The M&A advisory space has a blind spot, and it’s been hiding in plain sight for years.

The majority of advisors helping business owners sell their companies come from finance. Investment banking, private equity, family offices. They know how to build models, run valuations, and structure deals. But most of them have never built a company. They’ve never hired the first employee, figured out how to make payroll when cash was tight, or sat across from a buyer knowing that the outcome of that conversation would determine whether the last decade of their life was worth it.

Robert Indries has done all of those. Not just once, but four times.

As a Partner at Elkridge Advisors, Robert brings a background to the M&A table that most advisory firms simply can’t offer. He’s a 4X exit founder. He’s built 8 businesses that operate across 17 countries. He’s personally been involved in scaling over 300 companies across 19 different sectors. When he sits down with a business owner who is thinking about selling, he’s not working from a template. He’s drawing on the experience of having been that owner across multiple industries and at different stages, under different market conditions.

That distinction is becoming harder to ignore. As the M&A market continues to evolve, business owners are becoming more discerning about whom they bring in to advise them. They’re asking better questions. They want to know whether the person across the table has ever actually been in their position. Whether their advisor has ever had their own money on the line. Whether the person telling them how to present their company to buyers has ever had to present their own.

The traditional advisory model was built for a time when access to buyers and capital was the bottleneck. That’s no longer the case. Deal flow platforms, digital marketplaces, and broader access to information have shifted the playing field. What business owners need now isn’t just someone who can find a buyer. They need someone who understands what makes a company actually sellable from the inside out. That requires operational experience that you can’t learn from a finance textbook or even a decade at an investment bank.

Elkridge Advisors was built on that principle. The firm has a strong track record of success, with many companies that have engaged the firm closing their deals. That’s not a marketing number. It’s the direct result of a process designed by someone who understands what breaks during a deal because he’s lived through it himself. Not as the advisor watching from the sidelines, but as the founder with everything on the line.

The advisory industry has been slow to acknowledge this gap, but the market is starting to correct it. Business owners are gravitating toward advisors who speak their language. Not the language of spreadsheets and comparable transactions, but the language of operations. Hiring. Margins. Customer retention. Leadership decisions that look fine on paper but create problems that surface six weeks into due diligence. Those are the things that kill deals, and they’re the things that only an operator would think to look for.

Robert’s career reflects where the industry is heading. The next generation of top M&A advisors will be those who have built and sold businesses themselves and can apply that experience to help other owners succeed. The credibility gap between someone who has read about exits and someone who has actually done them is wide, and business owners are starting to notice.

For Elkridge, that’s always been the foundation. The firm wasn’t founded by bankers seeking deal fees. It was started by operators who already understood what it takes to get a company from where it is to where it needs to be in order to close. That’s a fundamentally different starting point, and it shows up in the results.

As more business owners prepare to exit, firms that earn their trust will be those with real operational experience. They’ll be the ones that can look an owner in the eye and say, “I’ve been exactly where you are.” That’s not something you can fake. And it’s not something you can hire for. It’s a unique skill set that comes from direct experience in building and selling businesses.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this article reflects the personal experiences and opinions of Robert Indries and Elkridge Advisors. While the insights shared are based on their expertise and success in the M&A advisory industry, individual results may vary. The content is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or investment advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions related to business exits or advisory services.