Helping owners and advisors think clearly about structure, control, and long-term decisions.
Owner-side and advisor-side advisory work
focused on firm structure, succession, and decisions that
shouldn’t be made under pressure.
Independent
Confidential
Thoughtful
Most poor outcomes aren’t the result of bad intentions or bad advice.
They’re the result of decisions made too late, when urgency, external pressure, or incomplete information narrows the range of options.
Firm structure, ownership, succession, and tax decisions tend to surface at moments of change. By then, owners and advisors are often reacting rather than choosing.
My work exists upstream of that moment.
The goal isn’t to push action.
It’s to create clarity early enough that action, if it ever happens, is intentional, well sequenced, and aligned with long-term goals.
In many cases, the right outcome is staying exactly where you are.
Just staying there on purpose.
I work with founder-led and closely held businesses navigating growth, complexity, or eventual transition.
This often includes owners who are dealing with questions around leadership, compensation, ownership, and succession where the answers are not purely technical.
The situations are rarely urgent at first, but they matter long before they become unavoidable.
This work is most useful for owners who value thoughtful planning over reactive solutions and who want to understand the structural implications of their decisions before they are locked in.
I also work with financial advisors who see themselves as business owners and long-term stewards of client relationships.
This includes advisors who feel supported by their current firm but do not want to be boxed in, advisors navigating shared control or minority ownership structures, and advisors thinking about real succession rather than theoretical exit plans.
This is advisor-side work.
It is not recruiting.
My role is not to sell outcomes or recommend specific solutions.
It is to help surface trade-offs, clarify constraints, and think through timing before decisions become forced.
This advisory work often touches on firm and ownership structure, control and decision rights, succession planning that works in practice, timing and sequencing of major decisions, and tax considerations that shape long-term outcomes.
I frequently work alongside existing advisors, attorneys, and CPAs as a neutral sounding board focused on reducing noise and preserving optionality.
I’ve spent the past 18 years working in and around finance, advisory, and complex decision-making environments.
That experience includes working with business owners and financial advisors as they navigated growth, succession, structural change, and long-term planning.
What matters most is not any single transaction or outcome.
It is recognizing patterns early, before they harden into constraints.
That perspective informs how I approach this work today, with restraint, context, and respect for second-order consequences.
Tax planning is not a standalone service layered on at the end.
Structural decisions are often won or lost in entity design, compensation mechanics, ownership treatment, and long-term tax consequences that compound quietly over time.
Ignoring that layer creates false wins.
Tax considerations are embedded into every structural conversation, not as optimization, but as protection against unintended outcomes.
Conversations usually start informally.
Some remain exploratory and reflective.
Some deepen into focused advisory work.
Many never lead to any structural change at all.
The work is independent, confidential, and free from recruiting or transactional pressure. It is designed to support better thinking, not faster decisions.
There is no standard playbook, and that is intentional.
Questions around structure, succession, and control are rarely just technical. They touch reputation, relationships, and identity. I approach this work with the assumption that trust is earned slowly and preserved carefully. If you are looking for a pitch, a higher multiple, a better payout, or a fast answer, this may not be the right fit. If you value clarity before urgency, we will likely work well together.
If structural questions, succession considerations, or long-term decisions are starting to surface, or if you simply want a neutral second set of eyes, feel free to reach out.
Owner-side and advisor-side advisory work.
Josh Curtis, Principal
joshua@eqbstrategy.com