Chicago
The freight moves.
Does the margin?
Chicagoland runs one of the densest industrial and distribution bases in the country, much of it family-owned and second generation. We bring the financial discipline that makes those companies bankable, defensible, and sellable.
Why Chicago, and why now
Second-generation companies
with first-generation books.
Chicago is the second-largest logistics hub in the United States and the country's rail and intermodal center. Around that sits an enormous base of metal fabrication, job shops, food processing, distribution, and industrial services. Most of it is privately held, much of it is family-owned, and a lot of it is now run by the second generation.
These companies share a pattern. The operation is genuinely good, built over decades. The financials were built for the tax return, so they answer a filing question rather than an operating one. Nobody can say what a specific job, lane, or SKU actually earned once you load it fully, and the customer list has a tail nobody has priced.
Nearshoring is pushing volume back through this corridor, which is opportunity and risk in the same breath. Taking on more work without knowing your true cost to serve is how a busy year turns into a worse one. We build the visibility first, then the pricing and cash discipline that lets you say yes to the right volume.
$5M to $100M
Revenue range of the owners we serve
Chicagoland
The metro and the surrounding industrial corridor
Per job
Fully loaded cost by job, lane, and SKU
13 weeks
Cash visibility, updated weekly
What we deliver
Know what the work earns.
- Fractional CFO leadership, embedded and senior, never a junior consultant
- Fully loaded contribution by job, lane, SKU, and customer
- Quoting and pricing discipline on legacy accounts
- 13-week cash flow forecasting and working-capital release
- Inventory and warehouse economics, including dead stock
- Customer-concentration risk priced the way a buyer prices it
- Month-end close discipline, from day 18 to day 7
- Bank, board, and sponsor reporting that survives scrutiny
- Exit readiness and ownership transition for family businesses
Free 2-minute assessment
Would your business survive a buyer's diligence?
Ten questions show where EBITDA and value are leaking, and how deal-ready your numbers really are. Your answers stay private.
Questions
Frequently asked.
Are you based in Chicago?
No. Our people are based in Atlanta and Detroit, and we serve Chicago-area clients on a remote-first cadence with travel for the sessions that genuinely need a room. We would rather say that plainly than claim an office we do not have.
Our books are built for the tax return, not for running the business.
That is the normal starting point in this market, and it is fixable without ripping anything out. We keep your accountant and your existing system, then add the operating layer: what a job actually earned, where capacity went, and what cash looks like thirteen weeks from now.
We are taking on more volume. Should we be worried?
Only if you cannot price it. More volume at unknown cost to serve is the most common way a busy year produces a worse P&L. Build fully loaded contribution by job and customer first, then decide which new work is worth the capacity it consumes.
We are a second-generation family business. Where do we start?
With making the company run without the person it was built around. Documented processes, a management team with real authority, and financials someone else can operate from. That work protects the family option and raises the number if you ever sell instead.
What kinds of Chicago businesses do you work with?
Operations-heavy companies roughly $5M to $100M in revenue: manufacturers and job shops, distributors, logistics and freight operators, food processors, and industrial services firms.
Let's find what your work actually earns.
No retainer lock-ins. No junior consultants. Just senior-level work.