Edge Advisors LLC

Edge Advisors LLC
6737 W. Washington St., 1100, West Allis
www.edgeadvise.com
Year founded: 2012
Product or service offered: Accounting/tax, merger and acquisition services, executive recruiting, wealth management, marketing and other consulting services
Leadership team: Mike Bark, principal; Andrew Lehmkuhl, principal; Kara Tess, partner in charge of executive recruiting; Marshall Watry, partner in charge of Appleton office; Jessica Lehmkuhl, partner in charge of real estate transactions;
Rob Joyce, partner in charge of wealth management; Jake Weiss, partner in charge of marketing services
Projected 2015 revenue: $2 million
Target clientele: “Our primary target is health care businesses, such as dentists, vets, chiropractors and other health care professionals. In addition, we serve other small, privately held professional service businesses.
Business organization memberships: Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, Institute of Dental CPAs, Certified Healthcare Business Consultant
What has fueled your company’s growth?
“The accounting and business consulting industries have seen a surge of consolidation in the past several years. This has created mega firms that may not be as responsive to the needs of a small business anymore. We have filled a void left behind by the consolidation of many of these firms and offer a personalized service to clients who may not be able to get the same feel from a large firm.”
What is the biggest obstacle to your company’s growth?
“It’s been encouraging to see some medical doctors start to break out on their own again, but we’re seeing more and more consolidation in the dental industry. On balance, will medical and dental professionals continue to be entrepreneurs or will they decide to work for larger corporations?For us to continue to grow, we need to be able to keep attracting great talent, and that’s not easy.”
Do you plan to make any changes to your company?
“We are adding more depth to all of our departments. Our company has grown more quickly than we could have expected, and as such we’ve hit some bumps along the road, but are confident that we are making the investments in talent so that our clients continue to receive a high level of customer service.”
Who are the business people you admire?     
“In all honesty, we really admire our clients. They have all taken a big financial risk to go out and run their own business. That takes a lot of guts and we’re honored that we get to help people like this achieve their goals.”
What is the outlook for your industry?
“Our outlook over the next 12 months is positive. We are excited to be bringing in a few key hires that will continue to add expertise and value to our clients that will help us continue to grow a national brand.”
What is your company’s most important growth strategy?
“We strive to offer a higher level of customer service than our competition by being more available and responsive than industry norms. While most firms tend to build with a vertical model of having a partner handle as many clients as humanly possible with a large staff below them, we are taking a horizontal approach. We have capped the number of clients a partner can work on and we feel that gives us a chance to offer a more personalized level of service to the client, (so they don’t) feel like they have been passed off to a manager or other staff.”