Kirk Michie is the Founder and Managing Partner of Candor Advisors, a boutique investment bank and transaction advisory firm for founder-led businesses. For more than 30 years, he has worked with entrepreneurs and business owners to navigate the most consequential financial decisions of their lives. Over his career, Kirk has raised $1 billion+ in capital, participated in 60+ M&A transactions totaling well over $1 billion in value, and led more than 200 due diligence processes.

Kirk Michie is the Founder and Managing Partner of Candor Advisors, a boutique investment bank and transaction advisory firm for founder-led businesses. For more than 30 years, he has worked with entrepreneurs and business owners to navigate the most consequential financial decisions of their lives. Over his career, Kirk has raised $1 billion+ in capital, participated in 60+ M&A transactions totaling well over $1 billion in value, and led more than 200 due diligence processes.

Before launching Candor Advisors, Kirk held senior roles in wealth management at AB Bernstein, Bessemer Trust, and Merrill Lynch, served as a Partner at Triton Pacific Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, and built AB Bernstein's Quarterly M&A Roundtable, a gathering of top dealmakers that was later replicated across the country.

His work starts where most advisors don't: with the founder's WHY. Before valuation or deal structure, Kirk gets clear on what's actually driving the decision to sell, whether that's burnout, legacy, a new chapter, or something else entirely. From there, everything gets sharper.

Kirk founded Candor Advisors in March 2020 and has since built a content engine that reaches more than 20,000 private company founders weekly. A sought-after speaker and podcast guest, he regularly appears at events hosted by ACG, Vistage, and Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO). He has been featured on shows including EOFire, Everyday MBA, Beyond 8 Figures, and the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. He has been recognized on the Axial Advisor 100 and is known among clients and colleagues as Guru, Guide, and Gladiator. His reputation speaks for itself. The word-of-mouth line that launched Candor Advisors? "Talk to Kirk."