For independent sponsors & investors

You underwrite the deal.
We underwrite the execution.

The execution infrastructure for independent sponsors on $1M to $5M EBITDA deals: behaviorally matched CEO placement, coordinated diligence, and post-close operator support, every expert matched to your deal and run through your dashboard. No internal team to build.

Start a CEO placement See what sponsors get

CEO placement, 10% of year-one salary. Platform membership, $295/month.

Your portfolio command center

Run your whole portfolio
in one place.

Every searcher you back, every active deal, your capital tracker and private capital network, your CEO placements, all tracked in one dashboard. The operating-partner infrastructure well-capitalized firms build in-house, without building the team.

What makes Five Experts different

You funded the deal.
We make sure execution delivers.

Well-capitalized acquirers build internal benches of operators and functional experts, deployed after every close to protect the investment and drive value creation. Independent sponsors in the lower middle market rarely have that infrastructure.

Most value destruction happens post-close, not in the deal. The seller leaves. The operator is running a business they have owned for three weeks with no playbook and no one to call. Five Experts is the execution infrastructure you don't have to build. We coordinate the right experts around your operator at every phase, so the multiple you underwrote actually gets built.

An advisor in conversation with an operator, talking through a plan
What Five Experts offers sponsors

What sponsors get. One coordinated platform.

CEO placement, coordinated diligence, and post-close execution support, managed through one platform, built around your deal.

Most requested

CEO Placement

10% of year-one salary

Behaviorally matched to your deal, not sourced from a job board. Candidates are assessed for execution fit before you ever see a name. No fee until placement is confirmed.

  • Execution and behavioral fit assessed before candidates are surfaced
  • Deal brief prepared by Five Experts, blind on sponsor identity
  • Candidates briefed on deal, comp, and expectations before any intro
  • Mutual interest confirmed independently before introduction
  • Warm introduction with a prompt debrief
Start a placement

Diligence Stack

Project rate

The full LOI package, QoE, commercial DD, legal DD, and ops assessment, coordinated through one engagement.

  • Quality of earnings (QoE)
  • Commercial DD, customer validation
  • Legal DD, risk identification
  • Ops assessment, key-person risk
  • Connections to SBA lenders and M&A attorneys
Talk to our team

Platform Membership

$295 / month

Operating-partner infrastructure without the operating-partner cost. The full system, organized around your portfolio and your operators.

  • The portfolio command center
  • Experts, coordinated
  • Peers & community
  • Live sessions
  • Playbook & content
Join Five Experts

Platform membership unpacks into five systems below. CEO placement and the diligence stack are separate services, available to all members.

Platform membership · five systems

It all works as one system. Organized around your portfolio.

01 · PORTFOLIO COMMAND CENTER

Run the whole portfolio in one place

Every backed searcher, every deal, your capital contacts, your notes, in one dashboard.

  • Portfolio phase tracker
  • Capital tracker (your contacts)
  • Searcher notes
  • Broker CRM
  • Document vault
02 · EXPERTS, COORDINATED

The right expert for your operators

We learn the deal and tell your operator who they need, then coordinate the engagement.

  • Coordinated matching & booking
  • In-platform chat & Zoom
  • Connections to SBA lenders & M&A attorneys
  • LOI & deal review with written feedback (expert engagement)
03 · PEERS & COMMUNITY

A room of sponsors at your stage

Candid, high-signal sponsor peers in it with you, plus operator peers for the searchers you back.

  • Sponsor network office hours
  • Operator peer matching for your portfolio
  • Members-only discussions
04 · LIVE SESSIONS

Learn together, by phase

Live sessions with sponsors and operators at your stage, learning from each other and from experts.

  • Group sessions
  • Expert office hours, all domains
  • Sponsor network office hours
  • Expert AMA (ask me anything)
05 · PLAYBOOK & CONTENT

The methodology, by phase

The repeatable system, with written feedback on the decisions that matter most.

  • 100-day plan review
  • Value creation playbooks
  • Performance vs the plan
  • Exit readiness tracking
A deal team in discussion around a conference table, seen through the glass of the meeting room
How CEO placement works

Execution-matched. Not just experienced.

Most placement finds a resume. Five Experts matches on execution fit: how a candidate operates under pressure and creates value in a lower-middle-market business.

The full placement process →

1

You share the deal

We prepare a blind brief, no company name, no sponsor name. Just the deal, the role, and what success looks like.

2

Behavioral assessment

Execution fit assessed before any candidate is surfaced, against the deal brief rather than a resume.

3

Mutual interest confirmed

Compensation, equity, and expectations confirmed with the candidate. Both sides confirm interest independently.

4

Warm introduction

Calendar invite, direct line, and a prompt debrief. No fee until placement is confirmed.

The enterprise value of execution

How much value does the right operator actually create?

Enter your deal assumptions and see the financial impact of execution, in enterprise value terms.

Typical LMM range: $5M to $25M revenue
Illustrative enterprise value impact
Current enterprise value-
New EBITDA after lift-
New enterprise value-
Incremental EV created-
Net value created (after execution cost)-

Illustrative example. Set the execution budget to your own estimate of membership plus expert engagements. Actual results vary based on business, market, and execution conditions.

From sponsors and operators

Execution determines what you exit at.

The blind brief process is what sold me. My previous placement process involved six months of awkward conversations. Five Experts confirmed mutual interest before we ever spoke. The CEO we placed has been in seat for two months and is the best operator I've worked with.

Michael T.
Independent sponsor · $5.2M EBITDA deal, Midwest

We were underwriting a business with a key-person risk we couldn't fully diligence. Five Experts put us in front of an operations specialist who had seen exactly this structure before. That conversation changed our offer structure and protected us post-close.

Rachel W.
Independent sponsor · LMM deal, $3.8M EBITDA

I think of the platform membership as operating partner infrastructure without the operating partner cost. For a sponsor doing two or three deals a year, the economics are obvious.

Chris L.
Independent sponsor · Serial acquirer
Common questions

What to expect.

How does expert matching work?

Once you upgrade, we schedule a 30-minute call to understand the deal, the operator, and what's at stake, then make a purposeful introduction with context on both sides. A curated match, made by people who know the deal.

What if the match isn't right?

Tell us and we rematch. Expert matching is an ongoing relationship, not a one-time event. If a match doesn't work for any reason, we make another at no additional cost.

How is Five Experts different from a coach or advisor?

A coach gives you frameworks. An advisor gives you opinions. Five Experts is a coordinated system of vetted operators who have done exactly what your operator is doing, matched to the phase, and coordinated so knowledge transfers between experts as the deal evolves.

The transfer is coming. Be ready for it.

Five Experts is the coordinated system built to support sponsors and operators through all five phases: CEO placement, diligence, and the full post-close lifecycle.

Start a CEO placement Join Five Experts