Services

Clarity, alignment, and execution support for leaders navigating moments that shape the future of the company.

The Daybreak Approach

Leadership teams often reach inflection points where multiple strategic or ownership paths seem viable. What’s harder is knowing which path creates the outcomes they care about — and whether they’re internally ready to pursue it. When teams go it alone, that’s where processes stall, decisions unravel, and value quietly leaks.

Daybreak provides the structure, clarity, and senior advisory support leaders need before, during, and throughout major ownership or strategic transitions.

Our work centers on three phases:

1. Feasibility & Readiness Assessment

2. Pre-Transition Architecture & Internal Readiness

3. Third-Party Process Execution Support & Ongoing Advisory

You can engage us for one phase or for the full arc, depending on your needs.

01. Feasibility & Readiness Assessment

A 3–5 week structured diagnostic to clarify the decision you’re making, your timing, and your readiness.

This phase creates the alignment and clarity required before you choose a path so that whatever path you ultimately choose, it’s with confidence — and avoid months of spinning or costly missteps.

What We Assess

  • Path Viability

    Sale, recapitalization, ESOP, internal buyout, partner search, hold

    Tradeoffs and feasibility of each option

    Implications for ownership, governance, and leadership

  • Timing Windows

    Tax dynamics

    Founder liquidity goals

    Buyout requirements

    Market context

    Board, family, or leadership constraints

  • Readiness

    Financial and operational readiness

    Leadership bench

    Processes and infrastructure

    Risk areas that could impact value or execution

  • Stakeholder Alignment

    CEO, CFO, executive team, board, partners, founders

    Areas of tension or diverging assumptions

    “Where decisions are getting stuck”

  • Advisor Ecosystem

    Which advisors you will need (and which you won’t)

    What they will and won’t do in the process

    When to bring them in

    How to prepare for their involvement

What You Receive

  • Path Comparison Framework

  • Timing & Readiness Summary

  • Leadership & Alignment Map

  • Advisor Roadmap

  • A clear recommendation and next-step plan

  • All delivered in a board-ready format

This phase creates the clarity required for any well-run process.

02. Pre-Transition Architecture & Internal Readiness

Preparing the company and leadership team for the chosen path — before external advisors enter.

This phase focuses on internal clarity, internal sequencing, and internal preparation.
It sets the foundation for a smooth, efficient, and well-run external process.

What This Includes

  • Internal Strategic Architecture

    Translating your chosen path into a clear decision framework

    Establishing roles, responsibilities, and leadership cadence

    Aligning CEO, CFO, and board expectations

    Addressing readiness gaps before third parties enter

  • Operational & Financial Readiness

    Identifying and addressing items that could slow down an external process

    Strengthening financial clarity and operational infrastructure

    Preparing for inevitable advisor, buyer, or investor questions

  • Internal Storyline & Positioning

    Clarifying the company’s trajectory, strengths, and key themes

    Helping leadership refine the narrative they will eventually share

    Ensuring the executive team feel confident with the story a banker is likely to explore

  • Advisory Landscape & Selection

    Recommending initial advisors to evaluate

    Managing outreach, interviews, and contract negotiations

    Helping leadership choose advisors aligned with their goals and style

03. External Process Execution Support & Ongoing Advisory

Senior advisory support once bankers or other advisors are leading an external process.

When a sale, recap, ESOP, investor search, or structured capital event begins, the environment becomes fast, technical, and emotionally demanding.
This phase helps leadership stay clear, confident, and coordinated during this high-stakes work.

What This Includes

  • Executive Team & Board Advisory

    Ongoing strategic guidance

    Pressure-testing assumptions

    Helping leadership interpret and prioritize external advisor input

    Providing a neutral, confidential sounding board during high-stakes moments

  • Keeping Advisors Aligned With Your Strategy

    Ensuring bankers, attorneys, tax advisors, and others stay aligned with your goals

    Highlighting where advisor incentives or pressures may diverge

    Supporting leadership in maintaining boundaries

  • Meeting Preparation & Debriefing

    Preparing the executive team for buyer or investor meetings

    Reviewing materials, questions, and messages

    Debriefing conversations to identify risks or adjustments

  • Decision Sequencing & Momentum Management

    Structuring regular leadership communication rhythms

    Surfacing decisions early to prevent bottlenecks

    Coordinating information flow across internal and external stakeholders

    Supporting board updates and communication

  • Protecting Leadership Focus & Emotional Capacity

    Helping leaders navigate the high-pressure nature of a marketed process

    Ensuring decisions remain grounded in the strategy aligned in Phase 1

    Providing calm, steady support as intensity rises

Cross-Phase Leadership Advisory Support

A calm, clarifying voice to keep leaders aligned during high-stakes work.

Across every phase, we serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO, CFO, and/or board. This includes:

  • Helping clarify decisions as they arise

  • Pressure-testing assumptions

  • Reducing overwhelm by structuring complexity

  • Supporting leadership through emotionally weighted moments

  • Maintaining focus on the decision framework we set together

  • Ensuring coherence across internal and external conversations

This is the throughline of Daybreak’s work — and often the most valuable part of the engagement.

When to Reach Out

We’re most valuable when you’re facing:

  • A potential sale, recapitalization, or strategic partner

  • An unsolicited offer

  • A required founder/partner buyout

  • A CEO transition or leadership reshaping

  • ESOP vs. Sale vs. Recap exploration

  • A stalled or failed attempt (ESOP, banker process, buyout)

  • A desire for clarity on timing, viability, and readiness

If you’re at an inflection point, we should talk.

Share a few details about your situation below, and we’ll to schedule a time to talk it through together.