Strategy for an owner’s next chapter.
Boutique M&A advisory for owners considering succession, growth, readiness and ownership transitions.
Our focus: businesses with less than $100M in revenue.
Pierce Ridge Companies
A conversation with Citizens Bank business bankers • Connecticut
Two complementary capabilities.
Business value. Operational capability.
More capability for the team today.
Experienced operators guiding practical AI implementation, workflow modernization and adoption.
Powered by HELIX. Grounded in human judgment.
Distinct businesses. Complementary perspectives.Explore the conversationInternal review draft • External release pending
We live in the crosshairs… intentionally.
Advanced bespoke agentic solutionsAI configured for approved work
Experienced human professionalsBusiness leadership and judgment
Operational excellenceProcesses, standards and follow-through
Guided, measured implementationConfigure, test, adopt, track, and refine.
- People who understand the business
- AI shaped around the work
- A disciplined approach to bringing them together
Experience that works
for your clients.
PRT leadership brings strategic, financial, technical, operational and security perspectives.
Shamus O’Rourke
CEO & Co-founder
Shamus brings extensive experience driving strategy and influencing organizational behavior to deliver superior results across multi-hundred-million-dollar P&Ls.
Works with owners and senior leaders to identify their ideal outcomes and align Pierce Ridge Companies’ solutions to help them achieve their strategic goals.
Bryan Dickens
CTO & Co-founder
Retired FBI behavioral profiler with cybersecurity and business experience; previously a Cyber Education Advisor at Cybint.
Consider how people decide, trust tools and adopt change.
Rich Portelance
President & Founding Partner
Entrepreneur and executive with experience in revenue generation, marketing and operational efficiency across technology and services.
Keep implementation connected to practical business needs.
Matt D’Urso
COO
Consumer-products and commercial leadership experience at Gillette and Mars Petcare, with a focus on teams and execution.
Help translate new capability into everyday operating habits.
A wider perspective
on AI and security.
Steve Wilson
Chairman, PRT Advisory Board
An advisory perspective to help PRT ask better questions about AI risk, product choices and responsible implementation.
- Chief AI and Product Officer, ExabeamWorking at the intersection of AI product development and cybersecurity.
- OWASP GenAI Security leadershipFounder and co-chair of the project; founder of the Top 10 for LLM initiative.
- Author, O’Reilly MediaThe Developer’s Playbook for Large Language Model Security.
His role is advisory. Deployment work, assessments and decisions remain with the responsible teams under the agreed engagement.
HELIX is customized around
how the business works.
A configured operating layer around client-approved workflows and systems.
The configuration starts with the team’s standards, context and handoffs: what good work looks like, who owns the next step and where a person must decide.
Human factors matter.
Bryan’s experience informs practical questions: How do people make decisions? Where does uncertainty slow them down? What helps them trust and adopt a new tool?
Define the boundaries.
Then make the connections.
Security starts in the design of the work.
Scope & access
Agree which tasks, systems and permissions belong in the deployment.
Data & roles
Identify authorized information, who may use it and who remains accountable.
Human decisions
Define review and approval points before sends, shares or system changes.
Test before go-live of each automation.
Test the defined workflow and its controls before activation; review again before widening access or adding actions.
Retention
Agree what context is kept, for what purpose and for how long.
Review and expand over time.
Retain human approvals and review risks, controls and proposed changes before expanding the deployment.
Security is an ongoing discipline,
not a one-time checkbox.
not a one-time checkbox.
Controls and assessments are specific to each deployment and its agreed use. Any connection or data use is subject to authorization and review.
Keep the familiar systems.
Improve the connection and flow between them.
The opportunity is in the handoffs: between documents, operating systems and people who must decide.
Amplified human intelligence.
Three anonymized examples from engagement planning and a team-reported finding. Each separates source work, HELIX assistance and human authority.
Intended benefits require validation against agreed baselines. The following diagrams describe workflows; they do not operate live integrations.
Specialty manufacturer
From plans to a review-ready quote.
Proposed workflow • based on engagement planning
Keep technical judgment with the estimator. Use draft assistance to organize information and make the next handoff clearer.
Receive & organize
Email + shared job folder
Staff save incoming plan PDFs and create the job file. HELIX would draft an intake summary and flag missing information.
Human gate A process owner checks inputs and permissions.
Measure & identify
Printed plans + take-off spreadsheet
An estimator manually measures and records products and quantities. Those verified inputs feed a draft handoff summary.
Human gate The estimator owns scale, quantities and product suitability.
Prepare structure details
Specialist design software + saved files
Staff enter structure details and save supporting files. HELIX would organize verified references for the quote handoff.
Human gate Technical staff validate the structure information.
Build the quote
Quoting/accounting system
Staff enter approved line items and pricing, then export the quote PDF. HELIX would use supplied exports for internal draft assistance.
Human gate An authorized person selects and approves prices and terms.
Check the package
Quote PDF + drawings/submittals
HELIX would assemble a package checklist and draft cover email from approved files, flagging gaps rather than guessing.
Human gate Staff confirm completeness and accuracy.
Approve & send
Customer email + retained job files
The team finalizes the package and sends it through its existing process. HELIX output remains a draft until reviewed.
Human gate Customer commitments and sending stay with the team.
Intended benefit
Clearer job information and fewer administrative gaps between intake, estimating and quote preparation. Pilot measures would be agreed and tested.
Working boundary
Approved copies or exports and manual transfers. Autonomous measurement, engineering, pricing, customer sends and production writeback are outside this proposed pilot.
Healthcare administration provider
Connect the work before cycle close.
Proposed workflow • based on approved scope planning
Reconcile operational records across systems, surface exceptions with evidence and keep consequential decisions with authorized reviewers.
Map approved inputs
Visit records + documentation + time records
Identify authoritative sources and approved fields. Account for inputs as matched, missing, duplicate or pending.
Human gate An accountable owner approves the source map and rules.
Reconcile the visit record
Documentation + visit-verification systems
Compare documentation status, time events and source totals. Surface inconsistencies with their original evidence.
Human gate Authorized reviewers judge exceptions; clinical decisions stay with clinicians.
Resolve exceptions
Review queue + correction records
Route incomplete or conflicting items to an owner and track corrections. Missing facts remain visible.
Human gate Reviewers validate corrections before downstream use.
Check authorizations
Authorization records + readiness calendar
Track completeness, renewal readiness and open questions. Prepare source-supported draft review packages.
Human gate Authorized roles retain approval, attestation and submission authority.
Prepare payroll & billing
Payroll method + billing-readiness records
Compare a payroll preview with accepted results, explain differences and identify documentation or authorization holds.
Human gate Authorized roles retain payroll release and billing decisions.
Close & learn
Cycle-close report + governed rule catalog
Bring together totals, exceptions, corrections, holds and rule versions for management review and the next cycle.
Human gate Owners accept test evidence and approve material rule or authority changes.
Intended benefit
A traceable operating record and clearer exception ownership, with less repetitive reconciliation as an objective to validate. No savings or accuracy result is asserted.
Working boundary
Patient-linked work requires separately approved data handling, role permissions, governing terms and a suitable environment. This diagram contains no patient data; production readiness is not established here.
Multi-location automotive acquirer
Source alongside internal business development.
Workflow design + team-reported finding • no measured performance claim
Compare target research with the existing pipeline, then explore credible access through permitted relationship context.
Set target criteria
Approved search rules + exclusions
Translate the acquisition team’s criteria into a research brief. Keep ambiguous criteria visible for clarification.
Human gate The acquisition team approves fit criteria and exclusions.
Research & qualify
Public research + evidence register
Build source-linked candidate records, check identity and fit, and separate facts from inferences.
Human gate Business-development staff review uncertain records and fit.
Compare the pipeline
Existing BD pipeline + supplied records
Compare candidates alongside internal BD sourcing. Identify overlaps, gaps and reasons for differences.
Human gate The team validates the comparison; no efficiency advantage is presumed.
Map relationship context
Permitted relationship records + public roles
Surface possible routes to a target and identify the evidence behind each connection.
Human gate Relationship owners confirm recency, relevance and permission.
Validate the connection
Human relationship review
Check the actual relationship, conflicts and whether an introduction would be appropriate. A possible path remains an opportunity.
Human gate The connector decides whether they are willing to help.
Prepare an introduction opportunity
Reviewed brief + approved communication path
Prepare context for an authorized approach. Sending, pipeline updates and deal progression require the relevant approval.
Human gate People approve outreach and lead the relationship.
Team-reported finding
The team reports that the work surfaced an existing relationship offering a warmer route to a prospective target where cold outreach had not opened the door. This is connection discovery; an introduction, meeting or acquisition is not evidenced here.
Intended benefit
Broader evidence for target selection and a potentially warmer route to an owner. Any comparison of effort or results needs an agreed baseline.
Working boundary
The initial engagement began without system integrations. These system roles describe handoffs, not automatic connections or a completed end-to-end rollout.
Collaborate. Deploy. Adopt.
Then keep learning.
Discover the right work
Find high-friction, high-impact workflows that can be clearly governed. Agree priorities and a baseline.
Configure & test together
Shape the workflow with the team. Test outputs, permissions, handoffs and approval points.
Build confidence through use
Train people on the approved workflow, including when to review, question or stop an action.
Measure & refine
Compare against the agreed baseline. Adjust the workflow based on evidence and team feedback.
Clients learn to create or extend approved workflows within agreed boundaries. PRT stays involved as the team builds capability.
Make room for
the next idea.
When leaders have more capacity, they can explore where the business could improve next.
What deserves our attention now?
Illustrative possibilities • For human evaluation
See recurring operating friction
HELIX-supported analysis could help a team spot repeated handoff delays or rework in approved information.
Explore a market hypothesis
Use authorized research to frame a possible customer segment or service idea for leadership review.
Prioritize the next improvement
Compare potential value, effort and risk. Leaders decide what is worth testing.
These are possible uses to scope and validate, with human judgment at every decision.
A continuing relationship.
Capability that keeps developing.
After launch, the work is helping people use the capability well and improve it thoughtfully.
Keep the team involved.
Keep the work relevant.
- Advice and practical training
- Evaluation of relevant model advances
- Cybersecurity review
- Testing of approved changes
An agreed continuing engagement sets the cadence and scope. Deployment and provider choices are evaluated for the work before changes are introduced.
Where could your clients
put their people to better use?
You see the strain when a growing owner-led business asks its team to carry more.
Pierce Ridge Technologies
When manual coordination, inconsistent handoffs or tool adoption are limiting the team’s capacity.
Pierce Ridge Capital
When succession, transaction readiness, growth or an ownership transition is on the owner’s mind.