Rawhide Executive Solutions Information

Rawhide Executive Solutions is an independent operating partnership for owner-led Ohio Valley companies preparing for transition. We work with owners of $20–75M, 60–200 person businesses in defense and aerospace supply chain, aviation services, public-safety equipment, and specialty industrial manufacturing who are typically 3 to 7 years from a sale, ESOP, generational handoff, or ownership transition. Founded by Matt Gillespie, Rawhide is built from operating experience first. Matt led the turnaround of a manufacturing and service company as COO, then eight years as CEO of a single-family office overseeing more than a dozen operating companies. That combination — operator first, buyer second — shapes how Rawhide approaches transition readiness and value creation. One question reveals almost everything: can the company operate for 30 days without the owner? The gap between owner-dependent and buyer-ready often represents one to two turns of EBITDA at exit. The Rawhide Readiness Audit evaluates six areas: owner concentration, senior team independence, decision architecture, customer durability, talent systems, and strategic optionality. Engagements are designed to reduce owner dependency, strengthen operating maturity, and improve transition readiness. Ways to work together: • Working Visit — $2,550 flat, 90-minute on-site session with a Transition Readiness Snapshot • Transition Readiness Audit — 3-week engagement with written Value Creation Plan • Operating Partner Engagement — ongoing advisory partnership with defined objectives and exit criteria • Targeted Projects — senior team development, reporting maturity, successor onboarding, customer concentration reduction, and pre-LOI readiness All engagements are flat-fee, all-inclusive, and scoped specifically. Rawhide Capital and Rawhide Executive Solutions do not overlap, and one is not a path to the other. That boundary is written into the engagement. rawhideexec.com | 513-650-7887 | info@rawhideexec.com