- 859-314-1226
- contact@eastwaterstreet.com
- Lexington, KY
Most business owners only sell a company once. We think that deserves an advisor who has actually built one.
East Water Street M&A Advisors was founded on a simple belief: founders, family business owners, and veteran entrepreneurs deserve a sell-side advisor who understands both sides of a transition. That means the operational reality of running the business, along with the financial, legal, and emotional weight of letting it go.
We’re not a bank chasing a fee on the biggest deal in the pipeline. We’re not a broker recycling a generic listing template. We’re an operator-led firm built specifically to guide founders through one of the most consequential decisions of their careers, whether that’s selling, recapitalizing, or passing on the business they built.
Dr. DeCoster didn’t take a straight line to advising founders on the sale of their businesses, and that’s exactly the point.
A Kentucky native, he spent six years in the U.S. Navy as a medical corpsman, including a tour aboard the USNS Comfort treating the injured and homeless in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, followed by four years with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Infantry Regiment and a deployment to Iraq. That kind of service teaches you how to stay steady when the stakes are real, and how to earn trust from people who don’t hand it out easily.
After leaving the Navy, he built Pinnacle Roofing from the ground up in Lexington, Kentucky, and ran it for several years before successfully selling the company. He knows what it feels like to build something with your own hands, to carry the weight of a payroll and a reputation, and to sit on the other side of the table when it comes time to sell.
Alongside all of that, he also built a career in medicine. After his undergraduate degree in biophysics, he began medical school at the University of Louisville before transferring to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where he earned his MD in 2017 and later added a PhD in Clinical and Translational Science in 2020. That same year, he began residency training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford, the kind of rigorous, detail-driven training that leaves little room for shortcuts. In 2025, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear named him a Kentucky Colonel, the Commonwealth’s highest civilian honor.
That combination, military service, hands-on entrepreneurship, and medicine, shapes how East Water Street works with clients. It’s an approach built on discipline, precision, and genuine respect for what it takes to build something worth selling.
Work with an advisor who understands both the founder’s side of the table and the buyer’s mindset.
We think of a transition in three phases, not one event.
The first is readiness. We help you understand where the business truly stands, financially, operationally, and personally, when it comes to a sale or transition.
The second is preparation. We address the gaps that erode value or scare off buyers, and help build the story your business needs to tell.
The third is process. We run a confidential, competitive process that surfaces the right buyers, protects your leverage, and gets you to a closing you can live with, not just a number you can live with.
Throughout, our job is to be the steady, informed voice in the room. The one who’s done this from the operator’s chair, not just the advisor’s.
We’ve sat in the owner’s chair. Our founder, Ryan DeCoster, spent years building and operating his own businesses before ever advising on a sale. We know what it costs, in hours, in stress, in identity, to build a company from nothing. That experience shapes how we advise: with respect for what you’ve built, not just what it’s worth on a spreadsheet.
We’re veteran-owned and mission-driven. East Water Street is veteran-owned, and that shows up in how we operate. Disciplined process, direct communication, and a commitment to seeing the mission through for every client, not just the ones with the biggest deal size.
We’re advisors, not brokers. Traditional brokers often work volume: list it, market it, move to the next one. Investment banks are built for deals many times the size of yours, with junior staff running the process. We take a different approach. Our engagements are closely held and senior-led, so you’re working directly with the person accountable for your outcome, from the first conversation through closing.
Confidentiality is not an afterthought. Your employees, customers, and competitors don’t need to know you’re exploring a transition until you’re ready for them to know. We run a disciplined, confidential process designed to protect your business and your leverage throughout.
We start with readiness, not a listing. Most sale processes fail or underdeliver because the business wasn’t actually ready to sell. Before we ever go to market, we help you understand where you stand: what’s driving value, what’s creating risk, and what needs to change before a buyer ever sees your business. Sometimes that means we tell you it’s not the right time yet, and we mean it when we do.
Veteran owned businesses are built on discipline, leadership, and service. We help owners navigate the sale of their business with clarity, confidentiality, and a disciplined process designed to maximize value.
Your business represents years of hard work, relationships, and legacy. We provide trusted sell side advisory that helps family owners navigate a successful transition with confidence.
We’ve built, scaled, and sold a business ourselves. That firsthand experience shapes how we help founders navigate successful exits with confidence and clarity.
