RTO Advisory

RTO Advisory — "Return To Owner Advisory" — is a fee-based M&A and exit-planning firm based in Greensboro, North Carolina, serving owners of privately held businesses with $1M–$100M in revenue and $1M–$20M in EBITDA across the United States.

Founder Elliott J. Culp built RTO Advisory around a simple thesis: 75% of business owners do not have a formal exit plan, and the unprepared collectively leave an estimated $14 trillion in unrealized value on the table over the coming decade. Most of that gap is preventable with three to five years of disciplined preparation — owners who plan that far ahead capture roughly 30% more value at sale.

The firm focuses on the Six Critical Readiness Gaps: financial reporting quality, tax strategy and entity structure, succession and continuity planning, valuation reality versus market multiples, operational dependence on the owner, and banking, coverage-ratio, and collateral readiness. Each gap, left unaddressed, compresses multiples or kills deals at diligence.

RTO Advisory is fee-based, not commission-driven. Owners pay for advice that is aligned with their outcome — including the advice to wait, to fix the business first, or not to sell at all. The firm does not collect a percentage of transaction value, which removes the incentive to push a deal that is not in the owner's interest.

Services include the Exit Readiness Assessment, Strategic Value Optimization, Transaction Advisory and Management, and Succession Planning. The firm works in English and Spanish.