From acquisitions to private equity to platform partnerships, the past year shows founders of professional services firms that an exit is achievable.
DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, June 25, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Collective 54, the mastermind community for founders building AI-Native professional services firms, today announced that its members have surpassed sixty successful firm sales since the community’s launch in January 2020, representing more than $3.5 billion in transactions across North America. Ten of those exits closed in the past year alone. No two looked alike. They ranged from a strategic acquisition to a private equity growth investment to a platform partnership, but together they make one point clear: for founders of professional services firms, a successful exit is not a long shot. It is achievable, and Collective 54 members are proving it.
What these founders share is not a single deal structure but a common preparation. That preparation is specific. Members use Collective 54’s playbook and proprietary methodologies to build exit readiness years in advance, draw on the community’s data and valuation tools to make informed decisions about timing and worth, and get coaching and candid feedback from founders who have already navigated a sale. Increasingly, that preparation includes building AI-Native firms, reengineering how the business delivers services so it is less dependent on billable hours and headcount, which is exactly the kind of firm buyers compete for. As they move toward a transaction, members also tap the community’s Ecosystem Partners, including M&A advisors, legal, and financial specialists, who help them prepare and execute. Collective 54 Ecosystem Partner Envoy Capital Advisors, for example, served as investment bank to Katalyst on its transaction. The result is a founder who reaches the deal table ready, not guessing.
“People assume a great exit comes down to timing or luck. It comes down to preparation, and that is what Collective 54 is built to provide. Members work through a proven playbook for exit readiness, use our data and valuation tools to understand what their firm is worth and why, and learn directly from peers who have already sold their firms. By the time a buyer is at the table, the founder has been preparing for years. Sixty exits is not a series of lucky breaks. It is what happens when founders prepare the right way.” Jeff Klaumann, President, Collective 54.
Founder Perspectives
“When the opportunity came to partner with e4n for Katalyst’s next chapter, I was able to approach it like an investor, not just an operator. That mindset came directly from Collective 54. Learning from founders who had already been through their own transactions meant I understood what mattered and how to evaluate the decision. The community is where I got ready, long before the deal was on the table.” Luke Johnson, CEO of Katalyst, an IT services firm.
“Through our time with Collective 54, 5Q gained practical and strategic guidance on how to better structure our business around our customers’ needs. The community shared real-world approaches to being consistently client-first, which helped us strengthen how we deliver value every day. That focus ultimately positioned us to grow in a thoughtful way and attract the right kind of investment to accelerate what we were already doing well. We’re excited for what’s ahead and appreciate the role Collective 54 played in helping us get there.” Don Goldstein, Partner and CISO, 5Q, a cybersecurity and IT firm serving commercial real estate.
“We spent over a decade building WAP, and Collective 54 helped me understand years in advance what it would take to make it attractive to the right buyer. Learning from members who had already sold their firms shaped how we prepared, how we thought about value, and how we approached the decision when the time came. That community made an achievable exit feel real.” Brad McAllister, Co-Founder & COO, WAP Sustainability, a sustainability services firm.
How Collective 54 Helps Founders Succeed
Collective 54 is the mastermind community for founders building AI-Native professional services firms, designed for a specific audience: founders of firms in NAICS 54. The community provides its members with access to a peer network of growth-oriented founders, actionable insights, and expert resources that help members scale faster, increase profitability, and successfully exit when the time is right.
What makes Collective 54 unique is its focus on what founders want most: to make more money, make scaling easier, and make an exit achievable. Members gain the wisdom of those who have successfully navigated the journey before them, enabling smarter decisions and faster results.
About Collective 54
Collective 54 is the mastermind community for founders building AI-Native professional services firms, and the first community exclusively for founders of firms in NAICS 54. Designed to help these founders make more money, make scaling easier, and make an exit achievable, the Collective 54 community has six key features.
Network – A curated community of founders who apply and are admitted based on strict criteria, ensuring every member is a peer worth knowing.
Content – Actionable learning content with proven best practices, proprietary methodologies, practical tools, pre-configured templates, and on-demand courseware tailored to scaling professional services firms.
Data – Insights based on data to value the firm and guide key financial decisions.
Coaching – Personalized support through one-on-one sessions, small-group coaching, and structured mentor-protégé relationships.
Events – Impactful weekly virtual sessions, monthly deep-dives, local workshops, and the annual flagship event, The Reunion. All designed for real-time learning and connection.
Software – Purpose-built member portal featuring a searchable directory, event calendar, meeting archives, and a business exchange for member-to-member referrals.
Collective 54 serves NAICS 54 which includes consulting, IT services, marketing agencies, accounting and finance, legal services, architectural and engineering services, design, and software development firms. With a few hundred members across North America, the community continues to fuel growth and success stories throughout the professional services sector.
Learn more about how Collective 54 works: https://www.collective54.com/what-is-collective-54/
Listen to the Pro Serv Podcast: https://www.collective54.com/podcast/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/collective54
Jeff Klaumann, President
Collective 54
contact@collective54.com
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