News

Denver, Colorado

Larry O'Toole, Founder of Yosemite Associates, announced today another successful, euphoric, exit transaction for one of the firm's clients. This Colorada based client (un-named to respect private owner confidentiality) engaged Yosemite Associates in 2018 to help the ownership prepare their business for a future euphoric exit event. A leading building security manufacturer, this company wanted help in pulling together a more dynamic and effective strategic plan, coaching for a new CEO and guiding the team to know where to focus in building the exit value of the company.

As the owner expressed, "we couldn't have achieved this great exit valuation without Yosemite's help. We tried to sell the company in 2018 and were not pleased with the offers.  With Yosemite's help, this time we were much better prepared as we strategically built our business to command a valuation 2x greater than the offers received back in 2018 and a far better deal structure that required no earn outs."  Said O'Toole, "This business and their team just needed help in pulling together a more focused strategy and the key steps to prepare the business to excite an acquirer. I'm proud to say that we delivered on our client promise, guiding them to a euphoric exit event."

(note: this owner is receptive to speaking with those looking for a reference on how Yosemite Associates enabled their euphoric outcome)

San Diego, California

Vistage announced this week their Top Performing Speakers for 2022 and for the third straight year, Yosemite Associates, LLC is proud that Founder Larry O'Toole was part of this prestigious group. Larry shares his experience and practical insights on strategic thinking & planning that helps build long term company worth. Audiences around the country are quick to share that Larry takes the complex topic of business strategy and provides a unique perspective and offers  actionable insights to help owners and CEOs build shareholder value.

San Diego, California

Business executives thinking of selling their company one day were drawn to the speaking events where Larry O'Toole spoke about protecting and building company valuation by leveraging technology. Global business Owner/CEO organization, Vistage (Vistage), hosted the member events in San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle and Los Angeles through the first two weeks of March. The topic was "Technological Trends - Moving From Awareness to Preparedness".  Mr. O'Toole shared practical and actionable strategic thinking and planning insights with business owners and key executives to help them think through how to prepare their businesses to leverage emerging technologies. O'Toole shared, "business executives need to think about thow to protect and build the longer term valuation of their company and technology can play a key role in this." The workshop includes providing insights on developing a digital transformation strategy to help owners and executives think through how to avoid being disrupted and how to look for opportunities to be a disrupter in their industry.

A Vistage member shared, "Larry helped take this very complex topic and help me see how to break it into smaller bites that I'm now looking forward to working on with my leadership team. And although I've thought about whether my company could be disrupted, Larry helped me think more about how I could be the disrupter. Wish my whole team was here today to hear this talk."

Los Angeles, California

Exit Planning Institute awards Larry O'Toole the CEPA certification

In addition to the years of M&A experience that Larry O'Toole has gained as CEO of various manufacturing and service related businesses, in January 2023 Larry attended the Exit Planning Institute's (EPI) exit planner certification program. This program is designed to enable advisors to guide private company owners on their journey of preparing themselves personally and financially as well as prepare their businesses for a euphoric future exit event. O'Toole remarked, "I invested in this Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) certification program to ensure that my company, Yosemite Associates, was providing our clients with the best advice possible. We didn't want to assume that our operating background was enough to ensure maximum guidance to our clients so attending this program helped keep our knowledge sharp and current. A company sale event for a private company owner is most likely the single most important event in their professional lives so it's our job at Yosemite Associates to ensure we are offering the optimal guidance."

EPI is the leading exit planner certification program in the world and offers CEPA's initial certification training as well as ongoing training and development. Said O'Toole, "This type of ongoing training along with the real world operating experience by the Yosemite team, helps us deliver worldclass advisory services to our clients."

San Diego, California

Global business Owner/CEO organization, Vistage (Vistage), hosted Larry O'Toole at four San Antonio, Texas events this week. The topic was "Strategic Planning That Grows Company Worth".  Mr. O'Toole shared practical and actionable strategic thinking and planning insights with business owners and key executives from a broad array of companies. The workshop includes learning a new way to look at what strategic planning is, sharing an effective 4 part planning campaign and sharing a series of enabling strategic thinking templates. All designed for audience members to be able to apply the learnings to their companies. 

A Vistage member shared, "Larry helped me realize that certainly strategic planning is difficult but by engaging a repeatable approach that he shares, I can now better see a pathway to chipping away at it and building my thinking and planning muscle and that of my team. Great use of my time this morning and am heading back to my office feeling invigorated to enhance my strategic planning and execution."

San Diego, California

Global business Owner/CEO organization, Vistage (Vistage), hosted Larry O'Toole at two San Diego events this week. The topic was "Strategic Planning That Grows Company Worth".  Mr. O'Toole shared practical and actionable strategic thinking and planning insights to Vistage members. The workshop includes learning a new way to look at what strategic planning is, sharing of an effective 4 part planning campaign and sharing a series of enabling strategic thinking templates. All designed for audience members to be able to apply the learnings to their companies. 

A Vistage member shared, "This workshop today by Larry O'Toole was worth my entire years cost of being a Vistage member. His materials and experience that he shared have given me what I need for my business to strengthen our planning and execution."

Temecula, California

Southern California CEO Business Magazine (SoCal CEO Business Magazine) this week selected the latest article by Larry O'Toole for publishing in their latest issue. The article Build Your Culture - Build Your Company Exit Valuation was written for private company owners and CEO's and offers practical and actionable insights related to company culture as it relates to exciting a future acquirer one day. Says O'Toole, "Too often owners and CEOs are intimate with their their markets, products/services and customers but not as inimate as they should be in understanding their organization culture. When the day comes to try and sell their company to a third party, the acquirer will assess the seller's organization culture to see how it will fit within their own and you want them being just as excited about your team as they are about your products and services." The article offers helpful tips for owners and CEOs on how to look at tangible company performance metrics to see where improvements may be needed related to culture.

Los Angeles, California

ABC’s KMET 1490 AM radio show (ABC KMET) replayed the airing of their interview of Larry O'Toole taped in August of this year. Show host Bill Morris shared, "We had our guest for this weeks show unfortunately have to cancel and we discussed what shows from 2022 had a great audience response and our interview of Larry quickly came to mind".  The broadcast is part of an ABC Radio weekly series, Western Business Review, and is hosted by Daryl McCance and Bill Morris and features weekly guests on topics for business owners and CEO’s. Hosts McCance and Morris interviewed Larry on the topic of “Selling Your Business And Being Euphoric With The Outcome”.

As co-host Bill Morris commented, “Larry’s 5-part campaign for optimizing an exit event is insightful and includes practical steps every business owner should take to improve the value of their business.”  To listen to a re-broadcast of the ABC show, click here

San Diego, California

Global business Owner/CEO organization, Vistage (Vistage), is finalizing their 2023 speaker events around the U.S. and has invited Larry O'Toole to be the guest speaker at events in Washington, Texas, California and New York.  For the past two years, Larry has been a top speaker within the Vistage network with his topic, "Strategic Planning That Enables Company Worth". Larry provides practical insights for helping an organization build overall company value, or what he calls company worth, through a new approach to stratgic thinking and planning.

Says O'Toole, "Many privately held businesses lack a true business strategy, especially those that potentially one day want the option of selling their company to a third party. At these presentations, we take away this uncertainty for owners/CEOs by outlining a practical campaign for how to one day deliver a euphoric outcome for company ownership and leadership. We have all heard the expression that hope is not a plan and this topic helps owners and CEOs get to the actionable plan they desire. I'm proud to be a Vistage speaker and look forward continuing to bring forth actionable and net worth creating insights for their members once again in 2023. 

Los Angeles, California

ABC’s KMET 1490 AM radio show (ABC KMET) had Larry O’Toole as their featured guest for their August 17th, 2022 broadcast. The weekly series, Western Business Review, is hosted by Daryl McCance and Bill Morris and features weekly guests on topics for business owners and CEO’s. Hosts McCance and Morris interviewed Larry on the topic of “Selling Your Business And Being Euphoric With The Outcome”.

As co-host Bill Morris commented, “Larry’s 5-part campaign for optimizing an exit event is insightful and includes practical steps every business owner should take to improve the value of their business.”  To listen to a re-broadcast of the ABC show, click here

Asburn, Virginia

Larry O'Toole, Founder of Yosemite Associates, announced today the successful exit transaction for one of the firm's clients. This Virginia based client (un-named to respect private owner confidentiality) engaged Yosemite Associates in March of 2021 to help the ownership prepare their business for a future euphoric exit event. A leading healthcare software developer, this company wanted help in pulling together their strategic message to attract potential acquirer's and ensure the business could withstand third party due diligence.

As the owner expressed, "Larry and his team were instrumental in helping me get the valuation and overall deal structure I was looking for and admit we wouldn't have done it without them." Said O'Toole, "This business is a solid company but just needed help in pulling together the final pieces so that it could attract the right buyer and I'm proud to say that working together, this was accomplished to the benefit of both seller and buyer."

(note: this owner is receptive to speaking with those looking for a reference on how Yosemite Associates enabled their euphoric outcome)

San Diego, California

During the week of July 18th 2022, global CEO organization Vistage (Vistage) invited Larry O'Toole to be the guest speaker for multiple events in the Nashville area to help business owners and CEOs build their company net worth. The topic was, "Strategic Planning That Enables Company Worth". Larry provided his practical insights for helping an organization build overall company value, or what he calls company worth, through a new approach for stratgic thinking and planning. As one member commented, "I thought I was guiding my business through effective strategic planning but now realize what we've been doing is tactical, not strategic. Larry helped me see the practical steps I can now take with my team to fill this critical gap."

Said O'Toole, "Many privately held businesses either lack a well documented strategy or their strategy is actually tactical and not truly going to help build a company that can differentiate itself in the market and bridge the business from where it is today to where the ownership would like it to get them one day in the future." My materials and guidance are designed to help take away the uncertainty company owners and CEOs have in terms of how to take this complex topic and chip effectively away at it."

The workshop includes an effective 4 part campaign for guiding a team through new thinking and capturing that thinking in an actionable plan. In addition, the members leave the session with a variety of thought provoking templates executives can use with their teams to faciliate new productive dialog. 

Arlington, Virginia

On May 12, 2022, the Consumer Technology Association (CES) invited Larry O'Toole to address their members on his topic of, "Selling Your Company - Be Euphoric With the Outcome". Larry presented the top questions that sellers wish they had been asked long before they ever tried to sell their business. In his message to the group, Larry conveyed, "don't reinvent the wheel in trying to prepare your business for a future, euphoric exit event. Use time as a friend to learn from others that have sold their business. Don't hope you one day have a great exit event, use time as a friend to get a plan for achieving it."

CES event host, Frank Parotto, expressed - "Larry helped the group take off their glasses and for this webinar put on the glasses of a future potential acquirer. Doing this really opens the eyes of a business owner to what steps they should be taking now to build the long term valuation for their company. And we appreciated that Larry conveyed the information in a very practical way that gave members tangible steps they can start taking today to increase their liklihood of one day achieivng their desired successful business sale."

San Diego, California

During the week of April 25th, 2022, global CEO organization Vistage (Vistage) invited Larry O'Toole to be the guest speaker for multiple events in the Sacramento area of California to help business owners and CEOs build their company valuation. The topic was, "Strategic Planning That Enables Company Worth". Larry provided his practical insights for helping an organization build overall company value, or what he calls company worth, through a new approach for stratgic thinking and planning. As one member commented, "Larry took a complex topic and helped us see how to tackle it effectively with a repeatable and scalable campaign. I'm excited to get back with my team and implement many of the ideas Larry shared with us today."

Said O'Toole, "Strategic thinking and planning is hard so it's often deferred by executives when what they need is to tackle it head on and to answer key strategic questions their business should be addressing to build long term worth. My role is to help take away the uncertainty company owners and CEOs have in terms of how to take this complex topic and chip effectively away at it."

The workshop includes an effective 4 part campaign for guiding a team through new thinking and capturing that thinking in an actionable plan. In addition, the members leave the session with a variety of thought provoking templates executives can use with their teams to faciliate new productive dialog. 

San Diego, California

During the week of April 4th, 2022, global CEO organization Vistage (Vistage) invited Larry O'Toole to be the guest speaker for multiple events in Burlington, Vermont to help business owners and CEOs build their company valuation. The topic is, "Strategic Planning That Enables Company Worth". Larry provided his practical insights for helping an organization build overall company value, or what he calls company worth, through a new approach for stratgic thinking and planning. As one member commented, "Larry helped us see the value in separating our strategic thinking from the actual planning itself. I realize now that my company current strategic planning can be improved greatly with the insights and various templates we were provided at this event."

Said O'Toole, "Too often executives try to race toward capturing their thinking in a strategic plan without first stepping back and asking new questions to provoke new thinking. We are often uncomfortable acknoweldging we don't know certain things about our business so we focus on what we know and we capture this in our plan. But to start by asking new questions and realizing there are things about our business we don't have good clarity on, this is a much more effective starting point for enabling strategic planning."

The workshop includes an effective 4 part campaign for guiding a team through new thinking and capturing that thinking in an actionable plan. In addition, the members leave the session with a variety of thought provoking templates executives can use with their teams to faciliate new productive dialog. 

Orange County, California

Yosemite Associates, LLC today announced the launch of its latest Business Diagnostic Tool called Probe. Probe is designed for business owners and CEOs who ask this question - could I sell my company and successfully withstand the buyer's due diligence process? This new diagnostic tool addresses 10 critical business categories and over 100 thought provoking questions to help you think about preparation for due diligence. Upon completion, users will receive a detailed score that helps prioritize areas for readiness improvement. Visit (Probe) today.

San Diego, California

Vistage announced this week their top performing speakers for 2021 and Yosemite Associates, LLC is proud that Larry O'Toole, founder, was part of this prestigious group. Larry shares his experience and practical insights on strategic thinking & planning that helps build long term company worth. Audiences around the country are quick to share that Larry takes the complex topic of strategy and provides a unique, new perspective on how to take a fresh and more effective approach to planning that can help build shareholder value.

San Diego, California

Southern California CEO Business Magazine (SoCalceo.org) today released publication of the latest article by Yosemite Associates, LLC (visit Yosemite Associates) and Larry O'Toole. Yosemite Associates works with private business owners that want to optmize the future sale of their company and want to remove the uncertainty as to how to experience a future euphoric exit event.  The latest article, "Your Customer Stickiness Metric - A Powerful Enabler to Building Company Worth" lays out steps any business can take to build the loyalty or stickiness of their customer base. (read article here)

As Larry O'Toole often shares with audiences during his guest speaking appearances on the topic of being euphoric one day from the sale of a business, "business owners miss a wonderul opportunity to grow the worth of their company if they aren't taking steps to build a loyal customer following. Doing so can greatly accelerate growing the valuation that an acquirer might one day place on their business." This article provides an insightful new way to think about, measure and build your customer loyalty and help business owners be euphoric one day from selling their company.

San Diego, California

Larry O'Toole, Founder of Yosemite Associates, announced today the successful exit transaction for one of the firm's clients. This San Diego based client (un-named to respect private owner confidentiality) engaged Yosemite Associates in 2018 to help the ownership prepare their business for a future euphoric exit event. This was one of Yosemite's initial clients with company valuation in the range of $30M in the 2018 time frame and on December 31, 2021, experienced a successful sale to a strategic market player for $100M. Both deal valuation and deal structure helped ownership achieve their Bank Your Moment^®, euphoric exit outcome.

As the CEO and co-founder of the business shared on day of close, "Larry O'Toole was instrumental in guiding us to this day and helping us build to this level of outcome."

(note: CEO receptive to speaking with those looking for a reference on how Yosemite Associates enabled their outcome)

San Diego, California

During the month of December, global CEO organization Vistage (Vistage) invited Larry O'Toole to be the guest speaker for multiple events in Boise, Idaho to help business owners build their company valuation. The topic is, "Strategic Planning That Enables Company Worth". Larry provided his practical insights for helping an organization build overall company value, or what he calls company worth, through a new approach for stratgic thinking and planning. As one member commented, "Approaching strategic planning with easy to implement tools and questions is a great way to shake up and dismiss some of the negative stigma associated with the process."

Said O'Toole, "Too often executives view strategic planning as an arduous task and something they like to defer doing. Our approach to strategic planning takes away the stigma many have and provides them a fresh new approach to help grow their business valuation."

The workshop includes an effective 4 part campaign for guiding a team through new thinking and capturing that thinking in an actionable plan. In addition, the members leave the session with a variety of thought provoking templates executives can use with their teams to faciliate new productive dialog.