Venture partners for owner-led companies

We build new businesses with established operators.

Sterling Blake Partners works with profitable, owner-led companies to identify and build new revenue streams, products, and adjacent ventures.

Start a conversation How we work

The premise

We are not a consulting firm, and we are not a private equity fund.

We partner directly with business owners who already have customers, industry knowledge, operational capability, and opportunities they have not had the time, team, or resources to pursue.

We bring product development, technology, commercialization, operating systems, and experience launching and scaling businesses inside large enterprises.

When there is a strong fit, we structure the relationship around shared upside. That may mean a joint venture, a new company, a profit-sharing arrangement, or an earn-in tied to measurable results.

The goal is simple

Keep what you have built.
Let’s create the next thing together.

What we look for

We are most interested in established businesses with

  • 01Strong customer relationships
  • 02Recurring demand
  • 03Specialized industry knowledge
  • 04Physical products, equipment, operations, or distribution
  • 05Opportunities adjacent to the core business
  • 06Owners who want to grow, diversify, or eventually transition the business

Often, the opportunity is already visible.

  • A product customers keep asking for.
  • A service the company regularly turns away.
  • A component that is difficult to source.
  • An underdeveloped sales channel.
  • Unused production capacity.
  • A recurring operational problem that could become a standalone business.
  • A market the owner understands but has never had the bandwidth to pursue.
  • A tool built for internal use that others would pay for.
  • Products sold once that could be serviced for years.
  • Scrap or byproduct that could become a product line.
  • Advice customers call for and get for free.
  • A retiring competitor with customers and no successor.

What we bring

Hands-on capability across the work that turns an opportunity into a business.

Product & venture creation

Turning an idea into a defined offering, business model, and operating plan.

Technology & systems

Building the software, automation, data, and infrastructure required to make the opportunity scalable.

Commercialization

Positioning, pricing, sales strategy, customer acquisition, distribution, and go-to-market execution.

Operating leverage

Creating repeatable processes, metrics, systems, and infrastructure so growth does not depend entirely on the owner.

Scale experience

Experience launching and operating products and brands inside organizations including Ally and Fanatics, in environments ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in scale.

Track record

New lines of business, launched and integrated inside operating companies.

Launches, platform migrations, acquisitions, and partnerships built from the inside at Ally and Fanatics.

  1. Launch · Migration

    Fanatics Sportsbook

    Launched a regulated sportsbook on the Fanatics brand, then migrated the live product off the original vendor platform (Amelco) without stopping the business.

  2. Adjacent business

    Fanatics Markets

    A new market-based product built on an existing customer base, brand, and operating infrastructure.

  3. Acquisition · Integration

    Ally Invest

    Integration of the TradeKing acquisition into Ally — a standalone brokerage folded into a bank’s product, technology, and customer base.

  4. Partnership

    Ally Home

    A mortgage business launched through a partnership with Better.com — outside capability paired with an incumbent’s brand and customers.

  5. Acquisition · New line

    Ally Lending

    Point-of-sale lending built from the Health Credit Services acquisition into a new revenue line.

  6. Acquisition · Launch

    Ally Credit Card

    A credit card business launched through the Fair Square Financial acquisition.

Work performed as an operator inside these companies. Company names are referenced as experience, not as affiliations of Sterling Blake Partners.

How we work

We start by learning the business.

Not with a software pitch. Not with a predetermined solution.

  1. 1

    Understand

    We want to understand where customers are pulling, where supply is constrained, what work is being turned away, what is difficult to source, and what opportunities have been sitting on the shelf.

  2. 2

    Define

    If we find something worth building, we define the opportunity together and agree on the economics before significant work begins.

  3. 3

    Build together

    We prefer structures where our interests are aligned with the owner. We are interested in creating assets, not billing hours.

Structures that can include

  • Joint ventures
  • Shared ownership in a new company
  • Profit or revenue participation
  • Milestone-based earn-ins
  • Longer-term operating partnerships

For owners thinking about the future

Some owners want to grow aggressively. Others are thinking about the next five or ten years.

We are open to both.

For owners considering succession, we can also explore longer-term partnerships that create continuity, develop new leadership, increase the value of the business, and potentially establish a path toward a future ownership transition.

There is no requirement to sell the company today.

A different kind of partner

Private equity

typically starts with

capital.

Consulting

starts with

fees.

Sterling Blake

start with

an opportunity.

You bring the business, the relationships, and the industry expertise.

We bring the capability to help build what comes next.

Start a conversation

Tell us about the opportunity that has been sitting on the shelf.

Five short questions — about two minutes. We’ll follow up to learn more.

Tell us about the business or email hello@sterlingblake.co
Tell us about the business 01 / 05

Where do you sit?