Two Operators. One Mission.
We left the boardroom to do something that matters. Acquire one great business and dedicate our careers to growing it.
Why We're Doing This
We come from very different backgrounds. James is a reserved, strategic thinker from a family of Detroit entrepreneurs. Thu Ra came to America from Burma as a teenager, became a citizen while working in a factory in Ohio, and has never met a person he didn't want to talk to. We met at Bain & Company working on a project together and became great friends.
We both saw the same problem. Every day, business owners face a choice that few people understand the weight of. They've spent 20, 30, sometimes 40 years building something real. And when it's time to step back, the options aren't great. Private equity buys and sells on a 3-7 year clock. Strategic acquirers absorb companies into parent organizations where names and cultures disappear.
We knew we had to leave our careers to do something about it. Paradosi Partners is our answer: a permanent home where your employees keep their jobs, your customers stay served, and your company's name lives on. Run by two people who treat it like the only business that matters. Because it will be.
That's what we're here to do: receive your life's work with the seriousness and care it deserves.
James Penz
Co-Founder & CEO
Personal Roots
James grew up in Detroit in a family of entrepreneurs and business owners, surrounded by people who built things with their hands and took pride in what they created. That upbringing shaped everything about how he thinks about business: real people, real jobs, real impact. A reserved, strategic thinker by nature, James is most at home building AI and digital tools that transform how businesses operate. When he's not working, you'll find him playing guitar. Music has been a lifelong passion.
Credentials
James studied at Michigan State University before building a career in strategy consulting at Bain & Company, EY, and Capgemini — advising Fortune 500 clients on performance improvement, digital transformation, and operational strategy. He brings the analytical rigor of world-class consulting to the practical realities of running a business.
Operational Proof
James has spent his career in the trenches of business transformation, not writing reports about it, but doing it. He's led performance improvement programs, built AI automation practices, and helped companies modernize their operations from the inside out. He understands what it takes to grow a business because he's done the hard work alongside the teams that run them.
Personal Mission
James believes that the businesses that built America's middle class deserve better than a PE fire sale or a corporate rollup. He's dedicating his career to proving there's a permanent alternative: one where the previous owner can step back knowing their employees are in good hands and their legacy is in good hands.
Thu Ra
Co-Founder & COO
Personal Roots
Thu Ra came to America from Burma as a teenager, chasing the American dream. He became a U.S. citizen while working in a factory in Ohio, and never forgot what that experience taught him about hard work, opportunity, and the people who keep businesses running. Thu Ra has never met a stranger. He has an internal obligation to connect with every single person he encounters, a quality that makes him an extraordinary operator and partner. Outside of work, he's visited over 100 zoos around the world.
Credentials
Thu Ra holds degrees from Cornell College and Case Western Reserve University, and earned his MBA from Yale School of Management, where Professor AJ Wasserstein first introduced him to entrepreneurship through acquisition in 2018. He and James later worked together at Bain & Company, where their complementary skills and shared vision for Paradosi Partners took shape.
Operational Proof
Before his MBA, Thu Ra operated a label manufacturing company, growing it from $80 million to $160 million in revenue through his sales acumen and operations toolkit. He didn't just advise on growth. He drove it, hands-on, in a real manufacturing environment. That experience is the foundation of everything he brings to Paradosi Partners.
Personal Mission
Thu Ra is driven by a belief that the best businesses are built on trust and a genuine commitment to the people who show up every day. As someone who has both built and scaled businesses, he has a unique empathy for the sacrifice and pride that every business owner feels, and a deep commitment to honoring that legacy in the company Paradosi Partners acquires.
Our Philosophy
We preserve what works before changing anything.
Before introducing anything new, we spend months learning why things are the way they are. Every process, every relationship, every ritual in your company exists for a reason, and we want to understand it deeply before touching it.
We invest in people first, processes second.
The best technology and the best processes in the world mean nothing without great people. We develop talent, create growth opportunities, and build a culture where your employees can do their best work.
We make decisions for the long term, not the next quarter.
Our investors are former entrepreneurs and family offices who think in decades, not quarters. Combined with our own capital, we have the freedom to make decisions based on what's right for the business five and ten years from now.
Straight talk, always.
We say what we mean and mean what we say. No jargon, no hidden agendas, no surprises. The relationship between buyer and seller should be built on honesty from the very first conversation.
Learn How We Work
Understanding our acquisition process is the next step. We've made it as transparent as possible, because you deserve to know exactly what to expect.
Learn More About Our Approach