#SPINRITE 6 ON A CELL PHONE UPGRADE#
To transition the leadership from Cottman’s long-term owner/manager to next generation executives and to partner with, groom and augment a young and ambitious incumbent management team who had not yet established personal wealth.Ĭompleted a Smooth Transition to Sentinel Ownership: As Cottman was a business with a 20-year history of being actively managed by three owners who exited at closing, Sentinel and newly-appointed successor CEO, who had been at Cottman for 10 years, worked closely together to ensure a smooth transition.Īugmented Management for Accelerated Growth: To position Cottman for accelerating its growth, Sentinel helped recruit two experienced executives as COO and CFO and actively assisted management to upgrade Cottman’s IT infrastructure. During their ownership, Cottman earned numerous franchising industry awards. Cottman’s owners had originally purchased the business from its founder in 1979 and over the next two decades they had tripled the number of centers and increased revenues tenfold. Sentinel acquired Cottman from the company's three owners who were seeking liquidity for estate planning purposes and looking to transition out of the business. Cottman, the "Transmission Physician," opened its first transmission repair center on Cottman Avenue in Philadelphia in 1962, and when Sentinel sold the company, had approximately 400 centers in the United States and Canada. "Good partners" | Not currently in litigationĬompany: Cottman Transmission Systems, Inc.Īt the time of our purchase, Cottman was a leading franchisor of automotive transmission centers that repair, remanufacture and service transmissions. "Leading company in our industry" | Middle of the pack player "Work closely with the management" | Talk to them on the phone once a month "Window of opportunity" | Without more money, the company is dead "Well below plan" | An outright, unmitigated disaster "Value-added investor" | Generally comes to board meetings but spends most of the time on "emergency" phone calls
"Upgrading the management team" | The organization is in complete disarray "Too early to tell" | Results to date have been grim "Strategic investor" | Investor will pay a preposterous valuation "Somewhat below plan" | Revenue shortfall of 75% "Rifle shot approach to a few investors" | You're the only potential investor left "Reposition the company" | No market for current products "Possibility of slight shortfall" | Revenue shortfall of 50% "Passive investor" | Phones yearly to see if company is still in business "Opportunistic investment strategy" | Absolutely no investment strategy "On a manufacturing learning curve" | Can't make the product with positive margins "Long selling cycle" | Yet to find a customer who likes the product "Limited downside" | It can't get much worse "Investing heavily in R&D" | Trying desperately to catch the competition "Ingredients are there" | Given two years might find a workable strategy "Feeding frenzy" | At least one interested new customer "Entrepreneurial CEO" | Totally uncontrollable, bordering on maniacal "Cyclical industry" | Posted a huge loss last year "Currently revising the budget" | Financial plan is total disaster "Considerably ahead of plan" | Hit plan in one of the last three months
"Basically on plan" | Revenue shortfall of 25% "Acquisition strategy" | Current products have no market