Whether you're facing an ownership transition or growing through acquisition, you deserve an experienced team on your side of the table.
From the founder
Large companies take for granted a level of preparation and representation that founder-owned companies rarely receive. I built Cordis to give the owners of founder-led and family companies that same standard.
Ron Smith, Founding Partner
Who we serve
Founder-owned and family-held, from $5 million to $250 million in revenue. The businesses that quietly keep a region working, and the families behind them.
HVAC, plumbing, electrical and the other trades a household calls first.
Learn moreClinical and professional practices where the relationships are the business.
Learn moreMachining, fabrication and components that other industries depend on.
Learn moreInventory, routes and supplier relationships built over decades.
Learn moreFirms whose value sits in their people, their clients and their reputation.
Learn moreCommercial trades with backlog, bonding and crews a buyer has to keep.
Learn moreThe other side of the table
The team behind Cordis built its careers on Wall Street and in private equity, the seats from which companies like yours are underwritten and bought. Ron Smith began in capital formation on Wall Street and went on to advise owners and family offices on their exits at AllianceBernstein. Together the senior team brings more than thirty years of combined experience.
That history is practical. It means knowing the model a buyer builds before the first meeting, the questions a buyer's accountant will raise in diligence, and the points where a price is most often tested after a letter of intent. Each of those is answered in your file before a buyer asks.
The same experience serves owners who are buying. An acquirer is best advised by someone who knows how sellers prepare, what they hold back, and where an asking price has room in it.
What we do
Each engagement is scoped in writing, carried by a named senior advisor, and ends on a date. Preparation stands on its own, and leads to a mandate only when the evidence says it should.
A four-stage sale process weighted to preparation, so diligence is answered from a file that already exists.
Learn moreGrowth by acquisition: a strategy designed with you, a search under the Cordis name, and the first quarter of ownership.
Learn moreTwelve months of preparation: a plan in the first quarter, then finished, diligence-grade work in each quarter after it.
Learn moreSeller notes, earnouts, escrow and the transition, seen through after closing day.
Learn moreA written diagnostic of how each type of buyer would price the company, and what to fix first.
Learn moreFifteen written pages, at no cost: how a buyer would read your company, and what could lower the price.
Learn moreResearch
The Cordis Institute publishes working papers on how companies in the lower middle market are bought, sold and prepared. Each one is dated and open to challenge.
WP-006
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WP-004The team
The people you meet in the first conversation lead the work.
Grew up inside a family HVAC business, then Wall Street capital formation and exit planning at AllianceBernstein. Head of Research at the Cordis Institute.
Full profile
A career on Wall Street, close to capital formation, then businesses of his own. Advises founders and families on growth, ownership transitions and the sale or purchase of a company.
Full profileLeads relationships with owners and families. An entrepreneur and investor with an MBA from New York University.
Full profileQuestions
Owners of founder-led and family companies with roughly $5 million to $250 million in revenue, and owners or investors who are growing by acquisition. Cordis also works alongside the CPAs, estate attorneys and wealth advisors who serve those owners.
No. Many first conversations are with owners who intend to hold for years, or who want to grow by buying. The aim is clarity about the next right step, whatever it turns out to be.
Yes, from the first message, before any engagement letter or NDA exists. Nothing you share is passed to anyone without your permission.
A first conversation and the Value Protection Study are both at no cost. Any engagement after that is scoped and priced in writing before work begins.
Yes, on separate transactions. Cordis represents one side of any transaction, and discloses in writing any situation where its work could touch both.
A named senior advisor carries each engagement from the first call through closing, supported by a team that runs research, diligence and client operations.
The outcome may be a mandate, a study, or the name of someone better suited. A first conversation is at no cost and commits neither side, and a senior member of the firm replies within one business day.
A written read of how a buyer will see your company.