Specialty areas include: technology, energy technology and service businesses.

CLIENTS

JumpStart Partners has worked with over 60 companies in a variety of shapes and sizes, including: IBM, Royal Dutch / Shell Oil, CenterPoint Energy, Vivendi / Dalkia, JFI, Direct Energy and a large number of mid-market companies. We find that our expertise is helping clients who find themselves in one (or more) of these situations:

Divisions of Fortune 500 companies seeking to explore growth through mergers, acquisitions, or strategic partnerships.
Divisions of Fortune 500 companies exploring a divestiture of a non-core business.
Companies transitioning business models.
Corporate expansions into new markets, unique product lines, or spin-offs.

REPRESENTATIVE CASE STUDIES

Growth Stage, Energy Technology Firm in the Western US
Business Process Outsourcing Company in the Southwestern US
Customer-Direct, Energy Firm in the Southwestern US
Consumer Services, Technology-Related Company in the Midwestern US
Global 50 Firm, New Venture Division
Consulting Company in the Southwestern US

Growth Stage, Energy Technology Firm in the Western US:

Need: The lead outside investor & board of directors sought an independent organization to investigate the possibility of (and subsequently complete) a strategic alliance/ M&A opportunity that would position the company to play a leading role in the industry’s future evolution and consolidation.

JSP’s Solution:

Completed an independent and critical review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats.
Created a business development plan focused on leveraging the company’s core competencies, and a resource enhancement/partnership plan to address the gaps in the company’s solution.
Gathered primary research and direct feedback from 60 companies in the market who overlapped the firm’s solution.
Evaluated the firm’s potential options, resulting in a decision to primarily pursue an M&A strategy.
Obtained seven (7) letters of intent (LOIs) from potential M&A candidates.
Analyzed and negotiated the seven LOIs, resulting in three detailed memorandums of understanding (MOUs).
Successfully completed & closed a transaction with an industry leader.

Benefits: The company was acquired by a sizable market player for a valuation far in excess of the lead investor’s expectation.

Business Process Outsourcing Company in the Southwestern US:

Need: The CEO wanted to find a way to grow the business into additional vertical markets and scale beyond their existing “word-of-mouth” customer base.

JSP’s Solution:

Completed an independent and critical review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats.
Analyzed the firm’s profit margin by customer segment, and then redirected the company’s efforts towards the niche with the most profitable clients.
Created a business development/channel partner strategy and department to support the company’s new focus area.
Developed a more complete high-end offering matrix based on internal resources and newly signed channel partners.
Improved corporate profit margins by over 5.5x.
Assisted in the hire of a full time Vice-President of Marketing to continue and grow these business development activities.
Recruited Board of Advisors members to help monitor, govern and grow the firm.
Served as a strategic advisor to determine the most advantageous structure, process and timing for a liquidation event.
Assisted in the acquisition of the firm by one of the company’s business development partners for a substantial premium over expected value.

Benefits: Revenues increased by over 250%. Profit margins improved by over 500%. The company was acquired by one of its business development partners, resulting in substantial liquidity to the shareholders.

Customer-Direct, Energy Firm in the Southwestern US:

Need: The CEO/President needed an outside organization to assist the company in improving their sales & marketing process, closing rate and corporate profitability.

JSP’s Solution:

Completed an independent and critical review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats.
Changed the existing marketing program to include a new, compelling unique selling proposition and headline message.
Improved initial customer contact by 250% within five months.
Improved customer closings by 410% within five months.
Identified $25,000/month of additional profit through process improvements.
Assisted in the transition to a full-time resource to manage the newly created marketing process.

Benefits: JSP’s activities resulted in over $40,000/month of additional profit to the firm.

Consumer Services, Technology-Related Company in the Midwestern US:

Need: The Board of Directors & primary outside investor sought an independent change agent to improve margins, growth, management accountability, and corporate focus.

JSP’s Solution:

Completed an independent and critical review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats.
Developed a new management compensation program resulting in improved focus and clarity.
Created a reporting structure that relayed key issues to the management team and board of directors and improved the cycle time for executive decisions by 80%.
Launched a new marketing program based on a compelling unique selling proposition.
Improved the top two leading sales indicators by 214% and 254% within five months.
Improved sales by 285% within five months.
Identified and implemented cost reductions of over $40,000 per month.

Benefits: JSP’s activities resulted in over a $100,000/month EBITDA improvement within five months.

Global 50 Firm, New Venture Division:

Need: An Executive Vice-President was tasked to oversee a team that would deploy $100M in capital to fulfill a dual role of: 1) Achieving a strong IRR, 2) Investing in technologies that could bring value to the parent company. He needed to augment his team with additional resources in the Southwestern US to achieve the division’s metrics.

JSP’s Solution:

Provided an “outsourced” entrepreneur/VC-in-residence program at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full team.
Directly sourced in excess of 325 investment opportunities within 14 months; six completed investment memorandum transactions.
Provided introductions and first meetings with 75 private equity and relevant stakeholder firms in the region to build the fund’s market exposure in the region.
Supplied deal-experienced professionals to assist with investment transactions including: valuations, financial modeling, M&A procedures, and business & market analysis.
Utilized domain experts in relevant sub-sectors to validate opportunities, and mentor and coach the fund in refining their strategy.
Supplied corporate governance, direct managerial expertise, and executive resources for portfolio companies.

Benefits: The corporate investment division was rated “well above” corporate expectations, received full bonuses, and achieved all of their internal metrics.

Consulting Company in the Southwestern US:

Need: The CEO wanted strategic assistance and extra resources in “launching” a new business development division centered on a potential relationship with a large strategic partner.

JSP’s Solution:

Completed an independent and critical review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats for both the company and potential partnership.
Developed a comprehensive business development plan centered around the company’s strengths, the potential partner’s strengths, the gaps in the marketplace and near-term actions required to create a successful relationship.
Assisted in the partnership negotiations to create a win-win and provide our client with the primary elements they needed to scale their company.
Identified and secured two beta customers to build initial momentum for the relationship.
Developed the process for managing and growing the relationship between the two companies.

Benefits: The strategic partner is currently providing in excess of 25% of the company’s total revenues, and the relationship is following the exact model created and negotiated by the JSP team.