Empowering business owners for the next phase

Experienced Team Partnering with Founders

We are an entrepreneur-led team partnering with founders who have built exceptional businesses ready for the next phase of growth.

We have sold our own businesses before - we know that formal deal processes can disrupt employees and customers. We lean away from unnecessary formality and get right to the heart of it - working on the future story.

We want to get to know the story of your business - where you’ve been, what you’ve built, the people you serve and the employees who make it great. We build to last.

Mission

Who We Are

Ours is a team of top-performing small business CEOs with deep expertise across a variety of industries. Our team of entrepreneurs manages flexible capital (read: no Investment Committees) with an orientation towards preserving value and long-term growth.

I am the granddaughter of immigrants from Greece and Syria, and scrappiness, grit, and resilience are in my blood. Growing up in my own family business, dinner table conversations often revolved around the dental practice I grew up in. I started working in the dental practice at age 10 licking stamps, eventually graduating to working the front office.

Over the last seven years I have advised 40+ founder/CEOs through M&A transactions, including my own family’s.

I earned an MBA from Stanford's Graduate of Business School, which inspired me to co-found Ionian Pine Partners with one clear goal: to apply my business expertise to companies ready for the next phase, grounded in the values I learned from my family's entrepreneurialism.

Elena Arida

Managing Partner

Korey Mui, CFA

Managing Partner

I am the son of Cantonese parents who immigrated to the US with little money or English skills and achieved the American Dream. They taught me about the importance of legacy; I view my success as a continuation of theirs.

I started my career at the world's largest investment firm, learning what it took to be a great investor and how capital can generate meaningful impact, not just more financial success. My shift in focus to small businesses was natural. I knew how a small restaurant business changed the trajectory of my family's life and wanted to apply my institutional knowledge to scale that kind of change.

I earned an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, which equipped me with the right people and skills to co-found Ionian Pine Partners. I recognize the importance of the "we" behind every "I".

Our Values

Empowering Teams

We believe that businesses thrive when the people within them do. We seek to do right by founders who have spent their careers in their business and have built teams who get the job done.

Long-Term Orientation

We have a long-term orientation and focus on sustained success, picking up where you let off.

Transparency and Consistency

We know you’re running a business, and we won’t waste your time. Our process is designed with founders in mind - we work quickly and collaboratively with clear communication, and we won’t give you the runaround. No investment committees, no changing priorities.

What we care about and how we walk the walk.

Our Approach

Whether you are looking to stay with your business but take some liquidity or sell your business fully, we can partner. We work with you to build a growth plan which meets your personal, professional, and economic needs.

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We provide an assessment on your business's strengths and opportunities to grow, focused on areas where you see the most opportunity.

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We align with owners on operating needs and are able to partner as advisors or operators in a full or partial capacity

• Simplifying Admin: back office like payroll, accounting, and HR aren’t your passion. Let it be ours.

• Adopting Technology: Scale your product so it can grow with minimal extra effort from the team.

• Scaling Sales & Marketing: If you have a sales and marketing team, great. If you don’t we can help build those capabilities from the ground up, increasing customer retention, optimizing pricing, and winning new business.

• Recruiting Talent: Avoid disruptions to your business by getting the right people on your team and retaining them.

• Leveraging Our Networks: We open up our network for introductions to new markets and partnership opportunities, leveraging the expertise of industry titans.

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As we learn about your business we provide an informed view on its value today.

Where We Can Help

Our investment criteria

Demonstrated Profitability

We look for companies whose solutions are proven in the market and are profitable (>$2m in cash flow).

Rising Tides

Mission Criticality

Track Record of Growth

We gravitate towards companies which have been growing steadily over the years.

We look for businesses which are invaluable to customers demonstrated through repeat buyers and long-term relationships with customers.

We look to partner with solutions in growing industries with limited exposure to economic cycles.