Karen Jordan, based in San Diego, California, launched a unique business last year to fill a growing need in the marketplace. She founded Hibernia Executive Partners to provide access to on demand C Suite executives. “We provide fractional C Suite services. So I’m the one-stop shop for any executive level support that the company might need,” said Jordan, who is the company’s CEO.

You’ve started, grown, and possibly transitioned your business, but how are you doing? Business owners can understandably get deeply wrapped up in what they do as entrepreneurship, and leadership, is often tied to the metrics, passion, and, hopefully, success, of what had originally been just an idea.

The time may have come for you to start thinking about transitioning your business, so what’s next? What you might come to realize is that while you’re busy running your business, you find you’re in need of some to help guide the transition team down the field for the eventual score. Moreover, how big will that score be?

As a lawyer, Jenny Tran is well experienced in the area of mergers and acquisitions and serving as general counsel to privately held businesses. Tran, based in Newport Beach, California, is a partner with the firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth.

Are you contemplating a transition for your business? How well, or not, that process might play out could depend upon the quality of your connections, according to Nick Olsen, managing director of the M&A practice, Green Bay, Wisc.-based Cornerstone International. Olsen would know about making the right connections as Cornerstone averages 150 M&A deals a year.

Entrepreneurs who work with investment bankers for their business transition can benefit from what that key piece of growth, or the actual exit, can bring to the table. Even better: working with someone who has actually been in their shoes. “I started and sold businesses before I got into banking, so I have that perspective in my approach with clients,” said Steve Laver, managing director at Santa Monica, Calif-based investment banking firm Montminy & Co.