About
The Founder Behind East Water Street
The Firm
East Water Street is a boutique sell-side M&A advisory firm headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, serving founder-, family-, and veteran-owned companies across the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. The firm was founded on a simple conviction: founders selling their life's work deserve an advisor who has actually done it — not observed it, not modeled it, done it. Military operations, academic medicine, a founder's own exit — different rooms, same standard: plan thoroughly, execute precisely, and protect the people who trusted you to lead.
The Founder — Ryan DeCoster, Founder & Managing Partner
ServiceFleet Marine Force Corpsman
Ryan served as a Fleet Marine Force hospital corpsman — a Navy medic embedded with the Marines — with deployments spanning combat operations in Iraq, counter-piracy missions at sea, detainee operations, and Hurricane Katrina relief. Military planning doctrine — define the objective, plan in phases, rehearse contingencies, execute with precision — remains the backbone of how East Water Street runs every engagement.
ScholarshipSurgeon-Scientist
Medicine began for Ryan in uniform. After his service, he earned his undergraduate degree, medical degree, and PhD at the University of Kentucky, trained as an NIH-funded surgeon-scientist at a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, and began surgical training in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stanford — before leaving medicine to build a company of his own. That training built a habit that serves clients daily: follow the evidence, question assumptions, and never present a conclusion you can't defend with data. For owners of healthcare services businesses, it means something more — an advisor who speaks the clinical language natively, not one who learned it from a pitch book.
The ExitFounder & Operator
Ryan founded a company in the home services sector, scaled it, and sold it to a private equity acquirer in a process he ran himself. He negotiated his own terms, retained rollover equity, stayed on through integration, and remains active with the acquiring platform today. He has lived every stage his clients face — the preparation, the positioning, the diligence grind, the late-stage negotiation, and what it looks like after the wire hits.
Beyond the FirmLexington, Kentucky
Ryan serves on the Board of Directors of Lexington Christian Academy. In 2025, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear named him a Kentucky Colonel, the Commonwealth's highest civilian honor. He and his wife, Rachel DeCoster, DNP, a nurse practitioner, have two children, Easton and Darren. Time away from work goes to family — sports and travel together — and to the outdoors, where he is an avid outdoorsman.
Why East Water Street Exists
Most owners in the lower middle market face a false choice: volume brokers who list businesses like real estate, or investment banks whose senior attention goes to their largest clients. East Water Street was built to close that gap — a boutique firm running institutional-quality processes for companies generating $1 million to $5 million in EBITDA — senior-led from first conversation to final wire.
What We Believe
- Preparation wins deals. Value is created in the years before the process, not the days before closing.
- Sell-side only. Our advisory engagements represent sellers exclusively — in your deal, our incentives are never split.
- Few engagements, done right. We deliberately limit our client count so every deal gets senior attention from start to finish.
- Legacy is part of the deal. The number matters. What survives the closing — your people, your name, your company's character — matters longer.
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