Northfield One Ventures provides growth capital and operating support to lower-middle-market businesses across the Ohio Valley. Our standard terms are published here in plain language, including the control provisions most firms only disclose once you are already negotiating.
An owner takes a first meeting, then a second, then spends five weeks on diligence with an internal team stretched thin. The term sheet arrives with a valuation on page one and, on page four, the board composition, the drag provisions, and the redemption right that changes what selling their own company means.
None of it is unusual, and none of it was hidden. It simply was not said early, and by week six the owner has sunk five weeks of management time and is negotiating from a weaker position than they would have been in on day one.
So our standard terms are published on this site. Governance, liquidation preference, drag, and what happens if we disagree about a sale. Some owners read them and never call, which is the intended outcome for a structure that does not suit them.
Indicative and not an offer. Actual terms vary by transaction and are agreed in writing.
Five partners in Louisville. All operators before investors.
Minority and majority positions in profitable lower-middle-market businesses.
Partial liquidity for founders who want to de-risk without leaving.
Platform investments with a stated acquisition thesis, not opportunism after the fact.
Finance, systems, and hiring help from partners who have run companies.
Working board seats, with what we will and will not intervene on written down.
A written no with reasoning, within two weeks, when we are not the right fit.
We charge no monitoring, transaction, or board fees to portfolio companies, and we pay our own diligence costs. Fees charged to a company you partly own are a transfer from the founder's pocket to ours dressed as a service.
No redemption rights against operating businesses. A redemption right on a company that cannot easily refinance is a mechanism for taking control in a bad year.
A written no in two weeks. Roughly four in five enquiries end with a decline and our reasoning, rather than a slow fade.
Ownership range, expected hold, and which published terms apply. No NDA needed.
Inside two weeks: a term sheet or a decline with reasoning.
Focused and time-boxed. We pay our own costs and respect your team's time.
Working board seat, operating support, and no fees to the company.
Manufacturers, distributors, industrial and business services, and healthcare services across Kentucky, southern Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Typically $8m to $90m of revenue and $1m to $8m of EBITDA, profitable and owner-operated.
We decline roughly four in five enquiries, in writing and inside two weeks. Early-stage, pre-revenue, and turnaround situations are outside what we do.
Founded the firm in 2011 after running a distribution business. Takes every first meeting.
Ran a manufacturer for eleven years. Leads operating support.
Sixteen years. Builds the finance function in the first year post-close.
Nine years. Writes the declines, with reasoning.
I read their term sheet on the website before the first call and knew the drag provision would not work for us. They agreed. Two hours, not six weeks.
No monitoring fee, and they paid their own diligence costs. Both of the other bidders charged us for the privilege.
They declined in eleven days with a page of reasoning and a referral. That was more useful than three months of maybe.
If the drag provision does not work for you, better to know now.