Selected Case Studies

Grage partnered with Kurt Smith, founder of PBS, at a pivotal time in 2019.  After founding PBS a couple years earlier and securing some key customer contracts, PBS was struggling.  While its future looked bright, it’s current outlook was difficult.   PBS a) didn’t have the right management team to support it operations, b) it didn’t have the capital it needed fund the business, and c) didn’t have a plan to determine where and how to go forward.

Grage created a structure that invested capital into the business, secured the appropriate financing structure, provided liquidity to Kurt balance his personal financial exposure, and ensured Kurt retained a very significant ownership of the business.

Then the Grage team got to work.  Financially, the business was stabilized, new customers were onboarded, performance was tracked rigorously, and new team members were added.  Revenue and earnings increased by 6x over 3 years. 

That growth attracted the attention of industry leaders and PBS was sold to Pritchard Industries and Kurt and Grage both increased their equity value by >10x.

Grage partnered with Ron Hoppe, founder of Healthstaff, in 2021.  Though almost 20 years old, Healthstaff had just ~20 employees and a few million of annual revenue.  But it was at an injunction point.  A co-founder was eager to retire, external factors were changing the industry, and a several new large customers were starting to work with HealthStaff.  However, Healthstaff was not prepared for that opportunity – it didn’t have the team, the systems, or the capital base to be able achieve the growth that was possible. 

Grage created a structure that secured the appropriate financing structure, provided desired liquidity to retiring the partner and Ron, and ensured Ron retained a very significant ownership of the business.

Then the Grage team got to work.  Financially, the business was stabilized, new customers were onboarded, critical team members were hired, and new management tools were put in place.  Revenue and earnings increased by 5x over 2 years. 

That growth attracted the attention of industry leaders and PBS was sold to Medical Solutions and Ron and Grage both increased their equity value by ~7x.