The Playbook for a Perfect Exit: Design with Your End in Mind

Erika Baez-Grimes, CM&AP is a nationally recognized, award winning M&A advisor, SMB investor, and deal maker with more than 15 years of experience leading high stakes negotiations and structuring complex transactions. Erika is proud to have built a reputation for strategic positioning, disciplined negotiation, and maximizing enterprise value. For the past 6 years, she served as a principal sell side broker within the largest business brokerage organization in the world, earning distinction for delivering premium outcomes for founders and family-owned businesses.
At a pivotal point in her career, Erika transitioned from advisor to Co-CEO of Silver Tsunami Transitions. Along with 3X CEO Esther Aguilera their partnership was formed to bring a boutique advisory platform focused on serving Main Street and lower middle market companies on the preparation, structure, and grit it takes to execute successful transitions. Today, they advise family held businesses and growth minded owners across the globe on valuation, deal structure, legacy planning and identifying buyers exiting successfully.
In addition to her M&A work, Erika actively invests in small businesses, teaches Scale ++ Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. She educates entrepreneurs, operators, and investors worldwide on how to acquire, scale, and transition companies using disciplined acquisition frameworks. She’s educated and mentored aspiring buyers across multiple cohorts, helping them move from employee to operator & operator to owner.
A strong believer in development, Erika is deeply embedded in the Vistage Worldwide Inc. ecosystem. She works closely with CEOs, Key Leaders, and SMB’s, placing qualified executives into Vistage peer advisory groups where they gain access to confidential, high-level decision-making forums. She is also an active member of the Vistage community, strengthening executive skills and elevating her leadership capacity.
An entrepreneur at heart, Erika founded a payment processing company in 2014. Following the post pandemic economic shift, she transitioned the CEO role to her husband. To date, the company has helped clients process multi-millions and they continue to achieve steady year over year growth.
Erika’s roles on Main Street, inspired her to dedicate free time to serving various profit and Non-profit organizations. Currently, she holds 2 board roles with eyes on strengthening the economic landscape in the community & will continue to stay committed to helping business owners build enterprise value, execute strategic exits, & scale with confidence.

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About Laura

Laura doesn’t just manage organizations; she transforms them. With a career spanning public office, private sector leadership, and venture-backed entrepreneurship, she has built a reputation as a relentless leader who thrives where complexity meets high stakes. Her leadership style—described by colleagues and investors as having the power to "field an NFL team" or "go through a brick wall"—is defined by a unique blend of grit and sophisticated operational expertise.

A Track Record of Results
Laura’s career is marked by high-impact turnarounds across very different worlds. In the tech sector, she stepped into the struggling startup Matrics, orchestrated a massive turnaround, and raised $17 million in venture capital. Her efforts led to a $230 million acquisition by Symbol, a move recognized as "Venture Deal of the Year" and used as a case study in entrepreneurship at Princeton University.

In the public sector, she managed a $1.3 billion government budget. During her tenure, she successfully navigated a billion-dollar unfunded mandate, improved the bond rating, and replenished the Rainy Day Fund. She excels at optimizing operations to ensure that large-scale resources are deployed for maximum public value.

An Unconventional Journey
Laura’s path to the top was anything but traditional. Without finishing high school or college, she leaned into her drive and experience to eventually earn her MBA from Loyola University Maryland and complete the prestigious Executive Program at Stanford Business School. This background fuels her belief that true impact is driven by results and persistence rather than a standard pedigree.

Speaker and Advocate
A powerful voice on leadership, economic development, and women’s rights, Laura is a frequent speaker and media contributor. Her story and insights have been featured in premier outlets including The Washington Post, People Magazine, 48 Hours, and The Baltimore Sun.

Core Expertise
Today, Laura specializes in strategy development and execution, building high-performance teams, and managing large-scale organizational change. Whether she is raising capital or guiding a public initiative, her focus remains the same: turning bold visions into reality.

Many business owners discover too late that their company isn’t truly transferable because it depends too heavily on their daily involvement. Peter G. Daniels solves this “owner trap” by helping entrepreneurs build businesses that work for them—rather than because of them.

As a Business Broker and Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), Peter specializes in turning companies into structured, valuable assets. He utilizes his proprietary Owner Decision Protection System™ (ODPS) to help owners make better decisions, document institutional knowledge through the Owner Decision Vault™, and position their enterprises for sustainable growth or a lucrative sale.

Peter’s approach is defined by three core pillars:

• Build: Strengthening operations to improve enterprise value.

• Protect: Creating continuity and safeguarding what the owner has built.

• Exit: Structuring and executing seamless business transitions.

His expertise is backed by more than 30 years of professional experience, ranging from high-level leadership roles at a global investment management firm to the hands-on reality of building, acquiring, and operating his own businesses. This unique blend of corporate sophistication and entrepreneurial “in-the-trenches” experience allows him to speak the language of both professional advisors and business owners.

Today, Peter partners with entrepreneurs, succession-bound owners, and professional advisors to ensure that years of hard work culminate in a successful, well-structured exit. Whether you are looking to buy, sell, or simply ensure your business can thrive without you, Peter provides the strategic roadmap to get there.