Exceptional Business Advisors Guides The Silver Tsunami

In April 2020, Chris Seegers stood inside a crisis that no spreadsheet could explain. Days after his wife, Tara, gave birth to their daughter, she nearly died from bilateral pulmonary embolisms. For a founder who had spent years building companies, structuring deals, and studying what makes businesses durable, the moment clarified something deeper than strategy. Success could not be measured only by valuation, growth, or closing day. It had to be designed around life. That conviction now sits at the center of Exceptional Business Advisors, where Seegers and his team serve as Business Transition Experts for owners who may be financially successful, operationally exhausted, and unsure how to leave well.

Business Transition Experts For The Silver Tsunami

Exceptional Business Advisors, or EBA, was built for one of the most important shifts in the private business market: the Silver Tsunami. Across the United States, baby boomer founders who spent twenty or thirty years building companies are approaching retirement, often with little more than a vague hope that the right buyer will appear at the right time. Many run firms with $3 million or more in annual revenue. They have employees, customers, reputations, and families connected to the outcome. Yet, as Seegers puts it, "Most owners spend twenty years building a business and twenty hours planning how to leave it."

That gap is where value is often lost. A buyer does not only purchase last year’s earnings. A serious buyer studies systems, leadership depth, customer concentration, recurring revenue, clean financials, growth potential, culture, and the degree to which the company can thrive without the founder in the center of every decision. The sale price is shaped long before a letter of intent arrives. "The biggest mistakes aren't made at the closing table. They're made years earlier, by owners who didn't know they were already shaping the outcome," Seegers says.

EBA began as a direct answer to what Chris, his brothers, and their partners believed was broken in the business acquisition and divestiture space. Too many brokers, in their view, pushed transactions without enough lived experience on both sides of an exit. Owners received a valuation, a listing process, and a closing push, but not always the deeper guidance needed to protect the business, prepare the buyer, or plan life after the deal. EBA positioned itself differently from the outset. "We're not brokers. We represent the owner, coach the buyer, and bring the kind of judgment to a sale that usually only comes from having sat on both sides of the table."

The Exceptional Business Advisors Origin Story

Seegers did not learn grit in a boardroom. He grew up in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico, one of eight siblings and the son of a missionary doctor. There was no running water. There were fences to build by hand, oats to farm, and rough terrain that made comfort a rare thing. That early life shaped his idea of work, faith, family, and enterprise. He later earned a degree from Colorado State University, built businesses in Texas, and returned to Colorado with Tara and their children, Jed, Chisum, and Lillian.

He calls himself a "capitalist missionary," not as a slogan, but as a worldview. For Seegers, faith and free enterprise are not competing pursuits. They are part of the same mission to help people steward opportunity, create value, and move into the next chapter with clarity. That belief also shaped his writing and media work. He co-authored Exceptional by Design with Tara, a book born in part from the family crisis that changed how they thought about success. He also authored Selling Main Street and Buying Main Street, hosts the Exceptional Companies Podcast, and co-hosts the Colorado Business Podcast, known in Colorado’s business community as a leading show for entrepreneurs and operators.

At EBA, that story becomes a practical framework: Life, Business, Wealth. The order matters. Many advisory processes begin with a number, then shape the owner’s future around that number. EBA starts with the life the owner wants after the transition. Then the team studies the business strategy needed to support that outcome. Only then does it organize the wealth strategy around the owner’s personal and professional goals. "I am in the people business. My mission is to help people achieve their personal and professional dreams. We treat every client as a human being and a friend, not a transaction."

The Life, Business, Wealth Framework

For owners caught in the Silver Tsunami, the temptation is to wait until they feel ready. But readiness is often the result of preparation, not the starting point. That is why EBA welcomes business owners who are not planning to sell this year. In fact, those owners may have the greatest opportunity. A company with three to five years before a potential sale can improve leadership structure, reduce owner dependence, document processes, strengthen margins, clean up financial reporting, and build a growth story that gives a buyer more confidence. Each improvement can change how risk is perceived.

Seegers is direct about this point. "If you're not ready to sell today, that's fine. That just means we start with growth instead of an exit, and get you there on your terms." That approach separates EBA from firms that prefer a polished business already prepared for market. The team is willing to work a runway for one year, three years, or five. The goal is not merely to sell. The goal is to help the owner sell from strength rather than necessity.

What drives value is rarely a single factor. Buyers pay for transferable earnings, durable systems, reliable people, strategic positioning, and confidence that the company can continue to grow after the founder steps away. They discount confusion, dependence, messy books, unresolved customer risk, and uncertainty. EBA’s work is to help owners see those issues early, while there is still time to act. The process combines transaction experience with coaching, growth planning, and post-sale continuity through the broader Exceptional Companies ecosystem, including wealth transition support after closing.

For Seegers, clarity is the practical beginning of freedom. "You must be clear to get there," he says. That clarity might mean discovering that an owner needs three more years of growth before going to market. It might mean identifying a leadership gap that must be solved before valuation can improve. It might mean preparing a founder emotionally for life after the company that carried their name, identity, and daily purpose for decades. In every case, the starting point is an honest conversation about where the business stands today.

Owners facing the next chapter do not need to begin with a formal valuation or a rushed decision. They need perspective from Business Transition Experts who understand the weight of the moment and the mechanics behind the outcome. A complimentary meeting with Exceptional Business Advisors offers exactly that: a clear, grounded discussion about the business, the owner’s desired life, and the steps that could improve both the transition and the future waiting beyond it.

Connect with Exceptional Business Advisors, the Exceptional Companies Podcast, the Colorado Business Podcast, and on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

You can also explore the Colorado Business Podcast on YouTube and listen to the Colorado Business Podcast on Apple Podcasts.