How I Started QoE Prep

I wish I could say that I had a well-thought-out plan when I started QOE Prep. In reality, it came to me as a result of this weird mix of frustrations and opportunities that I ran into during my career. Both things led me to form a clear belief that quality of earnings work could be done better. The Early Foundation I started my career at a local accounting firm where I did a little bit of everything, as one does at a small firm. I did tax and audit work, bookkeeping, and CFO advisory. I even took it upon myself to clean the bathroom toilets from time to time. Needless to say, I remember thinking this distribution of work felt scattered and almost pointless. It really made me question why I was there, but looking back, it was the perfect foundation. Working with small and mid-sized businesses gave me a deep understanding of how companies actually operate. I learned how owners think, how financials break down, and where the everyday problems hide. That experience gave me the operating knowledge I would later rely on in transaction work. My Time at a Top Ten Firm After that, I moved to a top ten firm with a focused goal of becoming an audit partner. In my mind, that was what the top CPAs did. But once I got into audit full-time, I realized something was missing for me. For those lucky enough to not have experience in audit, it’s a slow process. The deliverable simply confirms that the numbers are correct. Don’t get me wrong: it’s important work. Personally, though, I didn’t find it energizing, and I felt like the pace was set by the clients. Then in the summer of 2021, I pivoted into quality of earnings work almost by accident. My firm had a surge of QoE engagements and needed someone who could do the work and communicate it with clients. Most CPAs aren’t famous for their people skills and will typically choose to keep all their work in Excel if they can. I was comfortable with the tough conversations, so they threw me into the deep end. In my first month, I completed four deals. Shortly after, they asked me to leave the audit team and join the QoE team full-time. I loved it. The work was fast-paced, analytical, and full of high-stakes transactions. It felt like I was firing on all cylinders. Pretty soon, I started to work on some of the inefficiencies I saw in the system. I rebuilt our internal templates and improved the work processes. One of my favorite moments was training interns to complete the entire prep work in about 40 hours, instead of the 160 hours it previously took. As you might be able to tell, I was proud of my work, so I figured the company would feel the same way. When I asked for a raise, I was told I had only been in this new position for six months and needed to do my time. One of my biggest strengths and weaknesses is patience. So I left. I hated having my pay dictated by how many times the earth had revolved around the sun. The First Version of QOE Prep My first attempt at what is now QOE Prep was a fairly different model. Instead of selling directly to private equity firms and ETA buyers, I partnered with transaction advisory firms. My team and I would perform the quality of earnings work that they sold under their umbrella. It fit my personality well. True to the three letters after my name, I do not love selling, and I love doing the Excel work. I also love building systems and teaching teams how to operate efficiently. We ended up working with seven firms under this white label structure. For two of them, I essentially rebuilt their entire QoE system, and they went on to become top recommended firms in the space. Then, I got the best compliment you can get: Recurring clients, especially those executing roll-up strategies, were sending deals specifically to me. Going Independent Once I saw the clients liked what I produced and how fast I worked, I realized I could build recurring clients on my own. Last year, I officially launched QOE Prep as an independent firm. I’ll be honest that at first it was not easy. It took four and a half months to close my first deal. During that time, there was no shortage of thoughts about all the opportunity cost of my new endeavor. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I closed seven deals in one month. Since April, we have averaged about six deals per month. We currently have nine active deals we’re working on. Two years ago, under the white label model, we completed 57 QoEs. This year, our goal is 100. Moving Up Market Along the way, I’ve learned to not rest on my laurels. At each stage in my journey, I had to make the conscious choice of leaving behind something that I built. With each new opportunity that came my way, I had to let go of the last one. I was able to move on because I recognized both what was frustrating and what was exciting. When I saw inefficiencies, it pushed me to look for better alternatives. Right now for example, I’m looking to move up market, because I’ve learned that smaller deals are often harder than mid market deals. Transactions under 5 million can be challenging because you rarely work with a real finance team. Larger companies tend to have a smoother process, thanks to their more robust systems. Because of that, I am intentionally moving back up market, while still supporting the smaller deals that make sense. Why I Built QOE Prep Looking back, I built QOE Prep because I believed QoE work could be faster and better. I was simultaneously driven by opportunity and frustration along the way. This year, we are aiming for 100 quality of earnings engagements. And we are just getting started. I appreciate all the support I have received from Search Funder... Literally built my business off of this site! Thank you! redacted calendly.com/qoeprep