Your business is always evolving, Your plan should be too.
Ascent Advisors acts as a family office style partner for privately held and family-owned businesses, coordinating consulting, wealth management, insurance, and your outside advisors around the real and evolving needs of your business, your family, and your legacy.
Agricultural Enterprises
Transition & Succession
Family-Owned Businesses
Multi-Generational Families
Ongoing Engagement Model
Agricultural Enterprises Transition & Succession Family-Owned Businesses Multi-Generational Families Ongoing Engagement Model
What We DoWe are the catalyst that gets families moving.
Most business owners already have advisors. What they often lack is alignment. The business plan, personal financial plan, estate plan, insurance strategy, and leadership plan are handled separately, creating gaps, duplicated effort, and sometimes conflict. Ascent's role is to organize the moving pieces, coordinate the right people, and keep the business, family, and advisory team moving in the same direction.
We are an unbiased third party. For families that have been circling the same conversations for years without gaining momentum, that matters more than almost anything else. We do not have a stake in the outcome. We have a commitment to the process, and to helping every family member arrive at a place they can live with. We guide clients to attain their desired future state. That is the work.
70%
of family businesses fail to transfer to the next generation
60%
of those failures trace back to trust and communication breakdowns
30%
survive to the second generation without intentional planning
Years
before a transition is when the most important decisions get made
Multi-generational families at an inflection point
Families where the senior generation is ready to begin stepping back, the next generation is ready, or not yet ready, to step forward, and the gap between those two realities needs to be navigated with care.
Manufacturing, construction, and closely held businesses
Any privately held business where ownership, leadership, and family are intertwined, and where informal conversations have not been enough to create real alignment or momentum.
Owners without a clear successor
Not every business has a next generation ready to take over. We are equally experienced helping owners identify and evaluate alternatives, a management team transition, a strategic sale, or a structured wind-down, and helping them face those realities with clarity rather than avoidance.
Who We HelpAny family business navigating what comes next.
You do not need to be planning an exit to work with us. You may simply need to decide who is involved and who isn't. Or you may be ready to plan the entire ownership and leadership transition from start to finish. We meet clients wherever they are.
Agricultural producers & Farm families
We have deep roots in agriculture and genuine care for the industry. Margin compression, land values, and multi-generational family dynamics make ag businesses uniquely complex, and uniquely important to plan carefully.
Why we call it Business Evolution Planning ~ and not Transition Planning
The word "transition" cost families more than we'd like to admit. People heard it and assumed it meant passing the business to the next generation, so they decided they weren't at that stage yet, and they moved on without a plan. That assumption, repeated across thousands of farms and family businesses, is a significant reason so many of them never make it to the next generation at all.
Businesses evolve every single day. With every new hire and every departure. With every ache and pain an owner starts to feel. With every conversation between generations that keeps getting delayed. Waiting for the right time to plan ahead is a fool's game and the businesses that survive are the ones whose owners understood that before it was too late.
Business Evolution Planning is a more honest description of what this work actually is. It is not about what's last. It is about what's next.
"Transition" implied a handoff; most owners didn't see themselves ready for that conversation yet
Business Evolution Planning reflects the truth: your business is already evolving, whether you're planning for it or not
There is no right time to start, there is only earlier and later, and earlier always wins
The decisions that determine whether a transition succeeds are made years before the transition occurs
We want to be part of the evolution for as long as possible, so when the moment comes, it is done right, done on purpose, and done without a surprise
BEP vs. Transition PlanningA disciplined, linear process ~ built around your situation
We follow a structured process because structure creates momentum. For families that have been talking about the same issues for years, a clear path forward is often the most valuable thing we provide.
1. Discovery
Understanding what matters to every person in the room
We meet with all stakeholders; owners, family members, key leaders, to understand what is important to the business and to each individual. We review business and financial documents and identify operational, ownership, and leadership risks or gaps. This becomes the foundation of the Business Evolution Plan.3. Family Dynamics
Explore family dynamics and address communication gaps
Many transitions fail not because the numbers don't work, but because expectations are unclear, communication breaks down, or the family lacks a process for making decisions together. We help families surface those dynamics directly, establish communication protocols, and create governance structures that reduce conflict before it starts.5. Planning
Propose a comprehensive plan ~ then shape it together
We develop a written Business Evolution Plan that is consistent with the facts and circumstances. We then work with the client on modifications to ensure it actually fits their life, not just the analysis. A plan that nobody will follow is not a plan, it is a document.2. Economic Analysis
Analyze the economics of the business and the individuals
We build a clear picture of the business's financial position alongside the owner's personal financial independence, because a Business Evolution Plan cannot be evaluated from the business side alone. The owner needs to know what they need personally, what income is available outside the company, and whether the plan supports their desired lifestyle.4. Priorities
Define priorities and weave in tax and estate strategies
We work with the client to clarify what matters most, identify the constraints, and integrate tax and estate strategies that fit their specific facts and circumstances, not generic advice applied to every situation6. Collaboration
Coordinate the advisory team ~ we do not replace them
Most business owners already have attorneys, CPAs, bankers, lenders, and other specialists. What they often lack is alignment across those relationships. We coordinate the client's existing advisory team so the family receives integrated guidance, not disconnected advice from professionals working in silos.7. Ongoing
Stay involved as the business and family evolves
Ascent's model is built around ongoing engagement. Regular planning meetings, annual reviews, leadership development check-ins, governance conversations, insurance audits, portfolio reviews, and ongoing updates to the transition roadmap. A static plan cannot serve a business that is constantly changing.Our ProcessWhat success looks like for our clients
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Greater Family Alignment
Clearer expectations, shared decisions, and fewer conversations that go in circles.
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Successor Readiness
Leaders who are developed, not just named, and prepared to carry the business forward.
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Stronger Business Value
Reduced owner dependency, stronger governance, and a business that can operate without its founder.
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Personal Financial Confidence
An owner who is financially independent from the business before they are emotionally ready to leave it.
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Coordinated Risk Protection
Insurance and risk strategy aligned with the business plan, not a separate afterthought.
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Legacy Positioned to Thrive
A business and family prepared to continue across generations, not just survive the first one.