"Once I actually got to meet a few of the SignificantPartners, I was astonished that these extremely kind, nice, caring business people were so extremely wealthy."
Entrepreneur/Business Owner, first impression of some SignificantPartners.
"I have been in business for years with a couple of the SignificantPartners, but it seems like more of a valued friendship than a business relationship."
CEO/Chairman, large financial services corporation.
"Our deal did not get to the finish line with the SignificantPartners because our organization failed in the due diligence process. However, these SignificantPartners have left the door wide open for us to revisit the transaction once we are ready in the future. One of our senior management team’s goals is to get our company ready to join these partners."
Senior management/CFO team member.
"Being around the SignificantPartners that we have worked with is more like a family reunion. Yes, they are extremely talented and focused on making money while providing the best customer experience possible for our business, but their joy, enthusiasm and mutual admiration and respect style is absolutely contagious. I want to be around them all the time."
Entrepreneur/Founder, software company.
"It took me one year to get a meeting with Michael to discuss our business. Perseverance paid off because after one of my numerous emails followed up by a phone call he refocused his big guns on our company. The resources through his relationships brought to bear in a couple of weeks after we mutually agreed on a strategy to unlock hidden value creation was mind boggling. We are off to the races!"
CEO of a training company now finalizing accreditation to become an online niche university.
"As CEO of our company one of my responsibilities is to try to lay the track in front of our locomotive while our management team continues to pour on the coal. We keep Michael, and all the unique relationships that he brings to the table, on a small retainer just to be able to pick up the phone for his insights into our company. We can count on two or three value creation nuggets per year that more than justify the retainer."
CEO of a $28B financial institution.
"Our company hit a serious wall in the recent tightening of the credit markets. While as CEO, everybody around me acted like we were on the final stages of the Titanic’s experience, Michael’s enthusiasm in opening up his Rolodex to help find us solutions was an inspiration."
CEO, national mortgage company.
"SignificantPartner’s unique model of a minimal retainer paid as an advance against performance-based initiatives is refreshing in a world of high-priced consultants and compensation package centered senior executives. As an entrepreneur business owner, I like their performance-based attitude."
CEO, for-profit online university.
"Our company was spending well over $2,000,000.00 a year on business development with very little to show in return. Michael parachuted into our organization as a ‘friend of mine’ operating outside of my current management structure. Within 90 days he identified two key strategic relationships that have resulted in tripling our profitability in twelve months for a fraction of what we were spending on business development."
CEO, major consultancy.
"Michael introduced me to two friends of his who opened the new world of private equity financing for our company. His rifle shot approach to rapidly understanding our business combined with his ability to identify just the right private equity partners saved us years of expensive trial and error."
CEO/Entrepreneur/Business Owner of a rapidly growing company.
"Our company had plateaued on revenue growth and profitability. Michael was able to look at our business through a different paradigm identifying new capabilities for us that put us on a new growth trajectory requiring little or no investment."
CEO, education company.
"Michael sets a high bar for performance with his new strategies for the management team. We joked that doing a deal with Michael is like buying a life insurance policy. It will make you very rich but you might have to die first!"
CEO, post-secondary education company.
"As a private equity investor with a fund with $600,000,000.00 under management and $350,000,000.00 to invest currently, Michael is a refreshing resource for our firm with his constant flow of high quality companies that have not been shopped for which we are grateful."
Senior Private Equity Partner.
"When Michael first proposed the new growth strategy for our firm, we all thought he was on crack. Once we got over his first salvo, we settled in to an understanding of his uncanny leadership abilities to provide direction. He eliminated our danger, our fears, by maximizing opportunities that we did not know existed. The challenge for us was to take his rapid, clear A-to-Z presentation and figure out the B-to-Y operational execution which he is the first to admit is not his expertise. It worked out wonderfully for us because we are specialists in B- to-Y and needed the outside A-to-Z strategy for our company."
CEO and chairman of a non‑profit university.
"Our marketplace was changing rapidly. Our management team seemed to be operating from a position of fear. Michael stepped into our tightly knit circle providing confidence and reinforcing each individual’s strengths while providing the support that we needed as a group to give us the confidence to settle in to a process which leveraged all of our resources for success. This helped us set new goals and objectives for profitability and lifestyle in a model that created consistent results."
Founder and Chairman of a student loan company.
"Everybody on our team was working as hard as they possibly could. However, Michael delivered a strategy with certain key relationships creating capabilities for us that we never had before. He changed the way we think about our business while giving us multiple people resources for us to review that maximized our existing strengths in new and exciting ways for profitability. It was a simple process but incredibly quick, creating real value for our company."
CEO, international outsourcing call center and software company
"Catalyst” is the best word to describe Michael’s gift for Ethical Business & Financial Strategies…your company will never be the same."
Chairman of college with 60,000 students.
"People in the right positions with the resources and the compensation to incentivize them in a teamwork structure equals shareholder satisfaction."
Michael K. Clifford
"I have never met a problem I didn’t like!"
Michael K. Clifford
"There is no greater sin than to say what might have been!"
Gerald B. Cramer
