Five Experts, Llc
Five Experts is a Sonoma-based membership platform that provides a coordinated five-phase operating system for business acquisition, combining a command center dashboard, 30+ vetted expert categories, and phase-organized peer community for first-time searchers, independent sponsors, and post-close operators pursuing $1M–$5M EBITDA deals.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2025
- HeadquartersSonoma, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Five Experts, Llc does
Five Experts, LLC is a Sonoma, California-based membership platform that provides a coordinated operating system for business acquisition and ownership transfer, organized around a five-phase journey: Aspiration & Preparation, Search & Sourcing, Deal Structure & Financing, Ownership & Value Creation, and Succession & Exit. The core product is a web-based Command Center dashboard that integrates a deal pipeline tracker, broker CRM, proprietary seller outreach CRM, document vault, and a capital stack tracker with a 14-point SBA readiness checklist. Around this core, the platform coordinates 30+ vetted expert categories (fractional CFOs, M&A attorneys, SBA lenders, growth strategists, former searchers) with in-platform booking and chat, a members-only peer community organized by phase, and monthly live sessions including Expert AMAs and a Deal War Room.
The company serves three primary customer segments: first-time searchers and acquirers pursuing $1M–$5M EBITDA, SBA-financed deals; independent sponsors underwriting lower-middle-market deals; and post-close operators executing 100-day plans and value creation. Revenue is generated through a freemium subscription model — free Phase 01 community access plus $295/month or $2,950/year full membership — supplemented by transaction-fee CEO placement (10% of first-year base salary, capped at $25,000), project-rate Diligence Stack engagements (QoE, commercial, legal, ops DD), and separately billed expert engagements. Stripe handles payments and Zoom powers expert session video. The company is privately held, founded in 2025 by Stephanie Quay, operates with 1-10 employees from a single Sonoma office, and serves U.S.-based acquirers with no disclosed funding or institutional investors.
Five Experts, Llc firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Five Experts, Llc
- Legal name
- Five Experts
- Website
- https://fiveexperts.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2025
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Five Experts is a Sonoma-based membership platform that provides a coordinated five-phase operating system for business acquisition, combining a command center dashboard, 30+ vetted expert categories, and phase-organized peer community for first-time searchers, independent sponsors, and post-close operators pursuing $1M–$5M EBITDA deals.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Five Experts, Llc industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Business Acquisition Platform
- NAICS
- Management Consulting Services (54161), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (5419)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Operator-Led / CEO-in-Residence ETA (FSANALAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Strategic Partnerships, Alliances & JVs Advisory (BPAHADAI)
Keywords
Where Five Experts, Llc is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sonoma
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Five Experts, Llc business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Full Membership Subscription: Full membership subscription at $295/month or $2,950 annually. Provides complete operating system access including command center, all expert matching, peer community, live sessions, and phase playbooks. Annual billing includes two months free.
- Expert Engagement Fees: Expert engagements (hourly, project-based, or retainer) billed separately at each expert's listed rate. Includes growth, marketing, finance, accounting, technology experts, and former searchers. LOI and deal review engagements also at expert rates.
- CEO Placement Fee: CEO placement service for sponsor-backed deals with fee of 10% of first-year base salary, due only at placement. Behaviorally matched operator placement for acquired businesses.
- Diligence Stack: Project-rate diligence stack covering full LOI package including QoE, commercial DD, legal DD, and ops assessment. One coordinated engagement.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier - Phase 01 community access, orientation session, resource library |
| Subscription | Monthly | Full membership - Complete acquisition operating system with expert matching and community |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | CEO Placement - Behaviorally matched operator placement for sponsor deals |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Diligence Stack - Coordinated LOI package engagement |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Five Experts, Llc product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Five Experts operates a coordinated web-based SaaS platform and member community that supports business acquirers through the entire ownership transfer lifecycle across five phases: Aspiration & Preparation, Search & Sourcing, Deal Structure & Financing, Ownership & Value Creation, and Succession & Exit. The Command Center integrates deal pipeline tracking, broker CRM, seller outreach, document vault, and capital stack tracking, paired with coordinated expert matching across 30+ categories, peer cohorts organized by phase, and live sessions. Add-on services include CEO placement (10% of year-1 salary) and a coordinated Diligence Stack covering QoE, commercial, legal, and operational due diligence.
Product overview
Five Experts is a coordinated operating system for the Great Ownership Transfer, offering a platform-plus-services model organized around five phases of business acquisition and ownership: Aspiration & Preparation (Phase 01), Search & Sourcing (Phase 02), Deal Structure & Financing (Phase 03), Ownership & Value Creation (Phase 04), and Succession & Exit (Phase 05). The core platform is the Command Center, a dashboard that tracks deal pipelines, broker CRM, outreach, documents, and capital stacks. Around this, Five Experts coordinates expert matching (30+ categories), peer community, live sessions (Deal War Room, Expert AMAs), and playbooks. Add-on services include CEO Placement (behavioral matching with 10% of year-1 salary fee) and the Diligence Stack (QoE, commercial DD, legal DD, ops assessment). Membership tiers are Free ($0) and Full Membership ($295/month or $2,950/year).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Five Experts Command Center Working dashboard that organizes the entire business acquisition lifecycle around the user's current phase, integrating deal pipeline tracking, broker CRM, search metrics, seller outreach CRM, document vault, and capital stack tracker with a 14-point SBA readiness checklist.
- Expert Matching & Coordination Coordinated expert matching, booking, and in-platform chat connecting members with 30+ expert categories across all five phases of the ownership journey, including growth, marketing, finance, accounting, technology experts, SBA lenders, M&A attorneys, and former searchers.
- Peer Community & Phase Cohorts Members-only community spaces organized by acquisition phase with curated peers at the member's exact stage, phase cohorts (small peer groups), and operator peer matching connecting members running the same play.
- Live Sessions (Expert AMAs & Deal War Room) Monthly live sessions including Orientation sessions, Expert AMAs with fractional executives and attorneys, and the Deal War Room where members put real in-flight deals in front of peers and experts for review.
- 100-Day Plan & Playbooks Phase-specific playbooks, 100-day plan template, acquisition readiness guide, deal evaluation framework, value creation playbooks, and exit readiness tracking saved in the member dashboard.
- CEO Placement Behaviorally matched CEO placement service for sponsor-backed deals where candidates are assessed for execution fit before introduction. Fee is 10% of first-year base salary, capped at $25,000, due only at successful placement.
- Diligence Stack Project-rate coordinated diligence engagement covering a full LOI package: Quality of Earnings (QoE), commercial DD, legal DD, and operations assessment, delivered as one coordinated engagement scoped to the deal.
- Five Experts Full Membership Subscription membership tier at $295/month or $2,950/year (annual billing includes two months free) that unlocks the complete Command Center, expert matching across all five phases, peer community and cohorts, live sessions, and playbooks.
Quantifiable outcome
- 92% of U.S. small business exits end in closure, not a sale, highlighting the execution gap Five Experts addresses
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Five Experts, Llc
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Five Experts, Llc technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature5 records
Five Experts, Llc partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Five Experts, Llc competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Independent Buying Institute (IBI): IBI provides structured training, masterminds, and resources for search fund operators and first-time acquirers. It overlaps Five Experts' Phase 01-02 educational and community offerings for the same buyer segment.
- Searchfunder: Searchfunder is the largest online community for search fund and ETA operators, offering deal listings, forums, and peer connections. It is the closest free community analog to Five Experts' phase-organized peer cohorts and competes for the same first-time acquirer audience.
- Grata: Grata is a B2B deal-sourcing platform specifically built for searchers and lower-middle-market acquirers, providing company identification and target lists. It directly overlaps with Five Experts' Phase 02 sourcing CRM and the same buyer persona.
- Axial: Axial operates a lower-middle-market deal-sourcing network connecting acquirers, advisors, and capital providers. It serves a highly overlapping buyer base (independent sponsors and searchers in the LMM) and competes for the same Phase 02-03 wallet.
Others
- Kauffman Fellows: Kauffman Fellows is a talent development program for the venture and private equity ecosystem, including a search fund pathway. It shapes the buyer pipeline (and sometimes competitors) for the same independent sponsor and ETA talent that Five Experts serves.
- SourceScrub: SourceScrub provides deal-sourcing data and workflows for private equity and M&A professionals. It is an enabling vendor to the same LMM acquirer persona that Five Experts serves, often embedded into sponsor deal teams.
Broad incumbents
- BizBuySell: BizBuySell is the largest U.S. marketplace for small business listings, serving buyers and brokers across the lower middle market. It is a broader incumbent that overlaps Five Experts' Phase 02 sourcing function but lacks the expert matching and community layers.
- Heidrick & Struggles: Heidrick & Struggles is a global executive search firm whose CEO and operator placement services compete directly with Five Experts' CEO Placement product, especially for sponsor-backed deals in the lower middle market.
Emerging players
- Acquire.com: Acquire.com (which absorbed MicroAcquire) is a marketplace for buying and selling small, primarily SaaS, businesses. It competes for the same aspirational first-time acquirer persona and a portion of the deal-sourcing workflow that Five Experts bundles into its command center.
- Empire Flippers: Empire Flippers is a curated online business brokerage with due diligence, valuation, and migration support. It overlaps Five Experts' deal sourcing and diligence stack services for the online/SaaS subset of the LMM acquirer market.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Five Experts, Llc social profiles
Digital presenceFive Experts, Llc financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Five Experts, Llc leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Five Experts, Llc funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Five Experts, Llc M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Five Experts, Llc
What does Five Experts, Llc do?
Five Experts operates a coordinated web-based SaaS platform and member community that supports business acquirers through the entire ownership transfer lifecycle across five phases: Aspiration & Preparation, Search & Sourcing, Deal Structure & Financing, Ownership & Value Creation, and Succession & Exit. The Command Center integrates deal pipeline tracking, broker CRM, seller outreach, document vault, and capital stack tracking, paired with coordinated expert matching across 30+ categories, peer cohorts organized by phase, and live sessions. Add-on services include CEO placement (10% of year-1 salary) and a coordinated Diligence Stack covering QoE, commercial, legal, and operational due diligence.
Is Five Experts, Llc a public or private company?
Five Experts, Llc is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Five Experts, Llc founded?
Five Experts, Llc was founded in 2025. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Five Experts, Llc based?
Five Experts, Llc is headquartered in Sonoma, United States, in the North America region.
How does Five Experts, Llc make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Full Membership Subscription is the primary driver. The others are expert Engagement Fees, CEO Placement Fee and diligence Stack.
Who are Five Experts, Llc's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Independent Buying Institute (IBI), Searchfunder, Grata and Axial. Others are Kauffman Fellows and SourceScrub. Broad incumbents are BizBuySell and Heidrick & Struggles. Emerging players are Acquire.com and Empire Flippers.
Does Five Experts, Llc have an API?
No public API is recorded for Five Experts, Llc.
What industry is Five Experts, Llc in?
Five Experts, Llc's product category is Business Acquisition Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANALAI, Operator-Led / CEO-in-Residence ETA, with a secondary code of BPAHADAI, Strategic Partnerships, Alliances & JVs Advisory. Its NAICS code is 54161 and its SIC code is 8742.