Pre-close · Marketing Agencies

Employment & Non-Compete Agreements Counsel for Marketing Agencies Acquisitions

When the deal is marketing agencies and the question is Employment & Non-Compete Agreements, the structure decisions in the first 30 days outlast the next five years. This is where Jason Powell works.

EV range $5M to $80M EV EBITDA $1.5M to $14M Audience Buy-side / Sponsor
The deal context

Marketing Agencies deals in the lower middle market run a specific playbook. Employment & Non-Compete Agreements is where the structure either holds or starts to leak.

The typical marketing agencies platform sits at $5M to $80M EV with EBITDA in the $1.5M to $14M range. The thesis runs on specialty agency or holdco platform with bolt-ons. If the founder leaves, half the agencies in the market lose 25% of revenue. Structure for that.

The moves

How Employment & Non-Compete Agreements actually gets structured.

  1. Negotiate seller non-competes to the maximum enforceable scope, by state law.

  2. Refresh key employee restrictive covenants pre-close, where possible.

  3. Address the FTC non-compete rule and its state-by-state aftermath.

  4. Tie executive non-competes to retention bonus economics that survive a quick exit.

  5. In marketing agencies, layer in client roster scrubbed for top-five concentration as part of the Employment & Non-Compete Agreements workstream.

The common mistake

Drafting a national-scope non-compete in California. Enforceability is a binary, not a spectrum.

Jason's take
"A non-compete is only as strong as the state it sits in. Draft for the state, not the deal."
Jason Powell · Employment & Non-Compete Agreements
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

The capital that opens up post-close, from refinancing to growth equity to strategic exit, runs through a small set of Wall Street relationships. That network is built in.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
WORK WITH JASON

Bring the marketing agencies deal. Get Employment & Non-Compete Agreements done right.

Direct counsel from a securities and M&A attorney with billions in structured transactions, the independent-sponsor-native playbook, and the capital markets network that opens up post-close.