ETA (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) Advisory
Acquiring a business is one of the most consequential decisions a professional can make. The financial analysis, the letter of intent, the due diligence process — these are well-documented and well-supported. What is far less supported is what happens on day one of ownership.
The ETA Advisory practice at PJP Business Advisors exists to fill that gap. Pat brings an operator's perspective to every phase of the acquisition journey — before close, during the critical first ninety days, and through the first year of new ownership.
Who This Engagement Is For
ETA Advisory is designed for searchers, search fund operators, and independent sponsors who are acquiring businesses in the home services, home improvement, residential trades, and commercial services sectors. It is for professionals who have strong financial and analytical skills and who recognize that operating a business at the ground level requires a different kind of knowledge — one that takes years to build and that most ETA professionals are acquiring for the first time.
What Working with PJP Looks Like
Every ETA Advisory engagement begins with The First 90 — the structured ninety-day stabilization and foundation-building program that covers the most critical window of any new ownership transition. From there, the engagement evolves based on the needs of the business and the operator.
Before Close — Pre-Acquisition Due Diligence
Most financial due diligence does not surface operational risk. Balance sheets do not reveal whether the leadership team will stay. Income statements do not tell you whether the production system will hold under new ownership. Customer concentration analysis does not surface the informal relationships that are keeping key accounts in place.
Pat reviews the business from an operator's perspective — leadership structure and depth, systems maturity, cultural health, vendor dependencies, customer concentration, and production capacity — and delivers a clear assessment of what the business will actually require in year one of new ownership.
This engagement is designed to help you close with confidence or walk away with clarity. Both outcomes are valuable.
After Close — The First 90
The first ninety days of ownership define the trajectory of the next three years. The leadership team is watching. Customers are evaluating. Vendors are waiting to see who is in charge. The decisions made in this window — on people, systems, culture, and priorities — set the tone for everything that follows.
The First 90 provides structured, operator-led support through that window. By day ninety, the business has operating discipline, the leadership team has direction and accountability, and you have a clear first-year operating plan built on a genuine understanding of the business rather than the assumptions you brought to close.
Ongoing — Post-Acquisition Operating Support
For operators who want continued fractional support beyond the first ninety days, the engagement follows the four-phase model — Assess, Install, Build, Scale — structured around the specific growth targets and operational gaps identified during The First 90.
What Success Looks Like
You close on a business you genuinely understand.
The operational risks are known before you commit capital, not discovered in month three of ownership.
The first ninety days are structured rather than reactive.
Instead of spending the first quarter figuring out what you have acquired, you spend it building on a clear operational foundation.
By the end of year one, the business runs on systems.
The leadership team is accountable, the metrics are visible, and the growth plan is executable.
You own a business. Not a job.
That distinction — between a business that runs on systems and one that runs on the owner's constant presence — is the goal of every ETA Advisory engagement.
Ready to take action?
If you are navigating a search, preparing to close, or in the early days of new ownership — and you want an operator's perspective beside you — the conversation starts here.