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Our Mission

What We Do

Promise Partners is an Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) Accelerator that helps entrepreneurial people achieve their dream of business ownership.

We help less experienced members navigate their career paths towards the goal of business ownership. We help more experienced members create a strategy to buy an existing company or earn their way into ownership.

The Promise Partners Difference

Many organizations help with start-ups. Promise Partners is the only non-profit organization in the world with 30+ years experience helping people go from employee to business owner using various Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) strategies.

To date, 68 members have become business owners. Most have said they could not have done it without us.

Contact Us

Who We Serve

Promise Partners serves aspiring business owners who are committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve their dream of business ownership.

We also collaborate with existing small business owners seeking creative ways to grow and improve their companies by mentoring our members (aspiring business owners) and potentially hiring/partnering with them.

Our strengths include serving people on the following paths to business ownership:

Buy and Build

Finding a company to acquire and grow as the new CEO using various ETA models

Apprentice Owner / Earn in

Gain experience in a key role with a smaller firm (what we define as a "Right Hand Person" role), that might lead to ownership but always yields valuable benefits for the business owner and apprentice

Seasoned Start-Up

Launch a new firm in a proven market avoiding most of the typical start up challenges.

Promise Partners isn't for traditional startups.

When to consider a different path:

Start-up entrepreneurs (new ventures with unproven product/market fit) are better served through Northeast Ohio organizations like JumpStart, Bounce Innovation, YBI, etc.

Current business owners looking to improve operations at their companies are better served through peer organizations like Vistage, YPO, EO, WPO, or getting support from coaches/consultants like Manufacturing Works and AiMS.


Our Programs

We offer a wide range of programming support. From mentorship programs to social events and quarterly meetings, we help you find the right resources to succeed.


Join Us

Surround yourself with like-minded entrepreneurs and learn directly from successful business owners who've succeeded via Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA)

Promise Partners Guiding Principles:

These guiding principles, or values, guide our behavior as we strive to help members achieve their dream of business ownership.

Purposeful Action

Achieving the dream of business ownership demands a proven strategy and persistent action.

Encourage Courage

We encourage and celebrate the bold steps taken to become a business owner, especially the initial leap.

Play Bigger

Going farther faster towards our full potential is driven by our collective wisdom and relationships.

Pay It Forward

The greatest impact of achieving the dream of business ownership is to help others achieve theirs.


Promise Partners History:

The late Professor Richard L. Osborne, a.ka. “The Gorilla”, from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management began teaching Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) in the 1970s, making Case one of the first schools to introduce this innovative idea to students.

In the 1990s, Osborne was named one of Businessweek’s top 12 entrepreneurship professors in the nation. He was consistently one of the most admired and beloved professors in the history of the Weatherhead School.

The late Mal Mixon, former chairman and CEO of Invacare and a frequent guest speaker in Osborne’s class, once said, “Richard Osborne believed in the ‘book of life’ rather than the ‘life of books.’ His classes were always filled with real entrepreneurs—not theorists. He inspired many of us to ‘reach for the stars.’ He was one of those rare professors who remained revered by his students long after they graduated.”

Over the years, Osborne served on more than two dozen company and nonprofit boards. He viewed this work, along with his mentorship of former students who bought or sold firms, as part of his commitment to demonstrating Weatherhead’s strong ties to the Northeast Ohio community.

Osborne was also known for encouraging students to adopt nicknames for themselves. His own nickname, “Gorilla,” became synonymous with him, likely originating from students who admired his commanding presence and the energy he brought to the classroom. Osborne once explained that he encouraged nicknames because, “I love nicknames. They are a great equalizer.”

Osborne also had a nickname for his wife, Elizabeth, whom he often wove into the narrative of his courses. Gorilla included her in his signature send-off to students as classes came to an end: “The Beamer (Elizabeth) and I wish you the best of everything, including success that lasts. Dance like nobody is watching.”

In 1992, Osborne further cemented his impact by co-founding the non-profit Promise Partners ETA Accelerator with Pat Morris to help entrepreneurial students realize their full potential, or “promise.”  The accelerator has since helped 68 individuals become business owners in over 90 companies, creating thousands of jobs and positively affecting hundreds of families across Northeast Ohio and beyond.

The Gorilla modeled a lifelong commitment to his students, impacting their careers and personal lives well beyond graduation. This dedication is a core value of the Promise Partners ETA Accelerator and the broader ETA ecosystem in Cleveland. Thanks to Osborne’s vision and values, Cleveland is the epicenter of one of the most mature and practical ETA ecosystems in the world, making it the “Silicone Valley of ETA.

RLO Obituary: https://thedaily.case.edu/remembering-legendary-weatherhead-school-management-professor-richard-l-osborne/

  Achieving one's promise is the gift of a lifetime, endowing the human experience with nobility.  

Richard Osborne


Promise Partners Inc is a 501(c)(6) organization

2001 Crocker Road, Suite 510
Westlake, OH 44145

216-566-8884
admin@promise-partners.org

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