Third Coast Partners

+1 215 820 7372

Call or click to schedule a call

Third Coast Partners

Providing Growth company solutions for founders and owner-operators with
$5-15 million in revenue

Congratulations.

You made it past the death zones. 90%+ of new enterprises fail within the first 1-3 years of launch, victims of limited resources and experience, poor planning and inherently high odds of failure. 80%+ of the survivors will not see a 5th anniversary. Of those remaining, most will plateau or stagnate, fail to keep up with industry trends or technologies, struggle competitively or otherwise fail to achieve full potential. Most lack a growth, funding or exit strategy.

How about you?

MASTER YOUR MARKETSPACE

Markets, industries and opportunities change constantly. Are you changing with them?

PROGRAM YOUR GROWTH

Guts and grit got you here. Why not increase the odds of continued success?

ORGANIZE YOUR TEAM FOR SCALE

Organizational planning isn't just for the big guys. Why not design your team for future growth?

3 BIGGEST CHALLENGES:

We create solutions to the biggest and most frequent obstacles our clients encounter. Obstacles which impede progress, stymie growth and frustrate owners, investors, managers and employees alike.

MASTER YOUR MARKETSPACE

Markets, industries and opportunities change constantly. Are you changing with them?

Your Pain: Even good companies can take current market conditions for granted, even as things change all around them. Or they can become disoriented by disruptive change (new technologies, regulation, entry of a new competitor). Sometimes, complacency bred by success means they are unaware of these threats. Even when they are aware, they are often unsure how to respond. Failure to anticipate and meet these changes in market and competitive conditions can lead to stagnation, inability to achieve desired valuations, and even complete failure.

A clear, accurate picture of your battlespace is needed.

How Third Coast can help: Clarify your market position, competitive landscape and market/regulatory trends which are shaping your company's future.

PROGRAM YOUR GROWTH

Guts and grit got you here. Why not increase the odds of continued success?

Your Pain: Small enterprises seeking new opportunities, designing new products or launching new ventures often rely upon the same instincts, knowledge, experience and confidence which led to initial success. What led to prior success may not transfer or travel well. Due diligence, risk analysis, resource requirements, execution specifics, timelines and milestones for the new initiative are often informal, guesswork or absent altogether. Odds of failure become invisible and recovery from miscalculations and unanticipated setbacks drain resources.

Clear go/no-go criteria and concept-to-profitability plans for each new initiative are needed.

How Third Coast can help: Develop criteria for evaluating, conducting due diligence and defining business models for new opportunities.

ORGANIZE YOUR TEAM FOR SCALE

Organizational planning isn't just for the big guys. Why not design yours for growth and success?

Your Pain: Transition from startup crew to defined line and staff roles in small enterprises often occurs in haphazard fashion, with idiosyncratic processes and procedures passed on in informal, on-the-job settings. As the enterprise scales, quality and consistency become more difficult to maintain in the absence of uniform standards and metrics. Reputation suffers with existing customers, as does ability to capture and satisfy new business. Resulting stagnation cannot be remedied by doing what worked before with more effort.

An organization designed for growth is needed.

How Third Coast can help: Define, organize, streamline and document processes, procedures and protocols. Create a plan for standing up formalized departments.

Technologies and markets change – telecom deregulation, internet, globalization, new sources of energy, Asia-Pacific trade, social media, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, new space race -- but the challenges remain fundamental.

For 40 years, Third Coast has worked exclusively with small fast-growing companies either coping with the challenges of growth or struggling to achieve it. Working directly with owners and senior management, Third Coast helped them and the teams they lead to develop the structure and strategies to achieve success. With experience in the U.S., Asia and Europe, Third Coast brings to the table a broad range of proven tools and tactics to meet growth company challenges.

Background

Third Coast was formed during the entrepreneurial, information and telecom revolutions which gathered speed in the early 1980s. New technologies were giving small and mid-sized firms the ability to compete and find new markets globally. Possessing tools once exclusive to huge national and global companies, they needed ways to organize themselves, assess new market and new product opportunities, and devise winning entry and growth strategies. They needed ways to escape or avoid many of the common traps which keep small growth enterprises from maximizing their potential.

ENGAGEMENT SUMMARIES

ISSUES • SOLUTIONS • RESULTS

Aerospace Technology Firm Regains Altitude

Issue:

An innovative producer of air traffic control technologies believed it had maxed out the potential for growth within its existing market and was resigned to focus significant resources building bridges into other markets. Initial migration attempts were being made when Third Coast was approached.

Solution:

Third Coast was engaged to evaluate potential markets for transfer, adaptation and licensing of its technologies. While we identified several promising sectors, entry barriers and incumbent competitors would present substantial challenges. Further, it was discovered that initial migration attempts would yield limited revenue and growth, if any. We revisited the company’s core market and discovered several new, long-term air traffic infrastructure initiatives afoot which could provide decades worth of revenue growth. Third Coast stood up a formalized awareness, influence building and marketing function aimed at capturing this business.

Result:

The company shut down its migration initiatives and re-focused on its core market. It became a major player in several massive air traffic control infrastructure projects, initially doubling, then tripling revenue before pursuing acquisitions which have fueled further growth.

Reinvented Fastener Distributor Restructures to Meet New Market Conditions

Issue:

Sales at a distributor of fastener parts used in everything from servomotors to lawn furniture had stagnated. Its legacy sales team insisted all potential had been wringed out of its market. The industry was being globalized and the company lacked offshore supply chain expertise. Its founder was approaching retirement and lacked succession and exit strategies.

Solution:

This Coast was recommended to the company by its financial advisors. It brought in a sales force development specialist to overhaul the sales team and selling tactics. A market survey conducted by Third Coast identified hundreds of prospect companies within a five-county area which were unknown to the company or its sales team. It conducted an executive search and found a general manager with extensive experience managing Asia-U.S. supply chains.

Result:

With a revamped, retrained sales team and a finance-savvy executive capable of navigating offshore sourcing, the company had the breathing room to restructure. This stability enabled the founder to exit with his equity and the management team to position the company for long term growth and eventual acquisition.

China Joint Venture Grows from Building Supplies Importer to Turnkey General Contractor

Issue:

This company was spearheading the adoption of specialty coated aluminum and steel for use in industrial building construction in China. But there was also enormous demand for all aspects of construction, from electrical and plumbing supplies and specialists to trained crews. The company’s founder/entrepreneur lacked the capacity and capability to take advantage of these opportunities.

Solution:

Third Coast helped this owner create the organizational infrastructure, project execution and quality control procedures, talent acquisition, importation and customs protocols and formalized sales/support programs to compete and win business from Western multi-nationals’ expanding operations in China.

Result:

By moving downstream, the company captured more of the value chain’s margins and established direct relationships with the ultimate end users of its building materials. The company became so proficient at navigating the processes of associated with importation to the China it established a separate consulting service to assist other companies.

Providing Growth company solutions for founders and owner-operators with $5-15 million in revenue

+1 215 820 7372