OnwardNia O.
Background
Former commercial banker, eight years underwriting small-business loans — I've read a thousand P&Ls and visited the shops behind them. Two partners with operating backgrounds.
What they'd build on it
Buy one business a year, keep each one's identity intact, and give the managers running them real upside. The plan is decades, not quarters.
- Who'd run it
- Would hire an operator
- Where their search is
- Looking actively, reviewing businesses now
- Why they want to buy
- Build long-term wealth and ownership · Keep a good local business going and carry on what the owner built
- Has owned or run a business before
- No
- Has bought a business before
- No
My partners and I want to own durable Michigan businesses for the long haul — buy well, run well, never flip.
What they’re looking for
The business and owner they're looking for
B2B services, trucking, or industrial services in Michigan, $2M–$5M revenue, with management a layer deep so the owner's exit doesn't hollow it out.
What happens to the people who work there, and why
We promote from within — the general manager of each business we buy comes from its own bench wherever possible. Existing staff get the same deal they had or better.
What would change, and why
Phone and web would move onto shared systems across the businesses we own, and the way the work gets scheduled would too. The customer would not notice; the office would, and we would pay them for the disruption.
- Plans for the team
- Keep the key people; some roles may change
What Nia would keep the same
- The business name
- The location
- Key customer relationships
- The services or products offered
- Vendors and suppliers
How long they'd want the owner to stay: 6 to 12 months.
The words and figures here are Nia’s own. Onward verified their identity.
- Identity verifiedEmail, phone and a government ID check, all confirmed by Onward. Checked September 29, 2026.
- Funds not confirmedFunds not submitted yet. Judge the words above on their own until this clears.
- Profile completenessComplete — 6 of 6 sections finished. Thin profiles rank lower here on purpose.
- The words and figures above are this person’s own. Onward did not review, verify, or edit any of them.
- Onward checks facts, not judgement. Nothing here says this is the right person for you — that part is yours.
Owners on Onward read buyers like Nia before anyone talks numbers — and open the door only to the ones they choose. List privately; nobody knows your business until you say so.
Make a free owner accountHow they'd pay: Investors or partners · Bank or SBA loan
When they'd close: Actively looking now
Nia decides who opens each file. You can see what they hold and how current it is before you ask.
- Onward records that a file exists, what its owner calls it, and when it arrived. Nothing more.
- Nobody at Onward opens a file unless its owner submits it for a review — and then only the reviewer, only until the decision.
- Ages count from the upload, not from any date inside the document.
- Who's helping them
- M&A attorney · CPA or accountant · Quality of earnings firm
Says they can show: a committed capital partner — their own words, not yet checked by Onward.