From Kansas City to the deal seat,
told in six chapters.

To go deeper on finance, I chased the fundamentals. Real estate was the best place I could find to learn modeling and valuation at a serious level — first at Ziegler Capital Markets, the #1 underwriter of continuing-care retirement communities (CCRCs), then at Green Street Advisors, the #1 shop covering REITs at the time. It was rigorous, quantitative, and unforgiving. But the excitement was elsewhere. I followed it back to technology at Thomas Weisel Partners, where I sat in a dual seat: originating convertible securities as an investment banking associate, and working alongside the prop desk pricing option-adjusted spreads for a convertible-bond arbitrage strategy.

1. Ziegler Capital Markets

   2002 — 2003

   Investment Banking Analyst, Senior Living

   Modeled, structured, and priced $200M+ of tax-advantaged revenue bonds at the #1-ranked CCRC underwriter — including the largest issuance in the industry's history at the time. Handled Associate-level responsibilities as an Analyst.

2. Green Street Advisors

   2003 — 2004

   Equity Research Associate, Hotels & REITs

   Supported the #1-ranked REIT research team; rebuilt the hotel group's models, cutting research publishing turnaround by 50%+.

3. Thomas Weisel Partners

   2004 — 2005

   IB Associate, Convertible Securities

   Dual seat: originated $2B+ of convertible bond offerings on the banking side and priced option-adjusted spreads for the prop desk's convertible arbitrage strategy. Executed $500M+ of debt-for-equity swaps and refinancings.

M&A at Ridgecrest sharpened the deal instinct — acquirer landscapes, merger models, business-development pitches. Leading SaaS equity research at Tier1 Research (later acquired by the 451 Group, then S&P) taught me how public markets listen to a software story. I launched coverage on Concur, NetSuite, and Salesforce, and authored some of the first deep dives on SaaS unit economics. Then I hung my own shingle. Over the next several years, I served as fractional FP&A leader to more than twenty companies — most of them on-premise businesses transitioning to on-demand SaaS — and, more importantly, helping them tell that story to boards, investors, and acquirers. The pattern I kept seeing: the winning narratives are always three things — clear, compelling, and credible.

The winning narratives are always three things: clear, compelling, and credible.

1. Ridgecrest Capital Partners

   2006 — 2007

   M&A Associate

   Built acquirer landscapes and merger models with full accretion-dilution analysis; led business development pitches to mid-market tech and consumer clients.

2. Tier1 Research (→ 451 Group → S&P)

   2007 — 2009

   Lead Equity Research Analyst, SaaS

   Launched coverage on Concur, NetSuite, and Salesforce.com. Authored some of the industry's first deep dives on SaaS efficiency metrics (CAC ratio, burn multiple). A contrarian read on SaaS delivered 59% annualized returns on long/short recommendations.

3. Independent Consulting

   2009 — 2013

   Fractional FP&A / Finance Partner

   Fractional finance partner to 20+ SaaS and high-growth companies — building the plans, systems, and investor narratives that carried them through fundraises, transitions, and exits. It's where the Three Cs became a working philosophy.

In 2014, I put the analytical toolkit to work as a founder. My wife recognized an unmet need for specialized training for prenatal and postpartum women, and we co-founded The Lotus Method. She built the practice; I brought the operating discipline, the financial model, and the investor story. We raised over $5M — half of it non-dilutive — and scaled to seven brick-and-mortar locations at peak. The company is now positioned for sale. I know what the founder's chair feels like: the 3 a.m. model stress, the board pitch, the recap, the exit. That empathy is hard to teach — and it is exactly what makes me credible across the table.

I know what the founder's chair feels like. That empathy is hard to teach.

• The Lotus Method — Capital

  2014 — 2019

  Co-founded with my wife; raised $5M+, half of it non-dilutive, on a category-defining thesis for prenatal and postpartum training.

• The Lotus Method — Scale

  2019 — 2024

  Scaled to seven brick-and-mortar locations at peak, launched the company's first digital offering, and drove a $4M net increase in annual revenue post-recap — returning the business to profitability and positioning it for sale.

Teaching has been the throughline. At the Investment Banking Institute I launched the San Francisco location and taught finance and investment banking to analysts and associates; at iXperience I taught U.S. students in Cape Town, South Africa, and online. Every class forced me to take a complicated idea — a DCF, a convertible, a SaaS unit-economics story — and make it digestible. That skill is not a side note; it is the same skill required to build a board deck, a sell-side memo, or a management presentation.

The ability to make a complicated idea feel simple is not a side note; it is the craft.

• Investment Banking Institute

  Ongoing

  Launched the San Francisco location; taught finance and investment banking to analysts and associates.

• iXperience

  Ongoing

  Taught U.S. students in Cape Town, South Africa, and online — translating Wall Street concepts into actionable, real-world frameworks.

This is why the next chapter is M&A advisory at Woodside Capital Partners — and I know exactly where I'd hunt. My first lane is digital health, wellness, and femtech. I'm not covering it from the outside: I co-founded a women's health company, raised over $5M — half of it non-dilutive — scaled it to seven locations, and I am running its sale process right now. I know the buyers, the multiples, and the diligence questions because I'm living all three. My second lane is the software making Main Street more efficient — vertical SaaS, payments, and embedded fintech for SMBs. Here I bring something rare in a banker: I was the customer. Across seven locations, I ran the business on the booking, POS, payments, payroll, and marketing stack this category sells — I know which products owners can't live without, and which get churned the first hard quarter. Layer on two decades of SaaS fluency — research coverage of Concur, NetSuite, and Salesforce; fractional finance inside 20+ software companies, including Metaswitch (acquired by Microsoft) and commerce-enablement names like Carthook — and the thesis is simple. An MD hire is a revenue bet, so here is mine: 25+ founder, board, and investor relationships in exactly WCP's sweet spot — founder-led companies approaching their first process, who need their story made clear, compelling, and credible.

Two lanes I've lived, not just covered: I built a Main Street business — and ran it on the software I'd now be selling.

• Digital Health, Wellness & Femtech

  Founder-operator credibility

  Co-founded, capitalized ($5M+, half non-dilutive), scaled to seven locations, and currently positioning for sale. Direct overlap with WCP's digital health, behavioral health, and wellness coverage — in an underbanked niche a boutique can own.

• Main Street Tech

  Evaluated from the buyer's side of the invoice

  The software, payments, and embedded fintech running local businesses — evaluated from the buyer's side of the invoice. Seven locations operated on the full SMB stack, plus commerce enablement work at Carthook.