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About Us
Cinco Partnership Group is an independent advisory firm built around a simple belief: the best outcomes happen when the right partners, values, and long-term vision are aligned.
The firm works at the intersection of founders and the investment community, not to run processes, but to facilitate the kind of thoughtful, unhurried conversations that allow business owners to explore what is possible with partners who are genuinely the right fit. We are not a volume shop. We do not measure success by the number of transactions we close. We measure it by whether the people we work with end up exactly where they hoped to be.
Founder
Pete Grimmer founded Cinco Partnership Group because he kept seeing the same problem: business owners facing one of the most important decisions of their lives without someone truly in their corner. Most founders do not need more options thrown at them. They need someone who understands the market, knows who is actually serious, and will tell them the truth about their timing, their value, and what a genuinely good outcome looks like for them specifically. That is what Pete does.
Over a career spanning more than fifteen years, Pete has helped source, evaluate, and close more than 100 transactions across business services, consumer services, infrastructure, healthcare, industrials, manufacturing, and technology. That experience cuts across both sides of the table, working directly with founders and owners, and spending years inside the private equity and independent sponsor world understanding how buyers think, what they value, and what separates a real partnership from a purely financial transaction.
His background includes senior roles focused on M&A advisory, deal origination, and sponsor coverage, giving him direct insight into how institutional buyers evaluate opportunities, what founders often underestimate going into a process, and where most advisory relationships fall short. His network spans private equity firms, independent sponsors, family offices, and strategic acquirers, not names in a database, but relationships built over a career of doing this work the right way.
What that means in practice: when Pete tells you someone is worth talking to, it means something. And when he tells you the timing is not right or the fit is not there, he means that too.
At Cinco Partnership Group, the focus remains simple: helping founders and owners navigate important decisions about the future of their businesses, ensuring the right partners, values, and long-term vision are aligned before anything else.
How I Work
Good outcomes are rarely the work of one person. They come from having the right people in the right seats at the right moments. Our focus is transaction advisory, helping you think clearly, navigate the process, and find the partner who genuinely fits. But a clean outcome takes more than that, and we would rather bring in true specialists than pretend to be all of them.
Over the years we have built relationships with the people who make these deals go well: advisors who get financials and diligence in order, valuation experts who establish what a business is truly worth, and wealth and tax professionals who specialize in liquidity events and make sure you keep what you have earned. When the time is right, we bring the right ones to the table and coordinate the team around you.
We do not manage your money, prepare your financials, or run your valuation. We make sure the people who do are the best at it, and that they are working together toward the same outcome: protecting what you have built, and setting you and your family up well for what comes next.
Where Value Is Actually Made
Long before a process begins, there are often small things that meaningfully affect how a buyer sees the business, and what they will pay for it. Clean, defensible financials. Reducing how much the business depends on you personally. Knowing which of these matters and which does not.
We help owners see these things early, while there is still time and room to think about them, rather than discovering them mid-process when the leverage is gone. Sometimes that means connecting you with the right specialist. Often it just means knowing what to look at, and when.
We start with fit, priorities, and timing, not with pushing someone into a path before the direction is clear. A partnership that is not right for both sides is not a partnership worth pursuing.
Our role is to help you evaluate options honestly, pressure-test decisions, and stay grounded in what is actually right for you, not what is easiest to close.
We believe better decisions happen when founders have room to think, ask questions, and move when the timing truly makes sense, for them, not for us.
This is often one of the most important decisions an owner will make. We approach it with the seriousness, discretion, and care it deserves, and we only move forward when we can honestly say both sides are stronger for it.
Personal Bio
I was born in Indiana, moved to Michigan in the fourth grade, graduated from Michigan State with a degree in Hospitality Business, and promptly moved to South America. I spent time working at a winery in Casablanca, Chile, survived the 9th largest earthquake in recorded history, and eventually made my way back north to Chicago, where I have been ever since.
I live here with my wife, our five-year-old son, and our dog Draper, who runs the household. I am a die-hard Detroit sports fan, which has taught me a lot about patience and optimism. I am an avid reader, and if there is a TV show or movie worth watching, I have probably already seen it. Ask me where I would rather be on any given weekend and the answer is always the same: a lake house.
A few things I actually believe: be kind and mean it. Walk the talk. Perseverance wins. Control what you can control and let go of the rest. Look for the good, it is usually there. Those are not values I put on a website. They are how I try to show up in deals, in relationships, and everywhere else.
Call to Action
Cinco Partnership Group works with founders, owners, and leadership teams at meaningful moments in the life of their businesses. Whether evaluating a strategic partnership, exploring growth capital, or planning an ownership transition, the approach is always the same: start with what the owner actually wants, understand what the market can realistically deliver, and only move forward when the fit is genuinely right.
If you are beginning to think about what comes next, we would welcome the chance to connect.
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