We meet you where you are.
You built something worth protecting. We help you strengthen what exists, close the gaps that matter, and build what the next chapter requires.
No prescription before diagnosis. We start with your reality, exactly as it is today.
You created something real. We build on your foundation, addressing gaps and amplifying strengths.
Growth, capital, scale, or exit. We build the structure and story your next chapter requires.
Most clients arrive from one of two directions. Read through and see where you recognize yourself.
The business works. But only because you are in it every day. Growth is outpacing your structure. The team is capable but not aligned. You cannot step back without something slipping. And now you are looking at the next move, another location, a new market, an acquisition, knowing the foundation is not ready for it.
You know where you are going. A capital raise, a strategic acquisition, a growth partnership, an exit on your terms. The vision is solid. But when a banker, investor, or buyer asks you to prove it, the documentation is not there. The numbers tell part of the story. You need the rest of it built, scored, and ready.
Most clients are already sitting with these questions.
What prompted this conversation now? What changed or what concern surfaced?
What do you believe is the most significant obstacle between where the business is today and the outcome you want?
What has already been tried to address that obstacle and what happened?
Either way, this is where we start.
Right Things · Things RightEvery engagement follows a sequenced process. What changes is what we find, what we prioritize, and where the work takes us. No two engagements are the same.
An introductory conversation. We learn about your business, your goals, and where you are right now. You learn how we work. No obligation and no pressure. If we are a good fit for each other, we move forward. If we are not, we will tell you that too.
A structured intake session covering your capital direction, your leadership situation, and what you are actually trying to build. We establish where you are, what resources are in play, what you want to do, and what is realistically achievable on your timeline. This is where the real work begins.
18 sections scored against behavioral maturity anchors across leadership, management, and capital readiness. Gap identification, section scores, and your RTR Capital Readiness Score. Benchmarked against where you are trying to go, not where you have been.
Targeted workshops, coaching sessions, and structured engagements. Each one tied directly to gaps identified in the assessment and prioritized by their impact on your stated goals. This is not general advisory work. Every session has a purpose and a measurable outcome.
A scored performance report documenting where you started, the work completed, and where you stand today. Built on evidence, not narrative. Designed to support your next conversation with the people who need to see proof.
For clients pursuing a full formal valuation or PE-grade diligence process, RTR work serves as the preparatory foundation. We help you get the business ready before engaging a credentialed valuation firm, which typically results in a stronger outcome and a cleaner process.
Every engagement begins with a no-obligation discovery call.
The RTR Assessment is not a survey. It is a structured diagnostic scored against behavioral evidence. What it produces is a picture of your business as it actually operates, not how it is described.
Leadership. Vision, strategy, culture, decision-making, and the people conditions that determine whether the business can grow without breaking.
8 sections · 47 questions
Management. Execution, systems, process, accountability, and the operational infrastructure that determines whether the business can scale.
7 sections · 38 questions
Where leadership and management converge into a story a capital partner can evaluate. Governance, succession, and narrative integrity under pressure.
3 sections · 15 questions
Every answer is scored 1 to 10 against three behavioral maturity tiers.
Not present or actively avoided. Creates risk that would surface immediately in a diligence conversation.
Present but inconsistent. Works under ideal conditions. Degrades under growth pressure, leadership change, or urgency.
Embedded in how the business operates. Holds under pressure. Produces consistent, defensible, buyer-ready outcomes.
One question from each pillar. This is what the assessment actually asks.
"If you stepped away for 90 days, no email, no calls, what would break first, and how quickly?"
Cannot answer without visible discomfort. Response is "everything would break" or deflects entirely.
Identifies 2 to 3 areas that would struggle but describes partial coverage. Self-aware but unresolved.
Responds with specificity and confidence. Has tested absence. The answer is "very little would break."
"Where is data manually re-entered between systems, and where does Excel quietly save the day?"
Multiple re-entry points. Spreadsheets are the primary operational record. No system-to-system data flow exists.
Can identify re-entry points and acknowledges the cost. Some automation completed. Active improvement underway.
Most key data flows are automated. Manual re-entry is the exception. Reporting generates from integrated systems.
"Could you articulate your equity story, why a buyer should pay a premium multiple, in five minutes without notes?"
Cannot produce a coherent equity story. Response is a list of features rather than a value thesis.
Can deliver a story but it relies on assertion without evidence. Would not survive sustained buyer questioning.
Delivers a clear, evidence-backed equity story. Every material claim is substantiated and buyer-verifiable.
The result of all 18 sections averaged into a single score out of 100.
Significant gaps. Capital conversations are premature.
Strong areas present. Value leakage is material.
Meaningful capability. Gaps are identifiable and closeable.
Strong foundation with specific improvement opportunities.
Institutional-grade performance. Commands attention in a competitive process.
Founder preparing for first outside capital raise. Strong revenue growth but no documented processes, all key client relationships held personally, and no succession plan in place.
Developing to Capital Ready in 14 months
Capital outcome: Secured growth financing. Lender cited the performance report as the clearest picture of a business they had seen at this stage.
Owner dependency: Section 5 score moved from 28 to 71. Founder took a two-week absence mid-engagement. Business continued without disruption.
Systems: CRM adoption reached consistent use across the team. Manual re-entry eliminated from three core reporting functions.
Narrative: Equity story stress-tested and documented. Leadership team aligned on all material points. First diligence conversation handled without advisor present.
Tell us about your business. We will reach out within one business day.
Meeting you where you are. Our backgrounds are different. Our standard of work is not.
Colin Daugherty does not lead with his resume. He leads with results. His career spans military service and a combat deployment to Iraq, advanced criminal task force investigations, high-risk contract work across three continents, and senior leadership roles inside Fortune 500 companies. Put him in a complex situation and things get resolved at a pace and quality level that surprises people who have not worked with him before.
Across all of it the same pattern emerged: put Colin in a complex situation, at the strategy table or in the middle of an execution problem, and things get resolved at a pace and quality level that surprises people who have not worked with him before.
He holds an MBA from the University of Denver, serves as a senior advisor to a federal agency, and serves with several nonprofit organizations including as executive director of the i get to foundation. He founded this firm to bring that standard of work directly to owners and leaders who are ready for it.
MJ Patti has spent her career building the people side of organizations that others were trying to scale, fix, or transform. From startups to Fortune 100 companies, across private equity, public sector, healthcare, energy, and technology, she has been the executive brought in when the workforce infrastructure needs to catch up with the ambition of the business.
Her work spans mergers and acquisitions, leadership development, organizational design, and the full range of people strategy that determines whether a growing company holds together or comes apart under pressure. She has consistently been the person who makes complex human capital problems simpler, more functional, and more connected to results.
She joined Ridgeline Advisory as Partner to bring that same discipline directly to the owners and leaders who need it most.
Every engagement begins with a single conversation. No agenda, no pitch. Just an honest look at where you are, what you are working toward, and whether we are the right fit for each other.