Your business is working. The model is proven. But something is holding the next move — a capital raise that isn't coming together, an operational cost that won't bend, a structure that made sense at $10M and doesn't at $40M. That's the problem we solve.
Most of the companies I work with are not broken. They've built something real, they're generating revenue, and they have a clear sense of where they want to go. The problem is structural — and it's usually invisible from inside the business.
It shows up when a lender passes without a real explanation. When a deal process stalls over reporting that should have been clean. When the technology that got you to $20M is now costing you margin points at $50M. When you know the business is worth more than what the market is seeing.
I've been in that seat. Six times as a founder, four times as a seller. I know what it costs when the infrastructure isn't ready for the moment you've been building toward — and I know how to fix it before that moment arrives.
I work at the intersection of capital markets and operations because that's where the real leverage is. A company that fixes its governance and reporting doesn't just become more creditworthy — it becomes a different kind of business. That's what we're building toward.
The advisory work Guild6 does — restructuring financial reporting, fixing technology architecture, building governance infrastructure, accessing institutional capital — is typically the domain of large management consulting firms and bulge-bracket banks. We structured Guild6 specifically to make it accessible to the lower middle market, with fees tied to outcomes, not hours.
Access to the right capital at the right moment is one of the most consequential decisions a lower middle market company makes. We help clients identify the right type of capital for their situation, prepare the business to access it, and execute the transaction. The work begins before the transaction — closing the reporting and governance gap that determines whether a company accesses good capital or settles for whatever it can get.
We diagnose and fix operational and technology structures that are creating cost drag, fragility, or scale limitations. This is not IT consulting — it's structural problem-solving that happens to involve technology. Tom leads every engagement personally, from diagnosis through execution. AI is collapsing the cost and complexity of execution so dramatically that one person with the right judgment and tools can do what once required an entire crew.
When a company is ready to raise institutional capital, restructure debt, or attract a strategic partner, the infrastructure that got them here is not the infrastructure that gets them to the next level. We fix that infrastructure — not as a compliance exercise, but as a genuine management upgrade. The result is a company that not only qualifies for better capital — it operates better.
For most lower middle market companies, access to this caliber of advisory expertise requires a full-time executive hire or a firm engagement priced out of reach. We structured Guild6 to solve that problem directly.
Retainers are kept to a minimum — enough to cover active engagement, not to replicate the billing structure of a firm ten times our size.
The majority of our compensation comes from performance fees tied to a measurable outcome our work directly produced. We do not get paid in full unless the value is created.
The model extends to cost reduction, operational efficiency, and new market access — with measurement baselines agreed at the outset, before any work begins.
We take a limited number of engagements to ensure the principal is actively involved in every one. No partner who sells the work and hands it to someone else.
Representative engagements across sectors. Client identities are not disclosed. References available upon engagement.
| Sector | Structural Problem | Value Delivered |
|---|---|---|
| Telecom / MVNO | Immature financial reporting, governance, and internal controls blocking institutional debt access | Restructured operations and governance; raised acquisition debt; positioned for future debt and equity raises |
| Management Consulting | Legacy IT architecture decisions expanding infrastructure costs from 4% to 10%+ of revenue | Re-architected IT delivery model; reduced spend to under 5% of revenue in a multi-year engagement |
| Managed Mobile Services Provider | Overly bespoke, brittle software requiring 4–8 man-weeks of dev time per carrier plan change | Re-architected to configuration-driven design; reduced change cycles from weeks to hours |
| Healthcare Services | Over-leveraged with high-cost debt; governance and reporting too weak for quality lenders | Restructured and refinanced debt; ongoing governance build for private equity access |
| Investment Banking | Deal capacity constrained by manual processes across origination, execution, and distribution | AI-automated core workflows; increased deal capacity without increasing overhead |
I started my first company before I knew what a cap table was. I've negotiated term sheets, managed payroll on a line of credit, rebuilt software that was costing us clients, and sat across from acquirers trying to understand why our business was worth what I knew it was worth. I've done that six times. Four of them ended in exits I'm proud of.
That experience is the foundation of everything I do here. Not because it makes for a good bio — but because it means I understand what's actually at stake when a founder is deciding whether to take on debt, restructure a technology platform, or position the business for a transaction. I've made those decisions with my own capital on the line.
Before Guild6, I held senior operating and business development roles at DiamondCluster International, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Trek10, and AllCloud — selling and leading engagements from Fortune 100 enterprises to high-growth AWS-native businesses. That's where I developed the pattern recognition for operational and structural problems that aren't obvious from the outside.
On the capital side, I've been involved in raising over $300M across seed rounds, venture financings, institutional debt placements, and strategic exits. I hold FINRA Series 82 and 63 licenses. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering and a law degree — which tells you something about how I think about problems: technically, structurally, and with a close eye on how agreements actually play out.
I take a limited number of engagements. If your situation sounds like the kind of problem I work on, reach out directly. No intermediaries.
tom@guild6.com · guild6.com
Securities offered through White Swan Advisors and Finalis Securities LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. Guild6 is not a registered broker-dealer. White Swan Advisors, Finalis Securities LLC, and Guild6 are separate, unaffiliated entities.