BJ Thomson founded Milestone Advisors in 2017 to give business owners the back office they lacked. By 2024 the firm was growing faster than its own infrastructure. Partners were absorbing HR and administrative work instead of serving clients, and reaching the next level meant bringing in a partner. What BJ was unwilling to risk in that trade was the culture the firm had spent seven years building.
Why He Did Not Move First
Milestone shared partners with Hartle & Rees, the tax firm Baysora approached a year earlier. BJ had watched other local acquisitions and heard the same account repeatedly from peers: the acquiring firm’s culture overrode the acquired firm’s, and “Company B just wasn’t Company B anymore.” He also had a personal concern. At the midpoint of his career with 10 to 15 working years ahead, he wanted to know whether he would still be needed.
What He Saw Instead
Given the option to join or watch, Milestone watched for a year. What BJ observed was Baysora telling the tax team to keep doing what they were doing and asking how it could help. “I was watching that occur real time. That was a big confidence booster.”
Results Achieved
Since joining, the firm has:
- Kept its leadership team, reporting lines, and culture intact
- Built a partner-track incentive plan for key employees, which it had no mechanism for as a smaller firm
- Stood up an assurance practice it previously turned work away from, including hiring an assurance partner and clearing peer review
- Moved HR management, recruiting, and annual rate-setting off the partners’ desks
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