Merchants Bank celebrates 150 years
February 23, 2026
GREEN BAY – Despite its name, Founder and Managing Partner Scott Bushkie said Cornerstone Business Services is centered on people, helping entrepreneurs maximize the potential of their investments through M&A advisement.
Since 2001, Bushkie said he and his continually growing team have developed a global network of thousands of business owners, advisors and investment firms serving the lower-middle market.
With a staff of roughly 20, Bushkie said everything Cornerstone does is in service of the owner-operators who look to them for help in exiting their organizations.
“We’re not just selling a widget or some kind of a service that could be helpful – we are completely changing people’s lives,” he said. “We get to give the gift of both time and money to these business owners, because… they’ve worked all their lives – for one to five decades.”
Bushkie said Cornerstone’s recent national survey of 750 owners ages 45-75 generating at least $5 million annually found that 66% viewed the sale of their business as what “would be the single largest financial transaction of their life.”
However, he said results show 61% of respondents have “never” received a certified valuation of fair market analysis.
“What was interesting is 48% also said they wanted to sell the next three years,” he said.
Though entrepreneurs and owner-operators possess the skills needed to build a business from the ground up, Bushkie said many lack the expertise required to compete with firms that buy and sell thousands of companies every year.
“The study [and its] findings were just remarkable, and it really shows how ill-prepared these business owners are,” he said. “They are so smart, they’re so gritty, they’ll run through a wall every day of the week and they’re so good at starting and building companies…, [but] these are professional buyers… They’re looking at 3,000-5,000 companies a year, buying five to 10, [and] these business owners get one chance to do something they’ve never, ever done before.”
Bushkie said that is exactly why he founded Cornerstone Business Services – to serve the needs of lower-middle-market owner-operators.
“When I started the company, I did a lot of research and looked at where the holes were in the M&A world, per se, or where there were people underserved,” he said. “What we believed, and what we found to be true, is the segment – which we call the lower-middle market – is the most underserved marketplace in the entire ecosystem of the United States from an M&A standpoint.”
So, 25 years ago, Bushkie said he set out to fill that gap by establishing Cornerstone, with further work – such as the Cornerstone International Alliance and the Cornerstone Advisory Partners Exit Program (CAPX) – focused on bolstering service options in the lower-middle market not only in his region, but around the world.
“We’re a tiny business in the whole scheme of things, yet, when you look at the lower market, we’re one of the biggest M&A firms in all of the Midwest… but how do I [do] more?” he said.
‘350 companies’ sold, thousands of lives changed
With closing ratios “two to three times” the national average, Bushkie said Cornerstone is becoming one of the most “trusted and recognized” U.S.-based M&A firms serving the lower-middle market.
“That’s what Cornerstone has, really, always been based on,” he said. “Doing it right the first time, having a positive impact, not over-promising and under-delivering, but really doing whatever we can to help these people get to their next best chapter of their life.”
Having helped sell “more than 350 companies” throughout the last 25 years, Bushkie said every one of Cornerstone’s efforts is in an attempt to make its clients’ lives better.
Part of helping them achieve a successful sale, Bushkie said, is what Cornerstone refers to as “POMO” – or, “the power of multiple offers.”
“We’re trademarking [that term] right now,” he said. “In ’24, we averaged 10 offers per client, [and] in ’25 we averaged nine offers per client.”
Presenting an owner with multiple offers on their business, Bushkie said, provides them with both options as well as backup plans.
Cornerstone’s national survey found that although 61% of respondent owners have “received interest from a buyer,” 37% of those who have tried to sell “were not successful.”
“We create urgency [and] a competitive environment [around the sale] – that’s what POMO is,” he said. “That’s what we do for business owners.”
Manufacturing competition and producing multiple offers, Bushkie said, has resulted in Cornerstone’s owner-operator clients receiving a 20% premium on the sale of their business.
“I’m so proud of that as a company,” he said. “We get to give them that peace of mind – that at the end of the day, they know they didn’t leave any money on the table.”
With multiple offers to choose from, Bushkie said owners are also able to prioritize what matters to them after the ink dries and they’re no longer in charge.
“There are so many deal points besides just what was the price of the company, and they get to choose who the best fit is,” he said. “Many times, especially in the Midwest, it’s not the highest offer. It could be the second- or third-highest offer value, but the other deal points make sense. So, they get that peace of mind to know they didn’t leave any money on the table, and they get to choose who they’re going to give their baby to.”
Bushkie said Cornerstone’s “360 Process” not only brings multiple offers to the owners’ table, but educates them on what it means to sell, how to create an exit plan, what their business is worth and how much money they need to achieve their desired lifestyle following the sale.
“The first six steps to our process are all about education – [we] have a discovery call, which is all confidential – there’s no cost [and] there’s no obligation,” he said. “[Then] they do the RMA (Real Market Analysis), which is a small investment, and now they know what we call the ‘three-legged stool’ – ‘What’s my real number? What’s my net number, what’s my lifestyle number?’ Now they’re making a well-informed decision.”
Over his tenure in the M&A industry, Bushkie said he’s found most business owners won’t decide to sell according to “some great strategic plans they laid out.”
Instead, he said the decision, from his experience, is a personal one.
“It’s typically [because they’re] tired, burnt out, bored [or] don’t want to do this anymore, and want to go on to do something else in retirement,” he said.
However, just because the owner is tired, Bushkie said that doesn’t mean the business is sale-ready to the point where it can afford the owner their preferred lifestyle.
In lieu of getting a formal RMA, Bushkie said some owners attempt to create “an assumption” of value with their trusted advisors – a figure not always rooted in reality.
“What if that assumption is $20 million, you use that for all your planning and then you finally come to an investment bank like Cornerstone, and at the end of the day, it’s worth $12 million,” he said. “Now you’re tired, burnt out, you don’t want to do it anymore, [but] you have an $8-million gap. That’s not fun for anybody.”
That’s why education, Bushkie said, is evolving to be a key aspect of Cornerstone’s work.
“I’m trying to get more financial advisors to start the conversation earlier, [because] it’s all [centered] around starting the conversation, having that discovery call, then getting the real number, net number and lifestyle number,” he said.
Doing more beyond the firm
Bushkie said Cornerstone’s International Alliance was founded nearly a decade ago in an attempt to establish a central organization for lower-middle-market investment firms to collaborate.
Another benefit, however, he said, is the alliance affords firms such as Cornerstone more visibility in the M&A market – as many owner-operators aren’t even aware companies of comparable sizes exist.
“It’s a very, very underserved and uneducated marketplace,” he said. “So, I set out to start an alliance of not just M&A firms…, [but] the best of the best.”
Employing an involved application process with pre-approval screening and reference checks, Bushkie said the alliance has grown to include 200 investment bankers within 35 firms across roughly five different continents after turning down “60-70%” of the people who applied.
“[In] 2024, I think we did 170 transactions,” he said. “We’ll probably do that or more this year, but we’ll probably be more than $2 billion in enterprise value in one year. It helps us [because] now we’ve got boots on the ground in different parts of the country [and] different parts of the world.”
Meeting regularly to share best practices and market trends each other have taken notice of, Bushkie said the alliance strengthens Cornerstone’s national and international operability.
“We truly have that local feel of, ‘we’re going to get to know you – you’re not just a number,’ yet I have global reach and access to industry experts,” he said. “It’s really helped Cornerstone get to the next level, because now we can take on more deals.”
Bushkie said “deal flow” is what fuels an investment firm’s growth.
“You can have the best process [and] best people, but if you don’t have customers coming to the door, it doesn’t make a difference,” he said.
That’s why, Bushkie said, Cornerstone launched its CAPX program.
“One of the areas that really separates us, is we built our practice around not necessarily going direct to the owner, [though] we do that…, [but] building relationships with their trusted advisors,” he said. “Mainly that’s the financial advisor, the business coach or the CPAs who want to manage the money after the sale.”
Traveling across the country to speak and present on how important obtaining a proper valuation and/or employing an M&A advisor is for business owners, Bushkie said, is a key part of the CAPX program.
“That’s one new thing I’ve been doing the last couple of years, is keynote speaking all over to business owner groups or to financial planner groups and others,” he said. “We’re speaking to these [trusted advisors], we’re giving them tools, resources [and] white papers, so they can look like the rock star.”
Connecting with owners through their advisors, Bushkie said, has proven to be an effective way at not only obtaining clients, but establishing relationships with other finance and business-adjacent professionals as well.
“We have 300 plus coaches, about 70 CPA firms [and] 68,000 financial advisors that we have formal relationships with,” he said. “So, that’s what CAPX does – they’re continuing to work with those parties to help them help their clients.”
Regardless of how lower-middle-market owner-operators receive help in selling their business – directly through the investment firm, the alliance or CAPX – Bushkie said Cornerstone’s “mission since day one” has been to guide the people and families impacted by the sale into the next phase of life, comfortably.
“That’s kind of how we judge our successes, how many families did we have a positive and life-changing impact for?” he said. “When we set out on our mission, it wasn’t about being the biggest or making the most money – it wasn’t dollars at all. We want to create a positive, life-changing impact for all the lives that we touch. That’s been our mission since day one, and our vision has been to be the most trusted and most recognized lower market enemy firm in the country – so we are getting there.”
Passionate, dedicated support
With “right around 70,000 hours” working in M&A, as well as on his own company, Bushkie said he and Cornerstone are beginning to prepare for his eventual exit – just as he advises his clients to do.
“I started this company at [age] 26 when I was too dumb, young and naive to know I shouldn’t have started it that early, but I did,” he said. “I’m 51 now, so I still have some time in me, but we’re actually going through that right now. I was just at my attorney’s office working on a succession plan, trust and everything else – to build this out.”
However, Bushkie said that doesn’t mean Cornerstone, or his time with the firm, is anywhere close to finished.
“I want to really build this for another five or 10 years, and then look at my options at that time,” he said. “My workbook is called ‘Finish strong: Sell your business on your terms,’ and I’m going through it right now, chapter by chapter, and doing all the things [like] de-risking the company, putting different things in place, working on a phantom stock plan to line up my leadership team [and] help get through the next chapter of Cornerstone [as well as] bonus incentive or profit-sharing plans.”
Having “been blessed [to work with] one of the best teams” over the past 25 years, Bushkie said he’s passionate about protecting Cornerstone’s legacy both for himself and his family, but his employees and their families as well.
“We’ve had some great people come through Cornerstone over the years, but right now, as far as the number of amazing people that work for us, it’s the best it’s ever been,” he said. “So, I want to make sure these people [not only] get paid fairly, which they do, but they get a piece of the pie as well, because I’ve always told anybody that works for me, ‘you take care of me, I will take care of you.’”
Bushkie said his team and the company’s clients are the reason Cornerstone has grown into the successful firm it stands as today.
“I’m very, very thankful for all the people, all the business owners [and] all their trusted advisors who put their trust in us to help them with what they get one chance to do,” he said. “We don’t take it lightly – [and] to all of our employees, past and present, and advisors, I thank them all from the bottom of my heart, because I couldn’t do anything without all of them.”
His ability to work so intently on his business, Bushkie said, was also a privilege afforded by the support of his wife of 17 years, Cassie.
“She runs the most important business of ‘Bushkie Land,’ which is our household,” he said. “[She’s] raised all the kids, making sure they grow up as good humans, and I get to coach basketball for all the kids… But if it weren’t for Cassie being on my side and running the business of [our family], I would have never been able to do all the things I could do to really focus on my passion within the company. So, I’m just thankful for all of those people.”
And though he has begun exploring an eventual exit strategy, Bushkie said Cornerstone is nowhere near “slowing down.”
“We’re speeding up,” he said. “We’ve made so many investments in me speaking professionally with different programs. I have a keynote [speeches] for business owners…, for financial advisors and business coaches that I give all over the country. So, I want to do more of that, because [the] more people you touch, the more people who might get excited about this and then start asking the right questions.”
In all, Bushkie said he hopes Cornerstone – during his time and beyond it – continues to “professionalize” M&A for lower-middle-market business owners.
“Whenever I’m done with this game, I want to be able to say the old Boy Scout motto of ‘I left it better than I found it,’” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do – help as many business owners as we possibly can.”
For more information on Cornerstone, visit cornerstone-business.com.
