CASE STUDIES

Real founders. Real risk. Real systems that worked.

Intro

Most service providers sell promises.
We install systems—and let the outcomes speak for themselves.

This isn’t theory. These are real stories from real founders who faced real threats to everything they built—and walked away with more control, more value, and more clarity than they ever thought possible.

Case Study 1: The Estate Plan That Almost Triggered a $6M Fire Sale

  • A founder with a $12M manufacturing company thought his estate plan was dialed in. He had a will, a trust, a buy-sell agreement, and powers of attorney; all drawn up by a local estate attorney.

  • The operating business had been transferred into the trust… but there was no continuity provision.
    If the founder died, control of the company would pass immediately to his three children, none of whom were trained to run it. One was estranged. One was living out of state. The third was 23.

  • We installed a Founder Continuity Lock, including:

    • A legal structure that deferred control to a pre-approved successor operator

    • Governance override clauses if heirs lacked business qualifications

    • A proactive AI monitoring agent that flagged changes in risk status quarterly

  • We found a way to decouple inheritance from operational authority, protecting business control in the event of death or incapacity.

  • The founder suffered a stroke 8 months later.
    The company didn’t stall.
    No panic, no legal freeze, no fire sale.
    Valuation preserved, operations intact.

  • Most estate plans transfer ownership.
    Very few preserve control.
    And control is where the real value lives.

Case Study 2: The Buyer’s Clause That Would’ve Cost Her $1.8M

  • A founder was in final-stage negotiations to sell her business for $8.6M.
    Her M&A advisor was focused on valuation. Her attorney reviewed the deal terms. Everyone was moving fast. She assumed her personal estate plan had nothing to do with the transaction.

  • Buried in the LOI: a post-sale personal indemnification clause . . holding her liable for any legacy issues, even after the company transferred.

    The trust that held her business shares offered no protection.
    Had the buyer enforced the clause, she could’ve been on the hook for up to $1.8M in personal liability . . out of pocket, after the deal.

  • We reconstructed her estate and ownership structure mid-deal:

    • Reorganized ownership through a temporary deal-side holding entity

    • Isolated liability exposure via limited-purpose asset protection trusts

    • Drafted fail-safe legal language shielding personal and family assets from post-close risk

  • She went from having unshielded exposure to a fully insulated structure.
    The buyer’s clause became unenforceable against her personally.

  • Six months after close, the buyer attempted a claim related to a legacy vendor contract.
    It never reached mediation. Her structure was airtight.
    She kept every dollar of the $8.6M payout, clean exit, zero exposure.

  • Your estate plan either protects you from your exit . . or gets rewritten by it.
    Most advisors don’t catch it. We build systems that assume it.