Mentoring a Family-Owned Business Back to Health

An $8-million, family-owned service business with dominant market share veered from its core business as the owners pursued other businesses, becoming significantly unprofitable. As a result, lines of financing relationships with outside senior and subordinated lenders were damaged — and the company quickly found itself dealing with the senior lender’s workout division. A frustrated subordinated lender suggested the need for new management to operate the business going forward and introduced Platinum Group to the family. Read how Platinum guided improvements in lender relationships and business operations to get a company back on track... MORE

Marketing and Sales Strategist
Joins Platinum Group to Advise Business Owners

Platinum Group is pleased to announce that Laurie Knutson has joined the firm as an Executive Consultant. Most recently, she was President at Ōmcare, a health technology company pioneering products that enable remote care in the home. 

Knutson brings 25 years of interim leadership and business strategy to Platinum Group, including product development, marketing, sales, operations and financial positions. Her experience ranges from start-ups to growth and legacy businesses, primarily in healthcare, technology and financial service organizations.

“Key to Laurie’s success has been the ability to visualize the necessary steps for business transformation at the same time as creating a practical path for implementation,” says Bill English, a Platinum Partner.

Visit Platinum’s web site to read Laurie’s biography... MORE

Transition Guide at a Glance:
A Five-Year Framework

Looking for a logical, flexible sequence to track the progress of your company’s transition? Consider a transition framework based on Platinum Group’s years of experience in guiding business owners. Then, join our Owner Transition Forum to gain fresh perspectives from other business owners’ experiences. These monthly breakfast roundtables offer insights and open dialog around real owner stories in a confidential setting... MORE

Contact Steve Coleman at Steve.Coleman@thePlatinumGrp.com

Family Councils: Is it time for a family meeting? Yes, for most firms

What does a son, daughter, cousin or in-law think about the business owned by a family member? 

As Platinum Group’s Steve Coleman writes, “Whether or not they are involved daily in that business, a family business does affect the entire family. Yet many business owners of privately held companies do not usually consider the thoughts of other family members — until it’s too late.

That’s when “downstream decisions” made about succession, ownership, bonuses, profit sharing, and hiring family members can create bad feelings and years of undesired consequences. Bringing multi-generations together to make family business decisions more straightforward, less painful and much less traumatic is possible through a structured and facilitated approach called a family council.”