Quality of Earnings · Embedded CFO & Operating Partner · Indiana

We prove what a business earns. And how to make it worth more.

Operator-grade Quality of Earnings and diligence when a deal is on the table, buy-side or sell-side. An embedded CFO and operating partner when you want the business running without you and worth more, whether or not you ever sell. We started as operators, and we do the work with you. Indiana-first, in the work statewide.

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100+
Business sales reviewed, buyer’s side
$3M–$30M
Revenue businesses we serve
Indiana-Rooted
Statewide reach
Fixed-fee or retainer
Equity or value-based pricing considered
Start Where You Are

Tell us where you are.

I want to sell my business
Now or down the road. Get buyer-ready and protect your price, whether that is in two years, ten, or you need to move soon.
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I want to grow it and get it running without me
A CFO and operating partner in the seats, so it runs on systems and a team, and the cash and numbers are finally under control.
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I need to raise capital or get a loan
Get raise-ready for investors, or bankable for an SBA or bank loan, before your first meeting.
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I want to buy a business or invest
Know what you are really buying, and get an operator who can help run it after the close.
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I want to refer a client
Broker, CPA, lender, or advisor? We do the deal work, keep you in the loop, and hand the client back to you.
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Two Ways To Work With Us

Start with a project. Grow into a partnership.

One firm, one standard of work, two ways in. Most clients meet us on a single project, a deal, a model, a readiness review, then keep us in the seat once they see how we work.

Deal Services · Fixed-fee

When a deal or a decision is on the table

Defined-scope, fixed-fee projects you can hand us and get back fast. Operator-grade, independent, and built for the lower-middle-market deals bigger firms pass on.

  • Quality of Earnings, buy-side or sell-side
  • Sell-Side Readiness Review before you list
  • Customer-reference and concentration diligence
  • Capital and lender readiness
See deal services
Embedded · Ongoing

When you want it worth more, for the long haul

A CFO and an operating partner in the seats with you: clean numbers, a team that can run it, and the systems that make it worth more when you sell.

  • Embedded CFO Partner and Operating Partner
  • The operating system and cadence
  • Exit readiness, years before you sell
  • Equity or value-based pricing considered
See the embedded model
QoE is the way in. Embedded is what you grow into.
Deal Services

A deal or a decision on the table? We do the diligence.

Fixed-fee, independent, and fast. Operator-grade Quality of Earnings and the diligence a buyer, seller, or lender actually needs. We tell you what a buyer will find, and we hand the client back.

Quality of Earnings

The buyer’s-eye read on whether the earnings are real, tied to the bank and pressure-tested. Buy-side or sell-side.

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Sell-Side Readiness

Find and fix what a buyer will flag before you list, so you protect your price and the deal does not die in diligence.

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Buy-Side Diligence

Know what you are really buying before you sign, including the calls to the top customers most reports skip.

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Red-Flag Review

A fast, pre-offer screen that flags the deal-breakers before you spend on a full review. Screening several deals? Start here.

Learn more →
The Value Gap

Same profit. Very different price.

Two businesses can earn the same profit and sell for very different prices. A business that runs through the owner tends to trade nearer 3 to 4 times profit. A lower-risk, buyer-ready one commonly trades at 5 to 6 times, sometimes more. The difference is not the profit. It is the risk a buyer sees. We close that gap on purpose. A buyer-ready business gets bought on your terms. The rest get sold on the buyer’s, or do not sell at all.

~$3.6M–$4.8M
3–4× profit
Runs through
the owner
The Value Gapwhat the work is worth
~$6M–$7.2M
5–6× profit
Buyer-ready
Same business. About $1.2M in profit, either way.
Common lower-middle-market ranges. Every business differs. Illustrative, never guaranteed.
The Free Foundation Check

See where your business stands. In about ten minutes.

Answer a few questions and get your Bedrock Score: how your business rates on the five things a buyer prices, and the one weak link worth fixing first. Free, about ten minutes, and yours to keep.

A · Clean numbers B · Runs without you C · Leadership bench D · Market & product E · Deal-ready
Take your free Bedrock Score
The Problem

Sound familiar?

If you, or your key person, were gone Monday, what would the next 90 days look like? The honest answer is usually where the value gap starts.

The business runs through you

Owner-dependency is the single biggest driver of a valuation discount. It is also the most fixable, quarter by quarter.

A deal is on the table and the numbers have to hold

Deals do not die on price. They die in diligence, when a buyer’s team finds something you were not ready to explain.

You’re a few years out and not ready

Most owners get deal advice once the LOI is signed. By then the value is set and the leverage is gone.

You keep hearing “not yet” on capital

Usually it is not the business. It is the package. We build the numbers and the story before your first meeting.

The Embedded Model

An operating partner and a CFO. In the business with you.

Plenty of people will advise you from the sidelines. We get in and do the work. Two operators, working as one, plus the systems and the cadence that make it run. The next decade in the lower middle market is about the operator, not financial engineering.

Operating Partner

The seat that drives the value. The plan, the weekly rhythm, the right people in the right roles, and a business that runs on more than the owner. Jared-led.

CFO Partner

The seat a buyer checks first. Clean monthly close, a 13-week cash view, the numbers behind every decision, and books that survive diligence. Ryan-led.

AI & Systems, quietly

The quiet enabler, delivered through trusted partners. It handles the repetition so our people spend time on judgment. You own your data. No lock-in.

See the operating system and how we engage
How It Works

Start small. No long engagement to find out if we fit.

01

Book a call

Tell us about the business or the deal. We tell you where the numbers stand and what a buyer would look for first. No charge, no pitch.

02

Scope and fixed quote

One tier, one fixed fee, quoted up front after a short scoping call. You know the number before you commit.

03

We do the work

We prove the earnings, or get the business ready, and hand you a report and databook that hold up in diligence.

04

Grow into a partnership

Many clients keep us on as their CFO and operating partner once they see how we work. Never required.

Prefer to explore first? Take your free Bedrock Score and see where your business stands in about ten minutes.

The Work, In Practice

What changes when we get in the numbers.

Caught roughly $200,000 of add-backs a buyer would have rejected, before the LOI. At a 6x multiple, that is more than $1.2M of price protected.

Sell-side Quality of EarningsIllustrative of the work, not a specific client result

Reference calls to the top customers surfaced a concentration risk the books did not show, so the buyer went in with eyes open instead of getting blindsided after the close.

Buy-side diligenceIllustrative of the work, not a specific client result

Cleaned up the monthly close and built a 13-week cash view, so an owner who was profitable but always short finally knew where the money went.

Embedded CFOIllustrative of the work, not a specific client result
In Their Words

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Request a sample QoE See more of the work
Straight Talk

We’ll shoot straight. Even when it costs us the work.

We will give you a straight answer, including when you are not ready, or when a structure someone is pitching you is wrong for your business. We are independent: on a deal we work for you, and we do not stay on unless you ask. We are not brokers or investment bankers. We get the business ready and work alongside the advisor who runs your sale.

The Team

You’re hiring Jared and Ryan.

A CFA operator and a CPA who has run more than 100 buyer-side reviews. One proves the numbers are real; the other tells you whether they will hold, and what to fix.

Jared Luegers
Jared Luegers, CFA
Founder & Operating Partner

Builder by instinct, operator by track record, investor by training. Has run operations through a $200M sale and helped acquire and run a small Indiana business. Founder of OWN Indiana, a 100-plus member network for Indiana owner-operators. From Jasper, Indiana.

Ryan Anoskey
Ryan Anoskey, CPA
CFO Partner

Finance-first operator. More than 100 buyer-side Quality of Earnings reviews delivered, with transaction and valuation experience at Blue & Co. and Crowe, and operating time at Roche. From Evansville, Indiana.

Straight Answers

Questions people actually ask.

Do I have to sign up for an ongoing engagement?

No. Most people start with a single, fixed-fee deal service, a Quality of Earnings or a readiness review. If it makes sense to keep us on as your CFO and operating partner afterward, we can. It is never required.

Are you independent?

Yes. On a deal we work for you and only you, and we do not stay on unless you ask us to. On sell-side work we never take the listing, and we hand the client back to their advisor. Our read only helps if it is honest, so we show the add-backs we reject.

Isn’t this my CPA’s or my broker’s job?

Different jobs. Your CPA reports the past. Your broker runs the sale. We prove and build the value in between, and we work alongside both. We are not brokers or investment bankers.

What will it cost?

Deal services are fixed-fee, scoped to your deal, with one number quoted up front after a short call. No public rate card, no surprises. Embedded work is a monthly engagement.

Who is this not for?

Pre-revenue startups, and owners who just want bookkeeping or steady-state back-office help. We will point you somewhere better.

See all questions

51.7% of Indiana owners are 55 or older, and about $207B of state output rides on them. Most are not ready. The ones who get ready early get bought, not sold.Indiana Business Research Center, IU Kelley, 2026.

Indiana limestone built the most enduring structures in America.

We are building Indiana’s most enduring businesses. Send us a deal or a decision. We will scope it, price it, and tell you the truth, fast.

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