Everything you want to know
before you join.

Five Experts is the coordinated system for the Great Ownership Transfer: a membership for people buying, running, and eventually exiting businesses, typically $1M to $5M in EBITDA. It combines a command center, 30+ expert categories, a member community, live monthly sessions, and playbooks organized around the five phases of the ownership journey.

Phase 01 Aspiration & Preparation, Phase 02 Search & Sourcing, Phase 03 Deal Structure & Financing, Phase 04 Ownership & Value Creation, and Phase 05 Succession & Exit. Every part of the system, from expert categories to live sessions, is organized around them.

Buyers preparing for or actively pursuing an acquisition, owners already operating one, and independent sponsors who back operators. If you intend to lead the business you acquire, in the seat or behind it, this is built for you.

Most of what exists for buyers is a point solution: a course, a coach, a directory, a lender. Five Experts is a coordinated system that runs the whole journey, from before the first search through succession and exit. It puts three things around every deal: 30+ vetted expert categories matched to your phase, a command center and playbooks for the work itself, and a curated community of peers and experts. Engagements are one-on-one at each expert’s listed rate, membership is $295 a month, and you can cancel anytime.

Accelerators center on the acquisition and end near the close. Five Experts is an ongoing operating system for the whole lifecycle, from preparation through exit, at $295 a month rather than a five-figure program fee.

No. Five Experts is not a broker and does not list businesses. Phase 02 of the system is built to run your search instead: deal sourcing specialists, buy-side brokers, a broker CRM, and outreach discipline, so deal flow comes from the market and the system tracks every conversation.

No, and be wary of anyone who does. What we control is the system around you: vetted experts at each phase, tools that keep the search honest, and peers who have done it. Some members conclude the right move is not to buy, and a clear no is a good outcome too.

Members typically buy businesses with $1M to $5M in EBITDA, across industries: services, distribution, manufacturing, home services, healthcare, and more. The system is organized around the phase you are in, not the industry you choose.

At any phase. Most members join in Phase 1 or 2, before or during the search, but the system is built for entry at any point: under LOI, in your first year of ownership, or years in and planning an exit. And when the cycle resets for the next deal, the system is already in place.

Yes. Phase 05 of the system, Succession and Exit, is built for owners preparing to sell: exit planning advisors, business valuation specialists, sell-side M&A advisors, and tax, wealth, and succession planning, coordinated years before the market ever asks, because the best exits are built early. And if you want to step back without selling, CEO placement can put a proven operator in the business instead.

Your dashboard is private to you: deal data, pipeline, notes, documents in the vault, and messages are visible only to your account, and nothing from your dashboard is posted anywhere. In community spaces you control what you share, and expert engagements are one-on-one, with confidentiality expectations built into engaging. The full details live in our privacy policy and terms.

Your member dashboard and profile, the community, the resource library, the monthly orientation session, and one free expert intake call: a diagnostic, not a sales call. You see the whole system from inside the dashboard; full membership unlocks the command center, the playbooks, and coordinated access to the expert bench.

Everything in free, plus the full command center, every live session on the calendar, the complete playbook and template library, and coordinated access to the expert bench across all five phases.

Full membership is $295 per month or $2,950 per year. Free membership is free.

No. Membership renews automatically and can be canceled anytime from your membership page or by emailing Team@FiveExperts.com.

No equity, ever, and no success fees on your deals. Membership is a flat subscription. The one exception is CEO placement, a separate sponsor-side service, where the fee is 10% of first-year base salary, due only at placement.

Membership includes coordinated access to the bench: we help you find the right expert for the phase you are in. Engagements run hourly, project-based, or retainer, including LOI and deal review, and are booked and paid separately at each expert’s listed rate.

30+ categories across the five phases: diligence, quality of earnings, M&A legal, SBA financing, fractional CFOs, operations, marketing, HR, technology, exit planning, and more.

We provide capital-stack guidance and connections to SBA lenders and M&A attorneys from the network. Five Experts is not a lender and does not arrange investment.

A 30-minute diagnostic with the team: where you are in the journey, what the next phase demands, and which experts fit. It is not a sales call, and it is free for every member.

Ownership is the longest phase, and it is where the system runs deepest: the 100-Day Plan, a weekly operating rhythm, a fractional bench across twelve categories, peers in the same year, and playbooks for the operating work. Support runs through succession and exit, not just to close.

Yes. Expert engagements are direct and one-on-one, booked at each expert’s listed rate: hourly, project-based, or retainer. Around that, the community and live sessions add the group layer: peers at your phase and experts in the room.

Live sessions run every month: an orientation session open to all members, plus working sessions for full members, like expert AMAs and the Deal War Room. The current lineup and schedule live in the community calendar.

A recurring working session where members put real, in-flight deals in front of peers and experts for pressure-testing: structure, price, diligence findings, and go or no-go.

In the Five Experts command center at community.fiveexperts.com, organized by phase so you are always in the room that matches your stage.

Yes. Sponsor membership is built for independent sponsors and investors who underwrite deals and stand behind operators. It includes CEO placement: membership carries the search, and the placement fee, 10% of first-year base salary, is due only at placement. See the CEO placement page for the full comparison.

A portfolio command center: every searcher you back, tracked company by company through the five phases, with active deals and LOIs at a glance. Around that sit a capital tracker for your lender and equity contacts, a broker CRM, searcher notes, a document vault for your investment documents, a private capital network, and expert coordination for bringing experts into any deal.

Define the role, and we search the network; candidates are presented when your deal is ready, and placement status lives in your dashboard. The fee is 10% of first-year base salary, due only at placement, with full membership carrying the search. The CEO placement page has the full comparison and a calculator.

Yes. Expert coordination is built for exactly that: request experts into any deal in your portfolio, from 30+ categories, matched to the phase the company is in and engaged at each expert’s listed rate.

Create your account and you are in the dashboard immediately: build your profile, set your rate and availability, and choose the engagement models you offer. Every profile is personally reviewed before it goes in front of members. Start at the experts page.

Everything an engagement needs, in one place: scheduling with your availability and session lengths, in-dashboard chat with members, Zoom video calls built into every booking, and each appointment tracked from booked to completed with your full history per client. Alongside that: payment settings, your reviews, thought leadership publishing, and visibility insights showing how often we shared your profile with searchers and sponsors.

Members book and pay through the platform at the rate you set. Hourly sessions are paid automatically through Stripe; project-based and retainer engagements run through Stripe or ACH. Every engagement is tracked to completion in your dashboard, and your payment settings live there too.

They mostly do not have to: Five Experts recommends you to the right member at the right phase, so inquiries arrive with context. Your profile does the rest, with reviews, education, and thought leadership, and visibility insights show how often your profile was shared.