In this episode of The Do Diligence Podcast, host Derrick McIver brings listeners a rare conversation — a buyer and seller sitting down together to unpack what really happens when a leadership-driven small business changes hands. Joining him are Kelly Conway, former CEO-in-Residence at Sleeping Giant Capital and now owner of Pondera Advisors, and Rob Elliot, co-founder of Pondera and one of West Michigan’s most respected leadership coaches.
For nearly 20 years, Rob and his partner Joe Day built Pondera into a trusted firm anchored by the Pondera Virtual Advisor — a proprietary leadership assessment unlike anything else in the market. Kelly, meanwhile, was constructing a human-capital advisory platform and knew she needed a world-class coaching and assessment capability at its center. What followed was a nearly year-long journey of trust-building, tense negotiations, deep personal reflection, and ultimately, a shared vision for taking an established firm into its next chapter.