(520) 360-8177

Business Exit & Succession · Tucson, Arizona

An Exit Is Not An Event. It’s A Multi-Year Process.

One day the business changes hands — by plan or by surprise. The owners who keep the most are the ones who started years early, coordinating the valuation, the buy-sell, the key people, and their own estate as one moving plan. We help you build that exit alongside your attorney and CPA.
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Estate Planning Business Planning Retirement Planning Charitable Gift Annuities Insurance ESOP Structures Serving Tucson Since 2009 (520) 360-8177 Estate Planning Business Planning Retirement Planning Charitable Gift Annuities Insurance ESOP Structures Serving Tucson Since 2009 (520) 360-8177
Global Investment Strategies

One exit, seven moving parts

Pick a piece. See what it sets in motion.

Proof, not promises

When the building is worth more than the buyer can borrow

The hardest part of many exits isn’t finding a successor — it’s that the successor can’t finance the whole thing at once. Here is how coordination solved exactly that.

Case Example · Pima County Business & Real Estate Transition

Separating the business from the building so the next generation could afford it

A Southern Arizona family owned both an operating business and the real estate it ran on — and the combined value was more than the intended successors could finance in a single purchase. Working alongside the family’s legal and tax professionals, GIS coordinated a transition that separated the operating company from the physical real estate. The successors were able to acquire the business on a valuation tied to its cash flow, rather than being forced to buy the real estate at the same time. The founding family kept ownership of the real estate, stepping into a stewardship role and drawing reliable lease income from it. The result: a transfer that was actually financeable, with the family’s total net worth kept intact through the leadership change.

The business and the building were one decision. Splitting them was what made the exit possible.

Since 2009

Coordinating business transitions across Southern Arizona

Multi-year

An exit is a process we help you start early

Alongside your team

We coordinate with your attorney and CPA, not around them

Business exit questions

Frequently asked questions

Earlier than most owners think — ideally three to five years before you want out. An exit is a multi-year process, not a closing date. Starting early is what lets you close the “value gap,” structure the sale tax-efficiently, and retain the key people who make the business worth buying. Owners who wait until they’re ready to leave have the fewest options.
A broker or M&A advisor helps you sell the business — usually near the finish line. GIS works on the years of coordination before that: aligning your valuation, buy-sell, key-employee retention, tax structure, and personal estate so that when a sale or transfer happens, it actually funds the life you want after. We coordinate alongside your attorney, CPA, and, when the time comes, your broker.
It’s the difference between what your business is worth today and what you need it to be worth to fund your retirement and goals. Most owners have never had it measured. Identifying the gap early is what gives you years to close it — through growth, structure, or building wealth outside the business — rather than discovering it at the closing table.
Not on its own. A buy-sell says who can buy your share and at what price — but if it isn’t funded, the remaining owners have to find the cash at the worst possible moment. And if the valuation inside it is years out of date, it may bind everyone to a number that no longer reflects reality. A buy-sell is only as good as the funding and valuation behind it.
Broadly: sell to a third party, transfer to family, sell to your management team, or sell to employees through an ESOP. Each has very different financing, tax, and timeline consequences. The right choice depends on your goals, your people, and your numbers — which is why it’s a decision to make early and coordinate, not one to improvise near the exit.
No. The smaller the business relative to your net worth, the more your retirement depends on that single asset transferring well — which makes coordination more important, not less. What matters is that most of your wealth is tied up in one illiquid business. That’s true for owners of every size.

Start the exit before the exit starts you

Know your number before you need it

No pitch and no product. A private review of where your business, your exit, and your personal finances stand today — and an honest read on the gap between here and the exit you want. You leave with a clearer picture, whether or not you ever work with us.

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Confidential · No obligation · Tucson, Arizona