About Us

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We are business owners.  We have exited multiple businesses.  We have supported many others in their exits.

Through this experience, we have learned first-hand the importance of a strong business exit. It is transformational to entrepreneurs and their families.

In selling a business, everyone is excited by the deal making but we realized early that the real difference is made months and years in advance of the sale by first educating smart business owners and second, helping them better prepare their business and personal lives for the sale. Hence our focus at DGB Business Advisory is on exit planning and business valuation building.

One aspect of our practice is The Better Franchise Exit. It is a belief, based on experience, that exit planning has a special importance given the added complexity of franchising and the mutual benefit of stronger exit for the owner, the franchisor and the brand. Even in seemingly desperate situations, there can be better outcomes, with deliberate steps.

David G Barron is an experienced business advisor, business owner, and dealmaker with a career spanning entrepreneurship, SME growth, SaaS, franchising, and M&A across North America. He brings a rare combination of hands-on operating leadership and transaction execution, having founded, scaled, exited, and advised businesses at multiple stages of maturity.

He is the President of DGB Business Advisory, where he works with founders, business owners, and leadership teams on exit planning, transition readiness, valuation, and deal execution. His advisory work has included supporting both buy- and sell-side decisions, operational due diligence, partner buyouts, family transition and negotiations with strategic buyers and private equity. He has also served as COO for an early-stage cloud services company, helping raise seed funding and build the operating model.

His operating background includes building and selling his own CertaPro Painters franchise in Ottawa, which he scaled from startup to 7-figure revenue with strong profitability and a high-performing team. The business ranked in the top 5% in North America for lead generation and was a finalist for Canadian Franchise of the Year, culminating in a successful exit and sale.

David spent five years as General Manager, Franchise M&A and Resale for Franchisor CertaPro Painters, acting as an internal consultant to franchise owners, corporate leadership, lenders, and external buyers. In this role, he launched and scaled a North America–wide resale program, built U.S. banking partnerships, advised on valuation and negotiation, and executed more than 100 business transactions across a wide range of buyer types. His work contributed to materially stronger post-transaction performance, with new owners achieving significant revenue growth within the first two years.

Earlier in his career, David held senior sales and consulting leadership roles at growth stage technology companies in the channel partner management and human resources sectors, where he helped scale businesses, transition services models to SaaS, grow global enterprise accounts, and deliver complex organizational and go-to-market engagements.

David holds the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation, has completed Negotiation Mastery at Harvard Business School, and is an HBA graduate of the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Based in Ottawa, Ontario, David is an active community member. He is a participant in the Canadian Ski Marathon, a NCCP-certified baseball coach, and a donor to Canadian Blood Services.

Connect with David on LinkedIn and schedule a call.