transaction-ready has two options. Go to market and accept what the market gives you. Or spend 12 to 24 months closing the gaps, building the financial infrastructure, and entering the transaction from a position of genuine strength. Founders who choose the second path consistently get better outcomes — not because the process was different, but because the business was different when they went to market.

That's the throughline in everything I do. Whether you're three years from a potential exit or three months, the work is the same: build a business that runs well, generates real profit, and tells a financial story that holds up under scrutiny. The transaction, if and when it comes, is the proof that it worked.

Case Study
Case Study

From Financial Chaos to a Successful Sale

A independent creative firm with significant revenue but no financial clarity came to me with reports that existed but told them nothing useful. Over the course of the engagement, I rebuilt the financial infrastructure from the ground up, aligned the team around real numbers instead of gut feel, and closed the gaps that would have eroded value in a sale process.

When the business went to market, the financial story held up under buyer scrutiny because we'd already stress-tested it ourselves. The result was a sale that reflected what the business was worth, not a discounted version of it.

Anonymized at the founder's request.

Whether you're selling, buying, or just starting to think about it

Let's talk through where you are and what the right next step looks like.

Talk to Kathleen

30 minutes · No obligation · Kathleen responds personally