Jeffery Stutzman

Introduction

I'm a former tech-company founder who built and sold my own business — now I broker exits for technology, cyber, AI, and founder-led companies. Navy intelligence background, Harvard Kennedy School fellowship, MIT AI training, and intelligence-grade diligence on every deal.

Before I ever represented someone else's exit, I built my own company. I founded and ran a managed security services provider for eight years, scaled it into a real operation with a full security operations center and a team that depended on me, and then I sold it. I know what it feels like to hand over something you spent years building. I know the diligence grind, the buyer games, the 2 a.m. doubts, and the strange grief that comes with a successful close. Most brokers have only ever stood on the outside of that experience. I've lived inside it. When I sit across from a founder thinking about selling, I'm not guessing at what they're going through — I remember it.

**Where I come from**

My career didn't start in real estate or finance. It started in intelligence. I served as a Navy Intelligence Officer and spent the early part of my career in national-security work, including time at the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center. From there I moved into the private sector and held senior roles at Cisco and Northrop Grumman, and worked at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute — one of the most respected applied-research organizations in the country.

Along the way I founded two companies: a threat-intelligence firm and the managed security business I eventually sold. I've raised the capital, made payroll, fought for customers, managed the team, and negotiated the exit. I've been the operator and the owner, not just the advisor.

On the academic side, I hold a BS in Liberal Sciences, an MBA, and a Senior Executive Fellowship from the Harvard Kennedy School. I've completed Harvard's CS50 computer science program and MIT's Designing and Building AI Applications — because the businesses I broker are increasingly technology- and AI-driven, and I refuse to be the broker who doesn't understand what he's selling.

**What I bring to your deal**

The thread running through my entire career is intelligence tradecraft: the discipline of gathering messy information, separating signal from noise, and producing an honest assessment that someone can actually act on. I apply that same rigor to brokerage.

For a seller, that means a few concrete things. You get a valuation grounded in real deal mechanics — recurring revenue, customer concentration, IP value, margin quality, transferability — not an inflated number designed to win your listing and disappoint you later. You get a confidential, disciplined process that protects your operations and your reputation while it's underway. You get a broker who qualifies buyers hard, so you spend your time with serious, capable acquirers instead of tire-kickers and dreamers. And you get an advocate who treats your exit like the milestone it actually is.

**My specialty**

I focus on technology, cyber, and founder-led businesses — the deals where most brokers are out of their depth. I understand what a strategic acquirer pays for in a security or technology company, how to think about intellectual property and patents as transferable assets, and why a founder-dependent services book is valued differently than a productized one. This is my native language. I built and sold a cyber business; I don't have to study the category from the outside.

That said, the fundamentals of a clean, well-run sale apply to any good small business, and I'm glad to talk with owners across industries who want a broker that takes process, confidentiality, and honesty seriously.

**How I work**

I'll be direct with you — it's how I'm wired, and it's what you deserve when the stakes are this high. If your business isn't ready to sell, I'll tell you what's dragging the value down and what to fix before we go to market, even if that means waiting. If your expectations are off, I'll explain why, with the numbers to back it. And if it's a strong business at a fair price, I'll run a tight, confidential process and get you to a close you feel good about.

Selling your company may be the single largest financial event of your life. You deserve a broker who's been where you're going.

If you're a founder weighing an exit — ready now, or just thinking it through — let's have a conversation. It's confidential, there's no obligation, and the first conversation is always free.