From Shop Floor to Deal Table

Most business advisors come from finance or consulting. They understand multiples and deal structures — but they've never managed a P&L, dealt with an OEM relationship, or stood in a shop trying to figure out why throughput dropped 20% on a Tuesday.

Gimbal Partners exists because owners of small operational businesses deserve better than that. The person advising you on your biggest decisions should understand how your business actually runs — not just how it looks on a spreadsheet.

That's why Gimbal is built as a principal-led firm. When you engage Gimbal, you're working directly with the founder — someone who came up through operations and runs every engagement personally. When the work calls for specialized expertise — legal, tax, industry-specific knowledge — the right people get brought in. But the thinking, the strategy, and the relationship stay with one point of contact who's accountable to you.

Jake Donelson founded Gimbal Partners in 2025, after fifteen years working inside the kind of businesses Gimbal now advises.

He started on the shop floor with a set of wrenches and earned ASE Master certification in automotive service. That technical foundation led into two operational roles that looked different on paper but came down to the same job: understanding how a business actually runs while reading the numbers like an owner. He scaled production thirty-fold at a boutique electric bicycle manufacturer, taking it from one unit a month to one a day. He led parts, service, and warranty operations across 115 locations at a national farm and home retailer.

Different industries, same fundamentals. Production scheduling. Supply chain. Multi-site P&L. Dealer and OEM relationships. Workforce. Capital decisions. The stuff that doesn't show up in a business school case study because it doesn't simplify well.

That's the lens he brings to every Gimbal engagement. He's seen what scales and what breaks. He's seen what buyers ask about during diligence and what catches sellers off guard at the closing table. He's seen what an outside advisor looks like to an owner who's spent thirty years building something — which is exactly what he doesn't want Gimbal to be.

Gimbal works with owners of operationally complex businesses — manufacturing, skilled trades, dealerships, service operations, distribution. The common thread isn't the industry. It's the owner: someone who built something real, knows their operation cold, and needs a partner who can meet them where they are — whether that's a growth decision, a transition plan, or just getting clarity on what the business is actually worth.

If you've ever felt like the advisors and consultants in your world don't understand what you actually do every day, that's exactly the gap Gimbal was built to fill.

Most firms sell you a team. Gimbal gives you one point of contact — someone who's done the work, knows the numbers, and will tell you what they actually think. No layers, no handoffs, no junior analyst learning on your dime.