What does it really take to build, sell, and successfully integrate a specialist consulting firm?
Carlos Keener has spent more than 25 years working in M&A, integration, and post-deal operating models. He founded Beyond the Deal (BTD), building a specialist consultancy focused on helping organisations capture value from acquisitions and other inorganic growth events, before the firm joined Oaklin Consulting.
In this episode, Carlos explains how he moved from independent consulting to building a firm, why scaling a specialist consultancy requires conscious trade-offs, and why founders need to decide what they actually want from their business before pursuing growth.
Carlos also shares lessons from selling BTD, including how to identify the right buyer, articulate the specific value your firm brings, and think carefully about your own role after a transaction. He discusses the realities of post-deal integration, why cross-selling can be harder than expected, and why cultural compatibility alone is not enough. The conversation concludes with a practical perspective on AI: clients ultimately care about speed, quality, outcomes, and price, not which tools consultants use to deliver them.
In this episode you will learn
- Why Carlos chose to build a specialist M&A consultancy rather than remain an independent consultant.
- How founders can move from selling themselves to selling an organisational capability.
- Why scaling a specialist consultancy requires deliberate choices about leverage, size, and client delivery.
- How sellers can identify and communicate the specific value they bring to a potential buyer.
- Why founders should decide what they want their post-sale role to look like before agreeing a deal.
- Why culture, working practices, and commercial routines all matter when assessing a buyer.
- How AI may change consulting delivery without changing what clients fundamentally value.
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:00) From Independent Consultant to Firm Founder
(04:20) Building and Scaling Beyond the Deal
(09:20) Designing a Consultancy Around Your Goals
(12:10) What Consulting Owners Should Know Before Selling
(16:40) Finding the Right Buyer for Your Firm
(21:30) Life After the Deal: Integrating BTD into Oaklin
(23:40) Post-Deal Lessons and the Challenge of Cross-Selling
(26:10) How AI Is Changing Professional Services
(29:50) Why AI Tools Are Becoming Harder to Monetise
Connect with Carlos Keener:
Carlos Keener on LinkedIn:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/carloskeener
Oaklin – M&A, Integration and Inorganic Growth:
https://www.oaklin.com/m-a-integration-and-inorganic-growth
Beyond the Deal / BTD:
https://btd.consulting
Leading the Deal – Carlos Keener & Thras Moraitis:
https://books.google.ro/books/about/Leading_the_Deal.html?id=5C8guAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Send us Fan Mail
Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.
Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/
Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney
Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com
