Growth & Value Advisory for Founder-Led Businesses
Growth Strategy Partners helps founders transform their businesses to accelerate their revenue, profit, organizational growth and value and prepare them for a sale.
On average, we have delivered a 220% profit improvement and a 7X return on professional fees to clients in the first year.
Who We Work With
Psychographics (How You Think)
Demographics (Who You Are)
CPAs, wealth advisors, attorneys, and investment bankers whose clients need value creation work before a transaction. Growth Strategy Partners strengthens your client's outcome—and your relationship. We complement your role; we never compete with it.
What We Do
We are hands-on strategic and tactical change agents. We transform and professionalize founder-led businesses.
There are some projects where we can simply guide you through implementation. But if you're like most leaders, you already have plenty on your plate—and you still need change to happen. That's where we shine: we roll up our sleeves, become part of your team, and transform your business with you.
Specific Services Include
Value Creation is the full application of our core services, working together to grow your business's value—financially and operationally. Over time, it transforms your business into a top-tier performer, well above industry averages.
Building your goals, strategies and KPIs is important, but implementing your plan is where results are generated. After helping you build your plan, we facilitate its early implementation so you see results quickly—mission, vision and values included, if you really want to live them.
Almost every business needs improved leadership. We identify who is needed and where, and help you hire these leaders. We address owner bottleneck decision making and build engaged teams and purpose driven cultures.
We help you decide how to grow revenue through new versus existing customers and products. Which channels and customers offer the greatest growth and profit? And how can the sales team be improved?
We rationalize your existing product portfolio and help you (re)define a new product introduction process using best-practice phase-gate methodologies.
From the front office to the shop floor, we identify how to increase throughput, quality and productivity while decreasing inventory, costs and waste. This is typically through redesigned processes and technology. Supply chain, Operational Excellence and Lean are all included.
Growing through acquisition takes more than capital. We help you identify companies that are a strategic fit, then guide you through the acquisition and integration process.
We start by assessing your business's current value, your value expectations, and your personal readiness to exit. Then we guide you through your personal transition and prepare your company for sale, including building your team of outside exit-planning professionals.
We understand change takes time to stick, so we've built a consulting model that helps you change over time while balancing consulting fees. We've changed businesses in less than 6 months and transformed them in just over 1 year, providing owners with a very high return on investment.
Mid-Sized Meat Processor
Situation
A mid-sized, case-ready meat processing business was generating very low profits and wanted to exit in a few years.
Approach
Growth Strategy Partners conducted its 7 Keys to Growth evaluation and identified opportunities for improvement, including upgrading the costing and data within the ERP system, implementing modern manufacturing techniques, revising customer ordering guidelines, upgrading the leadership team, and adding tax strategies for the sale. We implemented and guided all change over a three-year period.
Outcome
Within 6 months, profits were up 20%, and within 18 months the business had higher-than-industry profit margins—up over 500%. A Director of Operations was hired who eventually became President, the ERP system was upgraded, customer fill rates increased, tax planning was implemented, and the owner sold the business successfully in year 3.
"I evaluated Growth Strategy Partners and concluded they had both the credentials and experience to perform a critical evaluation of my company and then to help us lay out a plan for solid improvements on multiple fronts. They came through in spades; we are about to conclude the finest year in the history of our company."— President, Meat Processor
High-Quality Pistol Manufacturer
Situation
A fast-growing manufacturer of very high-quality pistols needed to increase throughput to meet increasing demand.
Approach
We conducted a short assessment of their production planning, scheduling, manufacturing and assembly departments, recommending and designing changes to how they plan, schedule, manage inventory and assemble pistols. We redesigned the assembly department, converting from one assembly line to three lines based on assembly complexity and quality requirements, and initiated a gunsmith career plan. We built quality inspection into the assembly process versus at the end, and redesigned how they planned and scheduled production.
Outcome
Throughput increased over 25% in three months, and quality defects decreased 50%. Customer satisfaction increased from the improved throughput—and no additional resources were required to achieve these results.
"Growth Strategy Partners exceeded expectations in terms of results and timing. They not only delivered awesome results, they taught the team how to continuously improve performance."— President, Pistol Manufacturer
Why We're Unique
Three reasons founder-led businesses trust Growth Strategy Partners with their growth and value.
We've done our research. We conducted extensive research to identify what drives long-term, profitable growth: The 7 Keys to Growth.
We've lived in owner and founder shoes. Our consultants have previously been CEOs, Presidents, and operating executives of founder-led businesses—or founded businesses themselves.
On average, we've delivered a
Options to Get Started
Identify how well you are performing with a high-level assessment.
You have a specific issue or challenge that needs to be resolved. It could be declining sales, thin margins, quality issues, poor culture, a weak performer, or the lack of a defined plan on how to grow and improve. Contact us below and we'll schedule time to understand your specific challenge and explain how we would resolve it.
You would like to know how to accelerate your growth.
You have plans to exit and would like to know your enterprise value, how to increase it, and prepare for an exit. We have a quick assessment specifically designed to provide you with the following:
To learn more about how Growth Strategy Partners can accelerate your growth, send an email to info@growthstrategypartners.com describing your situation and need. You'll receive a response quickly.
Who We Are
Chris DiCenso founded Growth Strategy Partners and led it for 17 years before stepping into the operator's seat—serving as CEO and President of two middle market businesses, where he delivered significant EBITDA growth in both roles. He's back now leading Growth Strategy Partners and transforming companies.
His career spans senior consulting roles at Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Grant Thornton. He has built growth strategies, led operational turnarounds, and prepared businesses for transactions—from both sides of the table. Chris has very deep experience in the shooting sports and food industries.
That dual experience is Growth Strategy Partners' edge: recommendations grounded in what actually works when you're the one accountable for the P&L.
When Chris isn't transforming companies, you'll usually find him on his boat with his wife, at the gun range, exercising or reading espionage thrillers.
Chris knows businesses need more than just his skills to accelerate their growth and prepare for a sale. For this reason, he has built a network of consultants with different skills than his, along with connections at investment banks, wealth advisors, attorneys and CPA firms focused on preparing businesses for a sale and selling them.
When you engage Growth Strategy Partners, you receive their whole network.