Investment Thesis

In it for
the long haul.

We look for businesses worth keeping. We acquire lower middle market businesses built to last and operate them that way. No flips, no financial engineering. Just operators, in it for the long haul.

What We Look For

Demand

Non-discretionary

Services people need regardless of the economic cycle. Not nice-to-have.

Market Structure

Fragmented ownership

Industries where consolidation is underway or inevitable and no dominant player has emerged.

Opportunity

Clear operational upside

Businesses with traction that are working inconsistently. Something to fix, not something to invent.

Size

$5M to $30M

Lower middle market. Flexible on structure and able to work with or without institutional capital.

John Sheffield has spent fifteen years acquiring, operating, and growing lower middle market businesses. He has sourced and capitalized acquisitions, run companies through market contractions, and built businesses to $30M or more in revenue. He is based in Seattle and pursues opportunities across the Pacific Northwest.

Yale, B.A.
Haas MBA

LinkedIn
Seattle, WA

Get in touch

john@sheffield.team
Book a Call

If you are an owner thinking about a transition, or you know one, we would like to hear from you.

Advisory Services

Operators working
with operators.

Sheffield Partners works with lower middle market business owners who are building toward something: a transaction, a transition, or a better-run business. We have sat in the chair. We know what it actually takes.

Exit & Transaction Preparation

For owners with a 2 to 4 year exit horizon who want to arrive at the table prepared. We work on the narrative, the numbers, and the operational story so you do not leave value on the table when the time comes.

Operational Improvement & Value Creation

For businesses that are working inconsistently and need to work better. We find the gaps between what the business is capable of and what it is actually delivering, and we close them. Not a strategy deck. Work that shows up in the financials.

Interim Executive & Fractional CEO

For businesses in transition that need an experienced operator in the room, not an advisor on the phone. We step in during ownership changes, leadership gaps, or inflection points where the company needs a decision-maker.

John Sheffield has spent fifteen years acquiring, operating, and growing lower middle market businesses. He has run companies through market contractions, ownership transitions, and growth inflections. His clients are owner-operators who want a peer in the room.