Stewardship Exit Planning
Clarify whether you are ready to sell now or need 12–24 months to build a stronger, less owner-dependent company.
The Stewardship Exit
Prepare, sell, and transition without destroying your legacy.
SDG Capital helps founder-led businesses move from owner-dependent operations to transferable companies buyers can trust — so people, profits, and places can flourish after the handoff.
1–5 yearsIdeal preparation window
$1M–$20MOwner-led revenue range
WA · OR · IDPacific Northwest focus
“Your first job was to build the product. Your second job was to build the team. Your last job is to build the exit.”From The Stewardship Exit, SDG Capital
Who SDG is
More than a buyer. More than a broker. An ecosystem for the handoff.
SDG Capital exists to uplift people and the small businesses they power. We believe finance is a tool — not the purpose.
In a marketplace filled with “gut-and-flip” investors and predatory aggregators, SDG takes a different stand: human-first investing, stewardship over extraction, and operational excellence that helps companies outgrow founder dependence.
Human-first investingStewardship over extractionOperational excellence
The SDG promise
We serve owners who want more than a wire transfer. We serve owners who want to know their legacy is in safe hands.
- Experienced operators
- Financial expertise and buyer’s-eye underwriting
- Leadership infrastructure and EOS-style operating frameworks
- Long-term strategic guidance for the next chapter
What we do
The anti-broker approach: engineer the deal to close.
SDG wears two hats: we are investors who buy businesses for our own portfolio, and advisors who help owners sell to third parties. That buyer’s-eye advantage changes the process.
Deal Feasibility & Underwriting
Before marketing the business, we stress-test financials the way lenders and serious buyers will: debt coverage, add-backs, risk, transferability, and market-clearing price.
Operating System Improvement
We help install the systems buyers value: documented processes, weekly scorecards, leadership rhythm, clear seats, and accountability.
Qualified Buyer Matching
We do not blast confidential data to random lists. We hand-pick buyers and operators with the funds, character, and capability to close and steward the company.
Strategy Session
A confidential working session for owners considering a sale.
If you may sell in the next one to three years, preparation should begin now. The Strategy Session gives you clarity about value, timing, and what must change before market.
Schedule the sessionScore your business
Walk through the Red Light / Green Light readiness audit and evaluate whether the company is prepared for transition.
Identify the gap
Estimate the difference between what the business is worth today and what it could be worth with the right systems and structure in place.
Map the transition
Leave with an honest answer: sell now, or spend the next 12–24 months preparing for a stronger exit.
Protect the handoff
Plan the baton pass so employees, customers, and the company itself can trust the next steward.
Readiness Audit
Buyers do not pay for guesses. They pay for transferable value.
The SDG review focuses on the risks that decide whether a business can actually sell — and whether it can survive after the founder steps away.
Monthly books, clear EBITDA, defensible add-backs, tax hygiene, and lender-ready documentation.
A business becomes fragile when one customer, relationship, or channel can threaten the company’s future.
Key employees, accountability, leadership depth, and the question every buyer asks: “Will this run without the owner?”
Document the 20% of processes that produce 80% of results so the company becomes predictable and transferable.
Regional focus
Serving values-aligned owners across the Pacific Northwest.
SDG Capital works with founder-led and lower-middle-market businesses across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and beyond.
WashingtonOregonIdahoTacoma & Puget SoundPortland MetroBoise & Treasure Valley
Founder & Team
Led by operators who understand the weight of ownership.
SDG Capital is led by operators, entrepreneurs, and advisors who understand that selling a business is more than a transaction — it is the transfer of years of work, risk, and responsibility.
Devin Craig
Founder, SDG Capital
Founder of SDG Capital, a mission-driven M&A advisory and investment firm dedicated to preserving the legacy of American small businesses. Devin specializes in helping values-aligned entrepreneurs navigate the financial and psychological realities of exiting their companies.
Nick Brunelle
Partner, SDG Capital
Business leader and acquisitions advisor with deep experience in sales management, business development, and strategic relationship building. Nick supports buyer development and successful small-business transitions.
Erik Trefzger
Partner | Managing Broker
Erik Trefzger is an entrepreneur, investor, and Managing Broker at SDG Capital. For more than 20 years, he has built, launched, and operated businesses, giving him firsthand insight into the challenges, risks, and rewards of business ownership.
Having started multiple companies from the ground up and personally experienced both buying and selling privately held businesses, Erik understands that selling a business is far more than a financial transaction. It is often the culmination of years—or even decades—of hard work, sacrifice, and calculated risk.
As SDG Capital’s real estate advisor and a Washington State Managing Broker, Erik brings additional expertise to transactions involving commercial real estate, owner-occupied properties, and investment assets. His ability to evaluate both the business and the underlying real estate allows him to provide strategic guidance on more complex transactions.
Erik works closely with business owners throughout every stage of the sale process—from valuation and exit planning to confidential marketing, buyer qualification, negotiations, due diligence, and closing. His objective is to position each business to attract qualified buyers, create a competitive sale process, and maximize the value of each client’s business.
Rather than approaching transactions solely as a broker, Erik approaches every engagement as a fellow business owner. Having spent decades building companies himself, he understands what is at stake and is committed to helping clients navigate one of the most significant decisions of their entrepreneurial journey with confidence.
A note from Devin: “Stepping away from your company is not just a financial transaction; it is a profound life transition. You do not have to hand your life’s work to someone who only sees numbers on a spreadsheet. Let us make sure your exit is a continuation of your legacy.”
Resources
Build readiness before the market tests you.
We added a practical article library and FAQ covering owner dependence, valuation, lender underwriting, clean add-backs, customer concentration, weekly scorecards, and intentional exits.
Popular topics
- Why four out of five businesses never sell
- If your business needs you, it is worth less
- The banker’s formula and debt service coverage
- Red, yellow, or green readiness audit
Next step
Book your confidential Strategy Session.
No pressure. No aggressive sales pitch. Just a practical conversation about where your business stands, what it could be worth, and how to protect what you built.
- devin@sdgcapital.us
- 206-450-0501
- 732 Broadway #201, Tacoma, WA 98402