Forward
By Design
Onward to what’s next
Strategy, growth leadership and succession for wealth‑management firms and the advisors who own them. Senior judgment, a deep industry network, and the hands‑on execution to make the plan real.
Success can still depend on one person.
When growth, key relationships, recruiting and major decisions still run through one person, even a successful firm is harder to scale, transfer and value.Most advisory firms are built around a founder who is the rainmaker, the lead advisor, the primary relationship and the face of the business. That works for years. It also leaves the firm exposed.
Proso calls that exposure Advisor Dependency Risk: the degree to which a firm’s revenue, client relationships and ultimate value depend on one person’s continued presence.
It shows up as succession risk and a capped valuation. It also shows up in growth. When the founder is the growth engine, growth stops whenever the founder is busy. The fix is the same in both cases: build systems, talent and ownership structures that work without depending on any one person.
It shows up in recruiting too. Advisors rarely move for payout alone. They move when the cost of staying finally exceeds the fear of leaving. Firms that recruit to the problem, not the payout, win the right advisors.
Sellers price what they built.
Buyers price what survives.
From Practice to Enterprise examines why advisory firms stall between a successful practice and a transferable business, and the specific moves that close the gap.
Drawing on research from Cerulli Associates, DeVoe & Company and Advisor Growth Strategies.
Read the White Paper →
Four ways to work together.
I start with what the owner actually wants, not a playbook. The goal is not growth for its own sake. It is a business that can produce growth and enterprise value with less dependence on any one person.
Built for RIA founders and leadership teams, wealth‑management platforms, and established advisors weighing a partner, a successor or an affiliation change. National and relationship‑driven: I follow fit and opportunity rather than a fixed AUM band. Economics matter. Fit matters more.
Growth StrategyDiagnostic
Know where growth should come from, and what it will cost.2 to 3 weeks
- Start with the owner: what you’re building, and what the business should do for you.
- Rank every growth engine by impact, cost and time to results: recruiting, organic growth, M&A, next‑generation talent and retention.
- Get a 12 to 24 month plan whose math actually reconciles to the goal.
Fractional Chief Growth OfficerEmbedded Leadership
Senior growth leadership without a full‑time hire.6-month minimum
- Install the recruiting engine: targeting, outreach sequences, CRM and a weekly operating cadence.
- Lead recruiting, tuck‑ins and partnerships alongside your leadership team.
- Leave behind systems that keep running after the engagement ends.
Advisor Recruiting
& Strategic SupportOngoing Support
A repeatable recruiting engine, run by someone who has built them before.
- A repeatable system for identifying, qualifying and recruiting advisors who fit the firm’s strategy.
- Target profile, sourcing, outreach, candidate experience and pipeline, through to close.
- For firms that need experienced recruiting leadership without a full Fractional CGO mandate.
Succession
AdvisoryTransition Planning
Turn a retirement date into a transferable business.
- Assess succession readiness and Advisor Dependency Risk.
- Develop successor paths inside and outside the firm, including building next‑generation advisors.
- I run the transition and bring in specialists where needed.
One call, the right people. When the work needs valuation, lending, legal, tax or transaction expertise, I bring in trusted specialists and stay in the room.
Advisor Dependency Risk, by the numbers.
Three numbers from the white paper, From Practice to Enterprise.
Advisors heading toward retirement within the next decade, representing 37.4% of industry headcount and controlling 41.4% of client assets.
Cerulli, U.S. Advisor Metrics 2024Of RIAs had a written succession plan in 2024, the lowest share recorded since DeVoe began tracking it in 2019.
DeVoe & Company, 2024 Talent Management ReportMedian RIA EBITDA multiple across 60 transactions completed in 2025, up 5% from the prior year.
Advisor Growth Strategies, 2026 RIA Deal Room ReportFive questions. One useful signal.
How much of your firm still depends on you personally showing up tomorrow? These five questions can reveal where that dependence is quietly limiting the business.
If you were out for 90 days, could someone else keep your top twenty client relationships running without calling you?
Could someone else lead a client review today using documented processes instead of what is in your head?
If you sold or transitioned the practice tomorrow, would a buyer be pricing your revenue or pricing you?
Could your firm recruit and onboard its next advisor without you personally driving the process?
Do you know what your practice is worth, can you defend the multiple and do you know what would improve it?
Paul Abdenour
“Growth should serve your personal and financial objectives, not the other way around.”
Too many great advisory businesses are built to depend on one person. Proso exists to change that.
I have spent 25 years on the growth side of wealth management: advisor recruiting, distribution, platform growth, succession and transitions. I have sat across the table from hundreds of advisors and owners at the moment they decided to grow, move, merge or step back. That pattern recognition is what I bring. So is the network behind it: talent, successors, capital and specialists.
I work directly with every client.
Bring me the problem.
Most owners already know what isn’t working. Thirty minutes is usually enough to find out whether it’s worth solving together. What would forward look like for your business?
Or send a note. Tell me about your firm and what you’re weighing. I read every one of these myself.