Ryan Rees is managing partner of Milestone Advisors, formerly Hartle & Rees, the first firm to join Baysora. Going in, his concern was the long-term continuity of the business and how much control he would keep. He had built something he did not want disrupted.
The Fear Going In
“The fear that anyone has going into a partnership, particularly with private equity, is that you’ve got big brother hanging over your head, driving decisions. Decisions with what software you should be using, which costs you should be incurring, which ones you should be getting rid of.” Two years later, his assessment of that fear is four words long: none of that has changed.
What Two Years Showed
Baysora told him at the outset they would not micromanage him, and they have not. He still runs the firm the way he wants, and his spending and decisions are his own. What he did not anticipate was how much the other firms would be worth to him. Each one runs its practice differently, and comparing methods on pricing, minimum fees, and onboarding fees gives him answers he would otherwise have to invent himself. “It’s easier to ask someone who’s already been through it than try to figure it out yourself.”
Results Achieved
Since joining, the firm has:
- Kept control of software, spending, pricing, and daily decisions
- Gained access to how other firms handle pricing, minimum fees, and onboarding
- Traded a plan to build alone and sell later for a stake in a portfolio of firms
- Seen every commitment made before the transaction hold across two years
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