business-value-engineering. – Freeman Logan M&A Brokers Advisors

VALUE CREATION AND VALUE CAPTURE

We build the value in

your business and

capture it in the sale.

Freeman Logan pairs pre-sale value engineering with sell-side M&A advisory for founder-led companies with $10 million to $100 million or more in revenue. We reduce the risks buyers price, then run a deliberate process that raises your bargaining power when offers arrive.

TWO LEVERS SET THE PRICE

Enterprise value

×

The multiple reflects how a buyer prices the risk of owning your business. EBITDA reflects what the business earns. We work both, starting while the multiple can still be changed.

ONE COORDINATED STANDARD

Two practice areas, one standard of proof.

Sell-Side M&A Advisory captures the value in a sale. Business Value Engineering creates it in the years before. Each stands on its own, and they fit together when an owner wants both.

01 VALUE CAPTURE

Sell-Side M&A Advisory

We run the sale. From valuation guidance and the selling story through buyer competition, management presentations, negotiation, and close, with one team accountable for the result.

Valuation guidance scored against the value drivers

The selling story and buyer materials

Buyer competition through tiered, sequenced outreach

Negotiation and effective-value comparison of offers

Diligence management and close

02 VALUE CREATION

Business Value Engineering

We raise what the business is worth before it goes to market, by reducing the risks buyers price, improving earnings, and documenting both as the work happens.

Service line 1. Fractional Executive Services, with the Chief of Staff at the core

Service line 2. Portfolio and Transformation Management

Fifteen value drivers in three pillars guide both service lines

A baseline before the work and results measured against it

A record of results a buyer can inspect

Sell-Side M&A Advisory

Every engagement starts from a measured position.

An owner per workstream

Every initiative has one named person accountable.

Documented results

Recorded as they happen, in the numbers a buyer checks.

Built for a later sale

When a client is ready to sell, that record goes to the deal team and the partners take the file to market.

OUR VIEW

Value is created before the sale and captured during it.

Owners need both. One without the other leaves money on the table.

18 TO 36 MONTHS BEFORE MARKET

Value creation

We measure the risks a buyer will price, rebuild the operations behind the weakest of them, and expand the earnings a buyer will pay for. Each improvement is documented, so a buyer can inspect it and credit it in the price.

THE SALE PROCESS

Value capture

We enter the market with alternatives, timing, and a story that holds under diligence. A deliberate process raises the owner’s negotiating and bargaining power, so the value created shows up in the price and in the terms.

ILLUSTRATIVE MECHANISM

Same EBITDA. A different multiple. A $4 million difference.

A one-turn change in the multiple on $2 million of EBITDA moves enterprise value by $2 million, the same as growing EBITDA by $2 million. Risk is identifiable, measurable, and reducible before you go to market, which makes the multiple a lever an owner can pull.

RISK LEFT UNADDRESSED

$6M

3.0x on $2M EBITDA

RISK REDUCED AND DOCUMENTED

$10M

5.0x on $2M EBITDA

Illustrative only. Actual outcomes depend on the business, the buyer universe, and market conditions.

BUSINESS VALUE ENGINEERING/VALUE CREATION

Fifteen value drivers, three pillars, one plan.

Our Value Management Operating System (VMOS) organizes the work. Risk Reduction engineers the multiple. Growth Acceleration and Profitability Expansion build the earnings. Every initiative starts with a baseline, carries a named owner, and ends with an outcome a third party can inspect.

01 / SIX DRIVES

Risk Reduction

Revenue visibility and contract quality Customer and channel concentration Key-person transferability Financial and reporting quality Legal, compliance, and structural exposure Market and competitive exposure

The primary multiple driver. Each risk resolved lowers the discount rate a buyer applies to your earnings.

02 / FIVE DRIVES

Growth Acceleration

Market position and category definition Demand generation and pipeline engine Distribution and channel partnerships Product and service expansion Revenue quality and retention

The primary EBITDA driver, with a secondary lift to the multiple from a documented growth engine.

03 / FOUR DRIVES

Profitability Expansion

Pricing and revenue realization Delivery efficiency and cost-to-serve Unit economics and customer-level profitability Overhead and operating structure

An EBITDA driver. At an 8x multiple, each $1 million of added EBITDA adds $8 million of exit value.

Business Value Engineering

TWO SERVICE LINES WORK THE FIFTEEN DRIVERS

Fractional Executive Services

Authors and runs the value plan from inside the business. The Chief of Staff scores the fifteen drivers, builds the plan, and owns the operating rhythm, with additional executive expertise added where a driver needs it.

SEE THE SERVICE LINE →

Portfolio and Transformation Management

Runs a plan that already exists. The drivers work as a lens over the sponsor’s or company’s plan, or stay on the shelf when execution capacity is all that is needed. The measurement standard is the same either way.

SEE THE SERVICE LINE →

Our practitioners direct the program and purpose-built AI systems carry out much of the work, alongside your team. The improvement gets done, and it gets documented as it happens.

Directed by practitioners. Delivered by systems.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT MANDATE

Bargaining power is built deliberately, months before the first offer.

An owner negotiates from strength when several qualified buyers want the business, the story holds under diligence, and a credible alternative exists to any single offer. Five disciplines create those conditions.

01 Alternatives

A buyer universe tiered by thesis fit and approved by the owner before outreach begins, so more than one credible buyer is always at the table.

02 Timing

Outreach in waves sequenced so offers arrive together, and the owner compares them side by side.

03 Information

Staged disclosure and a single fact base behind every document, so the story stays consistent from teaser to closing.

04 Evidence

Baselines, named owners, and documented results, so buyers can underwrite the improvement at full value.

05 Terms

Offers compared on effective value, term by term, with counter positions prepared before the letter of intent arrives.

Business Value Engineering

The partner who writes the valuation thesis runs the sale.

Business Value Engineering is led by Cheryl Logan and the sale is led by the partners. The record built during the engagement passes to the deal team at market entry, so a buyer meets one coherent story from first engagement through close, and no junior analyst inherits the file at diligence.

01 Measure

Baseline the risks a buyer will price and the earnings a buyer will normalize.

02 Rebuild

Fix the weakest drivers first, with named owners and documented results.

03 Position

Valuation guidance, the selling story, and the fact base behind every document.

04 Market

Tiered buyer outreach in waves, and management presentations to buyers who fit.

05 Negotiate

Indications and letters of intent compared on effective value and countered term by term.

06 Close

Data room, buyer requests, quality of earnings defense, and definitive agreements.

FRACTIONAL EXECUTIVE SERVICES

Experienced executives inside your business for as long as the work requires.

Improvement programs stall without someone accountable for the operating rhythm. We place senior executives alongside your leadership team, starting with a Chief of Staff and adding specialist expertise where a value driver needs it. Every executive works to the same plan, so priorities turn into results a buyer can see.

THE CORE OF EVERY ENGAGEMENT

Fractional Chief of Staff

A senior operator embedded with the founder and the leadership team. The Chief of Staff turns the value plan into a weekly operating rhythm, keeps every initiative tied to its baseline, owner, and date, and moves decisions out of the owner’s hands and into the organization.

Owners preparing a transition use the role to reduce their own day-to-day load before a buyer asks about it. Sponsor-backed companies use it to hold a portfolio company to its value plan.

01 Strategy and alignment

Translates the owner’s strategy into priorities and OKRs the whole leadership team works from.

02 Operating management

Builds a management cadence the leadership team runs without the owner, and holds every initiative to a baseline, a named owner, and a date

03 Decision support and reporting

Takes the owner out of every approval chain and produces reporting a diligence team can trust.

04 Founder transition

Builds the structure that lets the business run and transfer without its founder, a risk buyers weigh heavily

05 Buyer-ready evidence

Documents results as they happen, so the record is ready when a buyer asks for it.

FRACTIONAL EXECUTIVE SERVICES

The right executive for the gap, when the mandate calls for one

Operations leadership

Delivery efficiency, cost-to-serve, and the processes a buyer will diligence.

SUPPORTS PROFITABILITY EXPANSION

Finance and reporting

Financial and reporting quality, normalized earnings, and a close process a buyer’s accountants will trust.

SUPPORTS RISK REDUCTION

Revenue and growth

Demand generation, pipeline discipline, and a sales process that does not depend on the owner.

SUPPORTS GROWTH ACCELERATION

People and organization

Leadership depth, key-person succession, and the roles a buyer expects to see filled.

SUPPORTS RISK REDUCTION

Technology and data

Systems, process documentation, and the data needed to show results to a third party.

SUPPORTS RISK REDUCTION AND PROFITABILITY

A different gap?

Tell us where the business needs senior leadership, and we will tell you whether we can cover it.

DESCRIBE THE GAP →

FRACTIONAL EXECUTIVE SERVICES

Portfolio and Transformation Management

A focused mandate to lead complex, cross-functional programs across a company or a portfolio of companies. Sponsor-backed businesses use it to hold a plan to its timeline. Mid-market companies use it when a rollout has launched and adoption has stalled.

Some sponsors arrive with a diagnosis and a playbook and need execution capacity. We run the plan as written and bring the same measurement standard, so the investment committee can see what got done and what it was worth.

01 Program office stand-up

Workstream owners, an operating cadence, and risk and dependency tracking.

02 Portfolio governance and prioritization

Decision rights and sequencing across workstreams or across companies.

03 Program and workstream execution

Each workstream runs to a timeline, an owner, and a baselined target.

04 Change management and adoption

Leader coaching and standard work, with adoption metrics reported beside delivery metrics.

05 Performance measurement and value reporting

Results reported to the sponsor or board on a regular schedule, in dollars.

NOT YET READY TO SELL?

Good. That is the best time to start.

The owners who sell best began preparing years earlier. Choose the path that fits how you like to work. Both aim at the same result, a business a buyer can underwrite at full value.

GUIDED, DONE WITH YOU

Business Value Engineering

A partner-led engagement that measures the risks a buyer will price, rebuilds the weakest drivers, and documents the results. Fractional executives can work inside the business to keep the program moving. Best for owners with 18 to 36 months to work with who want the work carried alongside them.

SELF-DIRECTED, AT YOUR PACE

Exit Prep Academy

Structured learning for owners who want to understand what drives value and how a sale process works before committing to either. Work through it on your own schedule, and bring in a partner when you are ready for more. Best for owners earlier in their thinking or who prefer to lead the work themselves.

WHO WE SERVE

Founder-led companies preparing for the right next owner.

Our owners run businesses with $10 million to $100 million or more in revenue. Many are weighing a sale for the first time. Most want to understand what a buyer will pay for, and what will suppress it, before they commit.

Technology and IT services

Telecommunications and cloud

Healthcare services

Construction and building services

Education technology

Marketing and business services

ILLUSTRATIVE MECHANISM

Where the $4M comes from.

ENTERPRISE VALUE

Multiple × EBITDA

STARTING POSITION

$6M

3.0× on $2M EBITDA

VALUE-ENGINEERED POSITION

$10M

4.0× on $2.5M EBITDA

Illustrative mechanism.

+$4M

OUR PARTNERS

The people who build the value and sit across the table from your buyers.

FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER

Russell Logan

Leads the Sell-Side M&A Advisory practice and the value framework behind both practices. Background in telecommunications and cloud services, including corporate development and operating roles at fiber and CLEC businesses.

PARTNER

Mark Sadler

[BIO, TWO SENTENCES ON MARK’S FOCUS AND BACKGROUND]

LEADS BUSINESS VALUE ENGINEERING

Cheryl Logan

Works with owners and investors at the point where strategy has to become operating proof. Leads embedded executive engagements and complex transformation programs.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT MANDATE

Two ways to engage.

✓

Fractional Chief of Staff

Embedded senior support to turn value priorities into an operating rhythm and keep the leadership team aligned.

✓

Portfolio and Transformation Leader

A focused mandate to lead complex, cross-functional value creation across an investment or portfolio company.

THE BUYER’S LENS

Results a buyer can underwrite.

Every workstream begins with a baseline. Every improvement carries a named owner, a time period, and a business outcome a third party can inspect.

Baseline

Before work begins

Named owner

For every initiative

Documented

Inspectable by a third party

EXPERIENCE AT THE TABLE

Cheryl J. Hagen, Partner

Cheryl works with owners and investors at the point where strategy must become operating proof. Her work combines executive judgment, rigorous prioritization, and practical follow-through.

Enterprise value strategy · Transaction readiness · Executive leadership

A DELIBERATE FIT

Who this is for

Owners preparing for a transition

—not necessarily tomorrow, but intentionally.

Private equity teams seeking disciplined value creation across a portfolio company.

Built for measurable progress and an eventual buyer’s scrutiny.

CEOs who want operating improvements to translate into enterprise value.

Built for measurable progress and an eventual buyer’s scrutiny.