An equity growth partner for two kinds of painter.
The one with the hunger to start.
The one who’s hit the ceiling on what one person can carry.
Exit Forward is the third option. Where painters who want to build something real get capital, brand, systems, and a partner who only wins when you do.
It’s not a job. It’s not a franchise. It’s a partnership.
We’re not brokers. We’re not consultants billing hours. We’re equity growth partners who’ve built and sold businesses ourselves.
We start by understanding what’s there. What’s working, what’s not, and what needs to be in place before the next chapter is possible. Then we invest, take a seat at the table, and build it forward together.
Win win. Or we walk away.
“I’m qualified. I can run a job. I want my own crew, but I’m not about to gamble my family’s livelihood on a hope and pray start-up. I might be subcontracting now. I want to build something real, with a partner who has capital, brand, and the systems to back it.”
“I’m doing somewhere between $500k and $3M. On paper I’m winning. In reality, more volume just means more chaos and I’m the bottleneck. I’d take some money off the table for the years I’ve put in, and I want a partner with the systems to push past where I’ve got stuck.”
Behind Exit Forward sits one of Western Australia’s most established full-service agencies, built over more than a decade, still running at scale. Creative, performance, strategy, and technology capability brought to bear on every business we partner with.
Started Dilate in 2012 and built it into one of Western Australia’s most respected digital marketing agencies over 14 years, navigating six equity transactions along the way. Founder rapport, narrative clarity, and a sensitivity to succession that only comes from having lived it.
The integrator. Financial discipline, structural rigour, and the ability to scale what’s been proven. Together, Bodie and Tom have acquired and integrated three businesses since stepping back from the Dilate day-to-day.
Most trade business founders have never had an independent view of what their business is worth, or what’s holding it back from being worth more. This field guide covers the ten drivers a growth partner actually weighs, and what to do about each one.
“Read it with a pen in hand. The gaps are where the work is.”
Ten questions. An honest read on where your painting business sits across the drivers a growth partner actually weighs. No follow-up unless you ask for one.
We work with a small number of founders each year. By design. No pressure. No pitch. Just a real conversation, when you’re ready.