Paul Jon Kelley, Founder and CEO of CandaceAI

Built by Someone Who Has Lived the Deal.

Paul Jon Kelley has spent more than 25 years inside Main Street and lower-middle-market transactions. He led M&A as Vice President at Acquire.com and founded Synesis Advisors, his own advisory firm.

Across those years he saw the same pattern. Good businesses with real customers and real cash flow closed their doors because the deal never came together. The work lived in inboxes, spreadsheets and one broker's memory. Buyers showed up with good intentions and no plan.

CandaceAI is his answer: one system that prepares buyers, runs the deal and keeps a clean record of every step.

Why CandaceAI Exists.

Millions of Main Street owners are getting ready to hand off their businesses. The industry was never built for it. Here's what's broken, and what we're doing about it.

Today

Owners are leaving with no plan.

6 million U.S. businesses will face an ownership change by 2035. In 2022, 92% of small business exits ended with the doors closed.

With CandaceAI

Give every owner a real path to a sale.

A guided seller portal, blind profiles and a clear process, so a business with customers and cash flow finds its next owner.

Today

Sellers aren't ready.

Many owners wait until the day they are done. By then the books are messy and the business runs on them.

With CandaceAI

Get owners ready before the sale.

Candace Garage is a free, private place to find the gaps early, with Deal Partners and advisors when it matters.

Today

Deals run on scattered tools.

Listings, CRMs, data rooms and email threads each hold a slice. Nobody runs the whole deal, so good deals stall.

With CandaceAI

Run the whole deal in one record.

Advisor OS takes a deal from intake to close in one secure, auditable workspace, backed by trusted Deal Partners.

Source: McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, The Great Ownership Transfer, February 26, 2026.

The team

A Lean Team With Deep Transaction Experience.

Leadership and board

Paul Jon Kelley

Founder & CEO

25+ years in Main Street and lower-middle-market M&A. Former VP of M&A at Acquire.com. Founded Synesis Advisors.

Chris Oliver

Acting CTO

Leads engineering, platform architecture and AI, including the Oruk integration.

Marc Thibodeau

Marketing and Acting Operations

Runs marketing and day-to-day operations. Co-produces the newsletter and content engine.

Bob Muh

Board Member

40+ years in corporate finance. Founded Sutter Securities in 1992 after serving as a partner at Bear Stearns. Former FINRA Board of Governors member. MIT undergraduate, Columbia MBA.