An equity growth partner for two kinds of painter. The one with the hunger to start. The one who's hit the ceiling on what one person can carry.
Scroll downYou didn't pick up a brush to fill out tax forms at 9pm on a Sunday. You picked it up to build something.
Most painters think they have two options. Stay on the tools. Or roll the dice on going alone, with a ute, a hope, and twelve months of cash burn before the first repeat client.
Nobody tells you there's a third. That's what Exit Forward is. The middle path between staying small and gambling everything. Where painters who want to build something real get capital, brand, systems, and a partner who only wins when you do.
It's not a job. It's not a franchise. It's a partnership.
We're not brokers. We're not consultants billing hours. We're equity growth partners who've built and sold businesses ourselves, and who only win when you do.
We start by understanding what's there. What's working, what's not, and what needs to be in place before the next chapter is possible. Then we invest, take a seat at the table, and build it forward together.
Whether that's starting from a strong subcontractor base, scaling past a ceiling, or taking some money off the table for years of hard work, the options open up when the foundations are right.
Win win. Or we walk away.
Before the Win Win Check questionnaire starts, you'll see a single screen with two side-by-side options. One question. Which one describes you right now?
I'm qualified. I can run a job. I want my own crew, but I'm not about to gamble my family's livelihood on a hope and pray start-up. I might be subcontracting now. I want to build something real, with a partner who has capital, brand, and the systems to back it.
Read more »I'm doing somewhere between $500k and $3M. On paper I'm winning. In reality, more volume just means more chaos and I'm the bottleneck. I'd take some money off the table for the years I've put in, and I want a partner with the systems to push past where I've got stuck.
Read more »"The middle path between subcontracting forever and going it alone. Between grinding and selling out."
For the qualified painter with the hunger to run a crew and the head to know that going it alone with a ute and a hope is how good painters end up bankrupt.
You can paint. You can manage a job. You can talk to a client. You've got more in you than another year on a subcontract rate. But the math on starting alone is brutal. A ute, ladders, insurance, marketing, a website, a CRM, a name no one's heard of, and twelve months of cash burn before the first repeat client. Your kids still need to eat in month three. So you stay. And the years roll on. And the painter you could have become stays a painter someone else is making money off.
You bring the trade, the work ethic, the operational ownership, and the relationships you've already built on site. We bring the rest.
We take a majority equity stake. You take a meaningful minority. Both sides have skin in the game. Both sides are aligned on building something that's worth more in five years than it is on day one.
You run the operation. GM and lead tradesperson. You hire, you train, you set quality. On the tools where it matters and off them where it doesn't. The crew works for you.
Capital partner and growth engine. Brand, marketing, systems, financial discipline, board-level governance. We don't tell you how to paint. You don't tell us how to run a marketing funnel.
You'd never get to a $2M painting business in five years on your own. With a partner doing the back half, you might. A meaningful minority of a real business beats 100% of a ute and a stress headache, every time.
It isn't a job. It isn't a franchise. It isn't a coaching program. It's a partnership where you own a piece of something we build together.
For the painting business owner between $500k and $3M who is winning on paper, drowning in practice, and ready for a partner with the systems to take it to the next level.
You've built something. Real revenue, real crews, real clients. By any reasonable measure, you've won. But the higher you climb, the more it weighs. Every quote still routes through you. Every problem still ends up on your phone. Hiring is a punt. Marketing is whatever you remembered to do that month. The numbers look fine until you really look at them. You don't need motivation. You need depth. The kind that only shows up when the business has been built by someone who's done this part before.
The growth engine matters. So does the liquidity. We deliver both.
We take a majority stake. You take meaningful liquidity at close. You retain a real minority position in a business we grow together. You stay involved on the terms that suit you.
You stay close to what you're best at. Quality, key relationships, technical standards, culture. You step out of the parts of the job that were never your strength: marketing, financial systems, hiring, governance.
We deploy the growth engine inside the business. Operational leadership where it's needed. Branding, marketing, systems, financial reporting. We protect what's worth protecting. We change what's holding you back.
If your business is doing $1.5M today, the question isn't whether someone will pay a multiple for it. The question is what version of it they pay for. The Field Guide walks you through the ten things that move that number.
You aren't selling. You're partnering. You keep what's worth keeping, and you stop carrying what shouldn't have been yours alone.
We come in before the pressure forces your hand. Before burnout. Before a broker. When there's still time to build something worth choosing.
We get to know each other. Understand what success looks like for you, and make sure we're the right fit. No pressure. Just real alignment.
We invest with you. Liquidity now for what you've built. Capital and resources for what's next. Shared skin in the game from day one.
We embed structure, systems, brand, and leadership so the business operates without depending on you. What stays on the table becomes more valuable.
With the foundations right, the options open up. Grow faster. Step back. Take more money off the table. Or all three. On your terms. On your timeline.
Anyone can write a cheque. Few can accelerate what comes after. Most investors bring capital. We bring lived experience, capital, and a growth engine.
Behind Exit Forward sits one of Western Australia's most established full service agencies, built over more than a decade, still running at scale. Creative, performance, strategy, and technology capability that we bring to bear on every business we partner with.
We draw on that engine. A team of thinkers, makers, and doers. To help grow what you've built. Whether you're preparing for transition, strengthening your position, or building toward something worth acquiring, that engine moves with you.
"Sell half. Double the business. A real minority of a real company beats a tired majority of a stuck one."
Exit Forward is led by Bodie Czeladka and Tom Parker, two people who've done this, not just advised on it.
Started Dilate in 2012 and built it into one of Western Australia's most respected digital marketing agencies over 14 years, navigating six equity transactions along the way. He brings founder rapport, narrative clarity, and a sensitivity to succession that only comes from having lived it.
The integrator. Brings financial discipline, structural rigour, and the ability to scale what's been proven. Together, they've acquired and integrated three businesses since stepping back from the Dilate day-to-day, proving that the platform scales beyond the founder who started it.
"We're not brokers. We're not consultants billing hours. We're equity growth partners who only win when you do."
Ten questions. An honest read on where your painting business sits across the drivers a growth partner actually weighs. No follow-up unless you ask for one.
We work with a small number of painters and trade founders each year. By design.
No pressure. No pitch. No follow-up funnel. If you've built something real, or you're about to, that's reason enough to talk. The first conversation is exactly that. A conversation. No deck. No NDA. No obligation.
"Win win. Or we walk away."