What Common Trust does

Common Trust (legal entity: Good Ancestor Technologies, Inc.) is a San Francisco-based advisory firm specializing in Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) transactions for U.S. small and mid-sized business owners seeking values-aligned exits. The firm guides sellers through a four-phase process: a free initial advisory call, a personalized ownership-options analysis, full transaction leadership (coordinating legal, financial, diligence, and employee onboarding), and ongoing post-close governance, trustee education, and financial oversight support. Common Trust positions itself as a lower-cost, faster alternative to ESOPs (EOT setup typically under $50K and 4–8 months vs. $150K–$500K+ and 6–9 months for ESOPs), and as the exclusive EOT-specialist in a market where most advisors are generalist M&A intermediaries or law firms. The firm has facilitated 17 EOTs across at least 11 U.S. states and 10+ industries, including landmark transactions such as the first EOT holding company in the U.S. (Clegg Auto), the first 100% employee-owned SaaS company (Text-Em-All), and the largest single employee-owner group in its portfolio (CDCN with 60,000 caregivers).

The product stack layers a proprietary digital tool on top of the core advisory service. The EO Planner is a login-gated SaaS application (planner.common-trust.com) that generates preliminary valuations, surfaces industry-comparable transactions, models multiple ownership scenarios (EOT, MBO, alternative), and recommends an ownership structure, with a personalized advisor review session. The EOT Playbook (annual 2026 Edition) and the Owners Sessions webinar series serve as educational and lead-generation assets. An affiliated capital arm, Common Trust Capital, extends direct loans alongside third-party financing (e.g., the Clegg Auto deal), allowing Common Trust to close transactions that would not proceed on external capital alone.

The revenue model combines professional-services fees on advisory and transaction engagements, interest/principal repayment income from the capital arm's direct loans, and recurring retainer revenue from ongoing post-close governance and trustee support. Customer concentration spans enterprise (CDCN, P. Terry's) down to SMB (CodeWeavers, Kinetic West), with a referral channel through legal and financial advisors (including Holland & Hart) supplementing the inside-sales funnel that begins with a free advisory call booked via HubSpot.

Name

Common Trust

Legal name

Good Ancestor Technologies, Inc.

Website

https://common-trust.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Common Trust is a San Francisco-based advisory firm that helps U.S. small and mid-sized business owners transition their companies to Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) through a four-phase process of advisory, modeling, transaction execution, and ongoing governance support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Employee Ownership Advisory & Succession Planning Services

NAICS

Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities (523991), Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (525920), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate & Institutional Trust Services (FSAAANAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Trust Services (Trustee, Agent & Escrow Roles) (FSAEAKAB), Estate Planning, Trust Structuring & Governance (FSAAADAF)

Keywords

• Employee ownership trusts
• Business succession planning
• Owner exit advisory
• EOT transition services
• Employee ownership consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. EOT Advisory & Transaction Services: Fee-based advisory engagements for business owners exploring employee ownership: free initial advisory calls, paid personalized analyses/feasibility studies (EO Planner), full transaction leadership including legal/financial coordination, and ongoing post-close governance support. Recurring and project-based professional services revenue.
2. EOT Transaction Financing (Capital Arm): Direct loans and supplemental financing from Common Trust's sister capital arm to support EOT transactions (e.g., direct loan to Clegg Auto's EOT). Generates interest/principal repayment income on financed deals.
3. Ongoing Governance & Trustee Support: Post-transaction retainer-style support for governance, trustee education, employee financial literacy, profit-sharing design, and long-term oversight of EOT-owned companies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Common Trust (legal entity: Good Ancestor Technologies, Inc.) helps small and mid-sized U.S. business owners explore and execute transitions to Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). Its core service is a four-phase advisory engagement: (1) a free advisory call, (2) a personalized ownership-options analysis (EO Planner), (3) full transaction leadership coordinating legal, financial, diligence, and employee onboarding, and (4) ongoing post-close governance and trustee support. The firm also operates an in-house capital arm that provides direct loans and supplemental financing to close EOT transactions.

Product overview

Common Trust (legal entity: Good Ancestor Technologies, Inc., doing business as Common Trust) operates as the U.S. leader in Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) transition advisory, combining a hands-on core service with proprietary digital and educational products. The core offering is its EOT Advisory Services, delivered through a four-phase process (advisory call, personalized analysis, transaction leadership, and ongoing post-close support). Layered on top of that core service are three named products: the EO Planner, a login-gated financial-modeling and scenario-planning tool hosted at planner.common-trust.com; the EOT Playbook, an annual downloadable guide (2026 Edition) covering deal terms, financing, governance, and case studies; and the Owners Sessions Webinars, a recurring educational webinar series featuring EOT owners and operators. Together, these products support Common Trust's claim of $672M+ enterprise value transitioned to employee ownership and 61K+ team members brought into employee ownership across clients such as Clegg Auto, CodeWeavers, Text-Em-All, The Ready, Cypress Valley, Guidon, Consumer Direct Care Network, P. Terry's, Rost Inc., Signature Vacuum, RainTech, and Kinetic West.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) Advisory Services End-to-end advisory engagement that guides business owners through exploring and executing a transition to an Employee Ownership Trust. Delivered via a four-phase process: no-pressure advisory call, personalized ownership-options analysis and scenario modeling, transaction leadership coordinating legal/financial/diligence/employee onboarding, and ongoing post-close governance, education, and financial oversight. For owners of profitable U.S. small and mid-sized companies (typically ~$300K+ EBITDA) seeking values-aligned exits.
• EO Planner Interactive, login-gated planning application hosted at planner.common-trust.com that translates a seller's goals, financials, and industry context into a preliminary valuation, comparable EOT/MBO/alternative transactions, multi-scenario financial models, and a recommended ownership model — so owners can evaluate EOT fit before committing to a deal. Includes a personalized review session with a Common Trust advisor.
• EOT Playbook Annual downloadable guide (currently the 2026 Edition) that walks business owners and their advisors through evaluating and transitioning to employee ownership. Combines plain-language EOT explainers, real cross-industry case studies with deal terms and financing approaches, practical lessons on governance/profit-sharing/communication after close, and an FAQ. Distributed as a gated PDF.
• Owners Sessions Webinars Recurring webinar series in which Common Trust moderates candid conversations with EOT owners and operators at various stages of the journey (e.g., ShopBot Tools, Text-Em-All, The Ready, Ocaquatics, LiveOak Living Community, Cypress Valley, RainTech). Sessions cover governance design, culture building, succession planning, human impact of employee ownership, and operating-model design. Replays are hosted under the Common Trust blog.

Quantifiable outcome

• $672M+ enterprise value transitioned to employee ownership
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship reference client and core legal execution partner.

• P. Terry's Burger Standflagship reference clientStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2026Austin-based fast-food chain with 38 Texas locations and 1,800 employees; transitioned to an EOT with profit sharing in June 2026. Co-founders Kathy and Patrick Terry partnered with Common Trust to facilitate the transition while continuing to lead the company.
• Holland & Hartcore legal execution partnerImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 26 August 2025Law firm that co-designed the Consumer Direct Care Network (CDCN) Employee Ownership Trust alongside Common Trust, supporting the legal structuring of large-scale EOT transactions.
• Consumer Direct Care Network (CDCN)flagship reference clientStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 August 2025Provider of in-home care services to families across 14 states; transitioned to EOT in August 2025 benefitting 60,000 caregivers — the largest employee-owner group in Common Trust's portfolio. Co-developed the EOT with Holland & Hart and Common Trust.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Project Equity: California-based nonprofit that helps business owners transition to employee ownership, including EOTs and worker cooperatives. Highly comparable in mission and target customer (mission-driven SMB founders approaching exit) and a likely direct competitor for nonprofit- and impact-oriented deals.
• ICA Group: Massachusetts-based consulting firm specializing in employee ownership and worker cooperative conversions. Closely comparable on service offering (ownership transition advisory) and customer base (small and mid-sized business owners), and a credible alternative for owners evaluating cooperative or trust-based models.
• Ownership Associates: Employee ownership consulting firm that helps business owners design and implement employee ownership structures, including ESOPs and EOT-style perpetual trusts. Directly comparable on transaction advisory, valuation, and governance support, serving a similar owner-founders customer base.

Broad incumbents

• National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO): Long-established nonprofit membership, research, and education organization covering the full spectrum of employee ownership (ESOPs, EOTs, cooperatives). Comparable as a thought leader and source of advisor referrals, but does not itself execute transactions at scale.
• Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing: Academic and policy institute focused on employee ownership research and education, including EOTs. Overlaps with Common Trust's content and policy engagement but does not provide paid transaction advisory services.
• 一时 Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg / ESOP practices: Established law and advisory firms with ESOP-focused practices serving many of the same SMB owner-founders considering employee ownership. Comparable on customer overlap, but ESOP-centric and not specialist EOT facilitators; represents the incumbent alternative Common Trust must displace.
• 一时 Great Lake Management Consulting: Mid-market ESOP and management advisory firm that designs and implements employee stock ownership plans for closely held companies. Comparable on customer and ownership-transition advisory, with a longer track record but an ESOP-only focus.

Regional players

• Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC): Kent State University-affiliated center providing technical assistance to businesses converting to employee ownership in Ohio and surrounding states. Comparable mission and target customer, but with a regional focus and nonprofit model rather than national paid advisory.
• 一时 Purposeful (UK EOT advisory): UK-based EOT advisory firm facilitating Employee Ownership Trust transactions for UK small and mid-sized businesses. Highly comparable service model in a parallel jurisdiction; does not currently compete in the U.S. market but reflects the broader EOT advisory category.

Emerging players

• 一时 Ownership Thinking: An emerging category of employee ownership / EOT-focused advisory firms and consultancies that share Common Trust's customer segment (founder-led SMBs) and ownership-transition mission. Early-stage and often regionally focused; represents the cohort of new entrants likely to compete for the same referral flow.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Common Trust