The Biggest Decision in Your Company's Life deserves more than a Process

corporate finance
Decoded
rewired
founder/ owner-centric

Selling, raising capital, scaling internationally, acquiring or handing over to the next generation is rarely just a financial decision.
DoneDeal works with founders and owners across Europe, from the first question to long after the deal.

Corporate finance. Decoded. Rewired. Founder/ Owner-centric.
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- Decoded: every step explained in plain language.
- Rewired: we start long before the deal, when there's still time to change the outcome.
- Founder/ owner-centric: the process fits you, not the other way around.‍

Most M&A advisers run a process. We work with the person who has to live with the outcome.
DoneDeal  is a corporate finance firm built for  founders and owners. Not a generalist M&A shop that occasionally takes on an owner-led deal.
We work with European companies built on something hard to copy:  their technology, brand, market positioning or  know-how. And we’ve sat in their chair: we’ve run companies like theirs, then sold them. Sectors from cybersecurity and insurance to healthcare, media, luxury brands, consumer safety, services,  and logistics.
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We help you decide whether to sell, raise or keep building. We get your company ready so buyers see its full value.
We run the deal. And we stay with you for what comes next.

Because the best outcome is not won in the negotiation. It is shaped months before anyone sees a spreadsheet.
- The same senior partner, start to finish: Never handed to a junior team once the mandate is signed.
- We give you honest feedback, early: Including what you don't want to hear, while it is still useful to hear it.
- A transition, not just a transaction:   We work through the personal decisions alongside the financial ones: succession, control, legacy.
- Discreet by default: Your staff, clients and competitors hear about it when you decide, not before.

Strategic. Discreet. Built to close.

Trusted by

You built the company. Now a decision is coming.

Owners usually come to us with one of these questions:
- "Buyers are calling. Are we ready, how do they really judge our company, and what are we really worth to them?"
- "We are growing fast. Should we raise capital, merge, keep scaling or building, and on what terms and how?"
- "I have run this business for 25 years and there is no obvious successor."
- "We start thinking about an exit but what about timing and strategic options?"

We typically work with founder and owner-led companies of 20 to 250 employees and €5m to €75m in value across Europe on situations such as selling your company or finding a strategic partner, raising growth capital, succession and hand-over, management buy-outs, acquisitions and buy-and-build, and advice before any of the previous.

Our

approach

Most advisors arrive when the deal starts. That is too late.

Some clients call us founder and owner whisperers. What they mean is that we are beside them long before the deal, through it, and after it.
We listen first, we guide and tell you the truth, we stay beside you, and we're dealmakers.

01

Strategic Clarity

Think before you transact. Should you sell, raise, buy or keep building? We lay out your options strategically, financially and personally, starting with starting what it takes to be ready and what you want, not only what the market will pay.

01

02

Readiness

Make it worth more before anyone looks. Buyers pay for a company that runs well, even without its owner. We help get the team, governance, strategic positioning, fine-tuning of financial metrics, KPIs, and story ready, and the shareholders aligned, months before the process starts.

02

03

The Deal

The right buyer, not just the highest bid. A short list of buyers or investors chosen for fit, a process designed around you, highly-tailored flawless execution, and firm negotiation by senior deal makers. No mass mailing to two hundred names and a commoditised processes. Price matters, but so do your people, your name and your role.

03

04

Next Chapter

Life after the deal. Whether you stay, step back or leave, we coach you in planning your role, your team's future and the legacy you want to leave and aligns founder/ owner, board and stakeholders.

04

Your

Investibility

What is your company worth to a buyer, and what would it make it worth more?

Buyers do not pay for profit alone. They pay for profit that survives without you.
Before any deal, we look at your company the way a buyer will: how much it depends on you, how solid the numbers are, how strong the team, customers and contracts are, and how convincing the story is. Then we fix what matters most, while there is still time.
The same company is often worth very different amounts to different buyers. We show you who would pay most, and why, before you go to market.

Measured with the WizeFlow Investibility Index.
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Most owners discover what holds back their company's value in due diligence, when it is most expensive to fix. The WizeFlow Investibility Index scores a company across the dimensions buyers and investors actually price, shows where it falls short, and what a stronger score looks like. The methodology is published and the scoring is deliberately hard.

WizeFlow measures how investible a company is. DoneDeal makes it investible and does the deal.

Our

team

Senior people who have run businesses, not only advised them.

Gert Van der Linden

- Managing Partner of DoneDeal since 2003 and founder of WizeFlow. Former CEO and COO.
- Advisory board member at Koroyd since 2018, where DoneDeal acted as sell-side adviser on its sale to Mips, at Manutech since 2010 and at Belgian Scrap Terminal since 2024. Former member of the ThreatFabric strategic committee.

John Leggate

CBE, FREng
- Former Global Head of Supply Chain and Group Chief Information Officer at BP, and President of its Azerbaijan operating company.
- Chairman of Gresham House Energy Storage Fund.
- Board roles across energy transition, industry, cybersecurity and digital technology.

Monique Wolvekamp

- 20+ years in banking, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, accounting at KPMG, corporate finance and as CFO for a number of companies.
- Turns the numbers into a case investors believe.
- Financial strategist and execution lead.

 

Patricia O

- Executive coach and change leadership expert.
- 30+ years guiding owners and boards through leadership and succession transitions, talent assessment and mentor programmes.
- Founder of Dare.


Our strategic

advisors and ambassadors

Antony Stack

- Founder and executive of several financial services companies.
- He has extensive experience in corporate governance roles across international jurisdictions.



Martyn Porter

 - Martyn brings more than 20 years in high-level roles in the banking industry as CEO, non-executive director and Chairman.
- A co-founder and finance lead at Carbonaires, he plays a significant role in developing the carbon‑credit investment space and environmental finance.

Peter Magnus

- Co-founder and director of Hermes Europe Railtel, a pan-European data network company, with key roles in finance, strategy and corporate development.
- Co-founder and director of an investment fund and serial entrepreneur.


David Gregory

- A senior banking professional with over 40 years’ experience in Corporate and Private Banking in the UK and Monaco, including NatWest, St James’s Place, J. Safra Sarasin, EFG and Banque Havilland.
- He led a major division at Coutts and worked with clients from SMEs to large corporates.

Contact us

Thinking about a sale, a raise or a succession?

Start with a confidential conversation. No obligation, no pitch deck. We will tell you honestly whether now is the right time, and whether we are the right firm.

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