Indiana’s diligence and operating partner firm
We prove what a
business earns, and help
make it worth more.
LIMESTONE Strategic Partners runs fixed-fee quality of earnings, financial due diligence and operational and market diligence for buyers and sellers of businesses earning roughly $500K to $5M of EBITDA, delivered in 10 to 25 business days. Ryan Anoskey, CPA, leads every quality of earnings, and Jared Luegers, CFA, a former equity analyst, reads the operation behind the numbers. When the findings call for more, we go deeper or stay on as your CFO and operating partner to help fix what we found. Indiana-rooted. Serving buyers and owners nationwide.
QoE Lite starts at $7,500, one fixed fee in writing.
100+
Quality of earnings reviews in Ryan’s career, buy and sell side
$500K to $5M
of EBITDA, the businesses and deals we serve
10 to 25
business days from the last critical item to delivery
CPA + operator
on every QoE, from scoping to delivery
Start Where You Are
Which one is you?
Two Ways To Work With Us
A defined project or an ongoing partnership.
Hire us for a fixed-fee assessment or diligence engagement, or work with us on ongoing strategic finance and operating priorities. Both routes stand alone. We will tell you if a smaller scope is enough.
Deal Services · Fixed fee
When a deal or a decision
is on the table
Each project gets a written scope and one fixed fee. A formal QoE runs 10 to 25 business days from Day 1, the later of the last critical item and cleared payment. A Red-Flag Review and readiness work are dated at scoping; Operational & Market Diligence usually runs 15 to 20 business days at Focused scope.
- Quality of earnings, buy-side or sell-side
- Operational & Market Diligence
- Capital Readiness
Ongoing · Advisory to Embedded
When you want stronger financial leadership and a business that runs better
Choose Advisory for senior judgment, Strategic Advisory for judgment plus one maintained analytical workstream, or Embedded for agreed hands-on leadership and execution. Work with the CFO partner, the operating partner or both; responsibilities and initial term are agreed in writing.
- CFO & Operating Partner
- Exit Readiness Partnership
- Acquisition Partnership
Deal Services
Test the financials. Investigate the business.
Quality of Earnings and Operational & Market Diligence can be hired alone or together; combined, each keeps its own report and exhibit book, with one findings discussion. Exit Readiness runs the same tests for an owner before a sale.
Quality of Earnings
Operational & Market Diligence
Exit Readiness
The Value Gap
Same profit. Very different price.
Two businesses can have similar earnings and very different risks. Concentration, owner dependence, market change and management depth can affect buyers’ assumptions.
The Problem
Sound familiar?
If the owner stepped away next Monday, what would the next 90 days look like? It’s worth asking about your own business, or one you’re considering buying.
The Embedded Model
An operating partner and a CFO. In the business with you.
You can start with us because you need financial advice or operating help today. Advisory, Strategic Advisory and Embedded define different levels of involvement. We work with management on current reporting, cash, decisions and agreed operational priorities, and can help implement work when that is part of the scope.
Operating Partner
Helps management advance agreed priorities such as pricing discipline, leadership coverage, customer economics or process improvement. We distinguish what LIMESTONE does, what management owns and when an approved independent specialist is appropriate.
CFO
Depending on the level agreed, financial support may include performance review, a maintained model or cash forecast, profitability analysis, lender reporting and financial leadership. Advisory covers senior judgment, scheduled reviews and recommendations; routine production and execution sit outside it.
Specialist partners
When a client needs bookkeeping, tax preparation, payroll, technology work or a major systems build, that work is separately handled by an appropriately engaged provider. We can coordinate within the agreed scope.
The Work, In Practice
What changes when we get in the numbers.
They fully embedded themselves into our business, helping us navigate complex decisions and significantly accelerating our path to market readiness. LIMESTONE’s proactive, comprehensive support has been invaluable.
They’re not just financial advisors, they roll up their sleeves and get involved in every aspect of the business. What really sets LIMESTONE apart is that they operate like true partners, not outsiders.
Jared has shown consistent knowledge in the finance and scaling of our company. We have three complex divisions and his ability to navigate and create factual strategies has been a great help.
The Team
You’re hiring Jared and Ryan.
Ryan Anoskey, CPA, has a decade in audit and transaction advisory, has run more than 100 quality of earnings reviews, buy-side and sell-side, and spent eighteen months in corporate finance at Roche Diagnostics, forecasting demand and pricing through a category disruption.
Jared Luegers, CFA, spent nearly six years in equity research analyzing businesses and their financials, then moved to the operating side: he led strategic initiatives at a portfolio company through its $190 million sale, worked inside an independent sponsor’s businesses through the $3.2 million purchase of a raw pet food producer, and served on the executive team of a $9 billion Indiana RIA. He has led professional organizations across Indiana, from CFA Society Indianapolis to OWN Indiana, which he founded.
Founder and Managing Partner
Jared Luegers, CFA
Jasper, Indiana · IU Kelley School of Business
Partner
Ryan Anoskey, CPA
Evansville, Indiana · IU Kelley School of Business
The Free Foundation Check
See where your business stands, in about ten minutes.
Answer a few questions and see your Foundation Score: how your business rates on the five things a buyer prices, and the one weak link worth fixing first. Free, and yours to keep. Self-rated and directional; never a valuation.
A · Clean numbers
B · Runs without you
C · Leadership bench
D · Market position
E · Deal-ready
Straight Answers
Questions people ask first
Deal services are fixed-fee, quoted as one fee in writing after a short scoping call. A Lite quality of earnings starts at $7,500, Core at $15,000 and Full at $25,000, sell-side or buy-side. A Red-Flag Review starts at $2,500. Lite and the Red-Flag Review are paid in full at signing; Core and Full are half at signing and half at delivery. No part of the fee moves with the findings or with whether the deal closes. Ongoing work is monthly and priced per role: Advisory from $2,500 a month, Strategic Advisory from $4,000 and Embedded from $7,500, at the level and the roles you choose.
It depends on the scope, and we count in business days from Day 1: the later of the last critical item on our request list and cleared payment, never from signing. Lite runs 10 to 15 business days, Core 10 to 20 and Full 15 to 25; the Red-Flag Review is dated at scoping. A rush, at an added fee, delivers inside 10 business days. Incomplete records are the most common reason a timeline slips. If you are on a shorter clock, say so up front and we will tell you whether we can hit it.
We work for the party that engages us and never work both sides of a deal; the report shows the add-backs we decline.
No. Your CPA keeps the reporting, tax and compliance right. Your broker runs the sale. We do the forward-looking finance, the operating work and the readiness in between, and we work alongside both. Different jobs. We are not business brokers or investment bankers.
No. You can start with one fixed-fee deal service, such as a quality of earnings or an Exit Readiness Review, and stop there. If it makes sense to keep us on as your CFO and operating partner afterward, we can. If what you need is bookkeeping or steady-state back-office help, we will point you somewhere better.
get started
Send us the deal or the decision.
A thirty-minute call with both partners, then one fixed fee in writing, usually within a business day.