Helping Agency Owners Prosper at Every Stage of Their Firm’s Development

This is a true story. Only the names and dates have been changed.

Two PR professionals take the entrepreneurial leap.

Let’s call them Janet Prentiss and David Polk. Both are Midwesterners who previously worked at well-known public relations agencies in Chicago - including where they first met in 2008. After working together for several years, they realized they had become an effective team, began to talk about creating their own firm and ultimately did just that.

When they opened Prentiss/Polk Ideas in 2011, Janet and Dave were relying on their personal experience, work habits, a support staff of three and one loyal client. They devoted long hours to ensuring this client remained more than satisfied with their performance. Thanks to their talent, sheer tenacity and working most weekends, they were able to add some additional business along the way.

It’s never easy.

By 2015, Janet and Dave were managing a staff of seven, $1.5 million in gross revenue and six mostly smaller clients. Achieving higher revenue, a steady profit stream and larger accounts had been much tougher than expected.

They were also being worn down by the seemingly endless challenges of building the agency, carefully nurturing its reputation, finances, attracting talent and personally doing so much of the work. While there had been some growth, Prentiss/Polk Ideas wasn’t even close to becoming the powerhouse Janet and Dave had first hoped it would be.

There was simply too much resting on their respective shoulders. Their work/life balance was in serious trouble. They needed help

Turning to Prosper Group for guidance.

At an industry event that year, Janet had been introduced to and spent some time talking with Alex Halbur, Managing Director of Prosper Group (the national consulting network comprised of the former owners, CEOs and senior executives of significant PR firms). After further discussions including Dave Polk, Prosper Group was retained to help. 

Prosper Group’s first assignment was to develop a strategic growth plan. It fully leveraged the firm’s deepest institutional knowledge to create a compelling vision as well as a much sharper and more differentiated brand positioning. It also clearly defined the agency’s targets for new business development and how to effectively reach them.

In less than a year, Prentiss/Polk Ideas was moving dramatically forward with more positive momentum, sense of purpose and flat-out growth than it had ever experienced before.

During the next few years as the agency continued to grow, Prosper Group’s role expanded to providing ongoing counsel to Janet and Dave, building staffing architecture/organizational structure as revenue scaled, developing the firm’s pricing model and conducting a cultural happiness/employee satisfaction audit.

By 2020, Prentiss/Polk Ideas had quadrupled in size.

When it’s time to sell, a successful deal can include multiple bites of the apple.

As time marched on, Prosper Group introduced Janet and Dave to a private equity group which decided to invest in the agency. This investment helped spur the development of new service offerings and even more growth for the firm. Janet and Dave both benefited from this initial transaction and remained in place.

Then, several years later in early 2026, Prentiss/Polk Ideas was acquired by another private equity firm. At this time, Janet decided to exit the business (her choice) and received her share of the proceeds from this second sale.

Dave Polk, the original co-founder, is still there. He has now already benefited from two sales and will no doubt participate in a third whenever the new PE firm decides to exit.

Prosper Group has the experience and proven processes to help agency owners at every stage of their agency’s development.

Prosper Group exists to help the owners of independent marketing and communications agencies achieve their ambitions and maximize the value of their life's work.  

We work with agency owners to overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities in virtually every area. These include strategic planning, competitiveness, revenue growth, business development, financial management, attracting and retaining top talent, succession, exit planning, M&A and, ultimately, successfully exiting their firms on their own timing

Our team of former agency leaders and owners focus their deep experience on implementing proven proprietary methodologies across our three practices of agency performance, owner exit planning and M&A transactions in order to drive owner and agency success.

To learn more about us, please visit our Services page