Lower middle market business owner
About Five Experts

6 million businesses.
12 million jobs.
We built the system
that makes execution succeed.

Six million businesses are changing hands. The operators who buy them deserve a coordinated system — from before the first search through succession and exit. We built it because nobody else had.

Why we exist

Without a system in place
before Day 1, the odds are already against you.

6 million businesses are changing hands. The operators buying them face the same problem regardless of deal size or capital structure — no coordinated execution support for what comes after close. The seller leaves on Friday. The knowledge leaves with them. What the operator discovers in Week 1 is what the diligence never found.

When execution breaks down in Year 1 — and it often does — the risk is not a bad year. It is loan default, a personal guarantee called, and a business that closes. Five Experts is the execution infrastructure built to prevent that.

A coach gives you frameworks. An advisor gives you opinions. Five Experts is a coordinated system — vetted operators who have done exactly what you are doing, matched to your specific phase, and coordinated so knowledge transfers between experts as your deal evolves. It is the difference between a map and a team that has walked the path together.

Coordinated
Vetted experts matched to your phase, managed through your dashboard. Not a directory. A purposeful introduction.
All five phases
Most platforms disappear after close. Five Experts stays through Phase 5 — from the first search through succession and exit.
Execution support
Not an education course. Not a community forum. Vetted experts with real experience, coordinated around your deal.
The expert network

Vetted experts across every phase.
Accessible to every operator.

Every expert in the Five Experts network is vetted and invited — not self-listed. Matched based on the specific phase and challenge, not a generic category.

Well-capitalized acquirers surround every deal with a bench of operators, CFOs, and functional experts — deployed from close through exit to drive the 100-day plan, address key-person risk, and build the value creation roadmap. That infrastructure is what separates a successful acquisition from a failed one. Most LMM acquirers have none of it. Five Experts closes that gap — the same level of coordinated expert support, accessible to every operator regardless of deal size or backing.

Five Experts JOIN AT ANY PHASE PHASE 1 Aspiration & Preparation PHASE 2 Search & Sourcing PHASE 3 Deal Structure & Financing PHASE 4 Ownership & Value Creation Longest phase PHASE 5 Succession & Exit

You can enter Five Experts at any phase. Most members join in Phase 1 or 2 and stay through exit. When Phase 5 ends and the cycle resets, Five Experts is there for the next deal too.

Phase 1–2 · Search
Former searchers & ETA coaches
People who have done exactly what you are doing. The peer mentorship that is hardest to find anywhere else.
Phase 2 · Diligence
QoE & commercial DD specialists
Quality of earnings providers, commercial diligence analysts, business valuation experts. Matched to your specific deal.
Phase 3 · Deal Structure
M&A attorneys & SBA lenders
Deal structuring advisors, SBA lenders with LMM experience, CPAs with M&A backgrounds, R&W insurance specialists.
Phase 4 · Ownership & Value Creation — The longest phase
Every expert your business needs post-close
Fractional CFOs · Former operators · Growth strategists · Marketing specialists · Operations consultants · HR advisors · Technology experts · Accountants · Exit planners. Whatever the business needs — matched to your situation. Hourly, fractional, interim, or full-time placement.
Phase 5 · Exit
Exit planners & sell-side bankers
Exit planning specialists, sell-side investment bankers, valuation experts, EBITDA optimization consultants, tax advisors.

Invite-only — every expert is vetted before joining the network. Matching is curated by Five Experts based on your deal, phase, and situation — not algorithmic. Engagements are hourly, fractional, interim, or full-time placement. Apply to join the network →

Business deal
Invite-only expert network
Well-capitalized acquirers have execution teams.
Now every operator does.
Stephanie Quay
Stephanie Quay
Founder & CEO
The founder

Built by someone who has seen
what happens without it.

Stephanie Quay has spent over two decades operating at the intersection of execution and value creation — across self-funded, venture-backed, and PE-backed companies. She has built and scaled companies that were later acquired, and built the value creation playbooks that came after each close.

She built Five Experts because she had seen firsthand what happens when the right expertise isn't there at the right moment — and what becomes possible when it is. Six million businesses are changing hands over the next decade. Most will fail not because the deal was wrong, but because the execution support wasn't there. Every failed transition means jobs lost, wealth destroyed, and a business that could have thrived under new ownership disappearing instead. Five Experts is the coordinated system built to change that.

01
Acquisition should be accessible to everyone
Not just those with the right networks or institutional backing.
02
Post-close is where Five Experts earns its place
Most platforms disappear after close. Five Experts stays through Phase 5.
03
Coordinated beats fragmented
Unconnected advisors operating in silos is not a system. One coordinated platform is.

The transfer is coming.
Be ready for it.

Join the platform built to support every operator — from the first deal search through exit.

Join free — no credit card Become an expert