Every owner who thinks about selling eventually asks a version of the same quiet question. Not what will the buyer pay, but what does the buyer actually believe about the thing you built. The price is written down. The beliefs are not, and the beliefs govern nearly everything that happens after the wire clears.
It is a fair question, and it deserves a plain answer. Our firm is named for a Bible verse, Colossians 3:23. This page explains why, and what that name commits us to when we buy a company.
A daily reminder and a North Star
The verse reads, "In all things, work as for the Lord and not for man." For us that is not a slogan on a wall. It is a daily reminder that we are not working for ourselves or for any selfish gain, and that carries weight.
It is also where we look when decisions have to be made. Naming the firm for Colossians 3:23 is an outward proclamation, and a proclamation creates accountability. If we say it, we must live it, and the name keeps the standard in front of us on the days it would be easier to forget.
Sailors steered by a fixed star because everything else on the water moves. The verse serves as our North Star in the same way. When the inevitable hard decisions come, we do not have to decide where we stand in the moment. We already know.
The standard of the work does not depend on who is watching. That is the whole idea, and it is the pillar this holding company is built on.
What that means when we buy a company
When we buy a company, the verse means exactly what it says: we are doing this for the Lord and not for ourselves. Every owner can name a buyer who said one thing before closing and did another after, or who stopped treating employees well once the deal was done. We hold ourselves to a different standard, and we hold every company we buy to it as well.
It means keeping promises after closing, when no one can enforce them. Most of what a buyer says before a sale never makes it into the purchase agreement: how the team will be treated, whether the name stays, whether the company keeps serving its customers the way it always has. Those commitments survive only if the buyer's standard does not slip once the papers are signed.
It means patience. We are a private holding company with permanent capital, not a fund. There is no fund clock and no plan to sell, because there is no structure that requires one. Private equity funds typically resell within five to seven years; we buy to hold.
It means treating employees as ends rather than costs. A team is not a line item to be trimmed on the way to a resale. When we acquired Midwest Information Systems, a Schaumburg, Illinois company founded in 1988 and the maker of PAXIT by MIS microscopy imaging software, the team stayed, the name stayed, and the company continued serving its laboratory customers. That closing happened on New Year's Eve 2024, and it is the pattern we intend to repeat.
And it means working in the business, not just holding it from a distance. Ownership here is hands-on. We show up, learn the work, and carry responsibility alongside the people who were there long before us.
Where the standard comes from
Michael Williams, the founder of 323 Capital, was raised watching his father fund small businesses in Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain fell. The lesson of those years was not complicated. Ordinary companies, run honestly, change the lives of the people in and around them.
Michael and his wife Courtney are active in their church community, and the name of the firm is a conviction before it is a brand.
Before founding 323 Capital, he spent a decade in finance, much of it in institutional asset and investment management at firms including Invesco and City National Rochdale. Much of that work supported owners navigating life after selling their companies. He has seen, up close, how much the character of the buyer shapes the years that follow a sale.
Character is the only warranty on a handshake
Here is the unsentimental version, for a reader who does not share our faith and does not need to. Much of what matters most in a sale cannot be enforced. The purchase agreement covers price and terms, but the promises about your people, your name, and your customers are largely a handshake. Character is the only warranty a handshake carries.
So do not weigh a buyer's promises. Weigh the pattern. Ask what a buyer did the last time no one was watching, and talk to the people who were there. What changed at Midwest Information Systems after we bought the company, and what did not, is a record we invite you to examine.
If you are searching for a values-based buyer for your business, for a faith-driven succession, or simply for a legacy-minded owner who will not resell your company on a fund timeline, you are asking the same question. And the answer you need is not a promise. It is a track record and a standard.
Whatever you believe
You do not need to share our faith to benefit from it. Whatever you believe, you want a buyer whose standard does not slip when the ink dries. That is what the name asks of us, and it is the standard you should hold us to.
If you are beginning to think about what comes next for your company, we would welcome a quiet first conversation, under NDA if you prefer. We are rooted in the Chicago area, buy primarily across the Midwest, and are open to exceptional companies anywhere in the United States. We will listen to your goals before we talk about ours, and we reply within two business days. Write to General@323cap.com.