Priming an Agency for Acquisition

Opportunity

The Blackbean team already had deep industry knowledge and many best practices in place, but leadership knew they were leaving value on the table.

They approached us to help maximize their agency’s growth.  While good, their current growth wasn’t taking them where they wanted to be.

Working directly with leadership, we mapped the agency's positioning, service mix, go-to-market strategy, and market standing against our database of comparable firms and best practices.  It was clear the team had robust institutional knowledge of their industry and a great understanding of their ICP.

Overall, they were taking the right steps to be present where their customers were and had built a solid solution that matched their customers’ needs. Growth was good, but it could be better. So, where do they go from here?

Solution

With a specialized solution and a steadily growing revenue stream, Blackbean was already in a good position, but it was critical that they didn’t waste this potential. Our analysis surfaced a choice leadership hadn't fully priced: continue scaling independently, or position the agency for acquisition.

Ultimately, leadership decided the most valuable path forward was to merge the agency with another larger one. This would unlock additional growth vectors that weren’t available at a smaller size.

Growth

Even with the right service mix, a deep specialization, and a clear ICP, there can still be room for substantial value creation.

Blackbean’s expertise allowed them to be selective about their future, and our process helped unlock it.

Blackbean was acquired on favorable terms and now operates inside a larger platform with expanded capacity and access to larger accounts. Because leadership walked into the transaction with a clear vision of their potential, it was substantially easier for them to evaluate their options and craft a deal structure they were happy with.

Laura - Owner & Director at Blackbean