The personal plan
that runs alongside
the business.
The owners who exit well are the ones whose personal plan was running alongside the business for years, not assembled in the 60 days after a letter of intent. The work below is what we lead in that running plan, in every stage of an owner's arc.
Three moments.
Different planning.
Ownership rarely needs the same advice twice. The work of planning around a business depends on where the owner is standing when the conversation starts.
The earliest planning moves are the cheapest and the most valuable. Entity selection, founders' stock, QSBS eligibility, and foundational protection choices are easy while the company is small and nearly impossible to retrofit later.
Lay down a structure that will still fit the business in ten years.
Entity & QSBS Design
C-corp vs. pass-through tradeoffs, QSBS planning, founders' stock basis, and state-residency considerations.
Personal Balance Sheet
A deliberate separation between business cash flow and household planning, so early success doesn't get reinvested by accident.
Key-Person Protection
Life, disability, and liability coverage sized for the value the owner uniquely brings to the company.
Retirement-Plan Setup
Solo 401(k), SEP, or SIMPLE for early-stage firms, designed to grow into a real plan without rebuilding later.
The middle years are where most owners over-invest in the business and under-plan for themselves. Retirement plans, buy-sell structures, tax-efficient compensation, and the beginnings of a transition roadmap all belong in this window, not after a letter of intent lands.
Run the personal plan with the rigor the business already has.
Retirement-Plan Design
Cash balance, safe-harbor 401(k), profit-sharing, architected to maximize the owner's benefit while serving the team.
Buy-Sell Structure
Funded buy-sell agreements, partner-disability coordination, and valuation-clause review on an intentional rhythm.
Compensation Strategy
Salary vs. distribution, deferred comp for key leaders, and the tax-aware compensation structure an owner-operator deserves.
Diversification Path
Quietly building a personal balance sheet outside the company, so an exit is a choice, not a necessity.
The three years on either side of a transaction are the highest-consequence years of an owner's financial life. Pre-sale tax-aware planning, deal-structure coordination, post-close liquidity design, and the identity work that comes with stepping out of a role all need attention that day-to-day operations rarely allow.
Turn the transaction into a transition, not a surprise.
Pre-Sale Tax Planning
Entity freezes, gifting, QSBS stacking, and the moves best executed 18–36 months before a letter of intent.
Deal-Structure Coordination
Working alongside your deal team on earnout design, rollover equity, installment structure, and post-close tax posture.
Liquidity Architecture
Post-close cash sequencing, income architecture, and the portfolio structure that carries the family forward.
The Next Chapter
Charitable structures, next-venture funding, family governance, and the planning life that runs after the company.
Planning starts
long before the LOI.
The owners who exit well are the ones who began planning a transition four or five years before it happened. Here's the rhythm we run with business clients who know a sale is on the horizon.
Foundational work.
Entity review, QSBS positioning, gifting strategy, and the personal-plan upgrade that should precede any sale conversation.
Pre-deal structure.
Estate freezes, charitable trusts, spousal-lifetime-access trusts, and the irreversible decisions best made before a banker is engaged.
Alongside the deal team.
Coordination with attorneys, CPAs, and investment bankers through due diligence, structure modeling, and close. No surprises after signing.
Liquidity to plan.
The sudden-liquidity playbook: cash positioning, tax execution, portfolio construction, and a re-centered plan for the next chapter.
We sit in the
owner's seat.
Most business transitions involve a cast of specialists, each focused on their piece of the deal, with few people holding the whole picture. Revant takes that seat: translating between disciplines, stress-testing recommendations, and making sure the personal plan keeps pace with the deal plan.
We work directly with your existing CPA, M&A attorney, estate counsel, and investment banker, or bring in trusted specialists where seats still need to be filled.
M&A Counsel
Deal-structure review, rep-and-warranty posture, and indemnity design with tax and estate in the room.
CPA & Tax Advisor
Multi-year tax modeling, entity transactions, installment-sale structuring, and year-of-close execution.
Estate Counsel
Trust drafting, grantor structures, gift-tax strategy, and post-close estate documents ready on day one.
Investment Banker
Working alongside the banker's process, protecting the owner's long-range plan through every phase of a transaction.
Begin Your
DreamPath.
If a transition is on the horizon, or if you'd rather it stay distant for a while, the planning starts the same way. A confidential conversation about where the business is, where the family is, and what the next chapter should look like.
Request a Conversation
Step one.
Dream freely.
Every Revant relationship begins the same way, a quiet conversation about the life you're building, before any numbers are modeled. Share where you are and what you're thinking through, and we'll take it from there.