WorkWise

Financial Transaction Leadership Academy

CEO, CFO or Board Member, you are responsible for the strategic financial transactions that can make or break your business. You may have bankers, lawyers, accountants to advise you, but do you understand how to lead your team to the best outcomes for your stakeholders? Selling your business or division, acquiring another, doing an IPO, restructuring, or more, YOU need to be your deal's leader, not the follower. YOU need to be able to manage your advisors, anticipate the issues and implications, and make informed decisions at every stage. YOU need to know deal context, state-of-play, sound strategy, and tested tactics. Enter Workwise. Workwise provides practical intelligence for deal-makers. Workwise guides you through the deal process with insights derived from the expertise of senior working bankers who have seen it all. Workwise helps you bridge the gaps in your knowledge, accelerate your learning curve, and empower yourself to lead effectively. Workwise gives you clear, concise and comprehensive deal orientations that you need to know to succeed for your stakeholders: no fluff, no jargon, no irrelevant details.You can choose to learn in the way and time that works best for you, such as on-demand video presentations, guided small-group seminars with "office hours," one-on-one coaching, articles, diagrams, and more. Access Workwise anytime, anywhere, on any device - including pinging Workwise's AI bot to answer specific queries exclusively from Workwise's authoritative proprietary data. Workwise helps you achieve your strategic financial goals. Sign up today to access the Workwise trove of practical deal intelligence.
C-SUITE and BOARD DIRECTORS: SELECT YOUR DEAL BELOW

Situational Awareness: A Superpower For Executing Investment Banking Transactions

You Are More Effective Transaction Leader If You Can Anticipate Issues. You Can Anticipate Issues If You Have a Practical Orientation to the Deal. Knowing How The Game Is Played Is A Level Above Knowing The Pieces, The Rules, and the Sequence of Phases. Workwise equips you to understand and anticipate the fundamental elements driving the dynamics of any deal. Senior investment banking transaction managers founded Workwise. They know what you need to know to lead to better stakeholder outcomes. It's practical leadership knowledge above spreadsheet cells and valuation nuance, grounded in the application of deal management principles developed by continuous process improvement by seasoned investment banking transaction managers paid for success. Episodes of Investment Banking Theater when it directly bears on the importance of the point being discussed. Transaction-specific deep dives, served in brief video modules, integrated to give you the big picture - and enjoy it.
Not Ready to Engage with a Transaction-Specific Deep-Dive Course Solution? Join an "Open Office Hours" Q&A Series. Weekly live, open-topic Q&A sessions. Sound good? Press "OPEN OFFICE HOURS SERIES."
open office hours series
Groups organized by transaction role and accountability: C-Suite, Key Employee, Deal Pro (lawyers, accountants, consultants). Sorry, no Entry Level or Student groups yet.
Business (or Division) Sale
The orientation to the business sale that CEOs and executive board directors wish they had BEFORE starting the process.
IPO
The orientation to the IPO that CEOs and executive board directors wish they had BEFORE starting the process.
Restructuring
The orientation to the restructuring that CEOs and executive board directors wish they had BEFORE starting the process.
Acquisition
The orientation to the acquisition that CEOs and executive board directors wish they had BEFORE starting the process.
Fairness Opinion
The orientation to the fairness opinion that CEOs and executive board directors wish they had BEFORE starting the process.
Rights Offering
The orientation to the rights offering that CEOs and executive board directors wish they had BEFORE starting the process.
Michael Kane, Ph.D., J.D.
Creative.Education. Leaders

Our Story

Scores of investment banking transactions executed over three decades at two internationally recognized investment banks and my private investment bank - hundreds of transactions evaluated - thousands of executives interviewed - this is how I know how to orient you to investment banking transactions.
I've seen, and been a part of, fantastic successes and made my fair share of errors. I've paid attention. I have learned what I would want to know if I were you now. I'm bringing to you what I teach business leaders in active transactions to empower them to anticipate, and make, informed decisions for all of their stakeholders.
"I teach my clients in every active investment banking engagement. It's the (second) most rewarding part of my job. I have looked back to find the subject matter I most often repeat in a given transaction and am sharing it with you now - before you become accountable for results. It's information you can use if you are a business leader, and if you are at the beginning of your career, it will help you become a business leader."
Michael Kane
Founder & CEO
  • "Kane has a unique ability to not just spot issues, but to proactively help solve them. When things get challenging – and they will, whether you are going through a sale, IPO or a restructuring – any issue that Kane uncovers will be presented to you with a menu of solutions so that you are empowered to navigate the process in an efficient and informed way."
    ★★★★★
    Michael Moulton
    Managing Partner - Law Firm
    "Mike is like 4 or 5 board members in one person. Finance? Yep. Ops? Yep. Strategy? Yep. He’s seen it all, but if you can come up with some-thing he hasn’t seen before, he can figure it out quickly. Responsive. Responsible. Solution-oriented, positive, and calm in every situation. He’s great in transactions and provides a vantage point that helps you consider many more alternatives than you could by yourself. Mike can find and extract value."
    ★★★★★
    Andy Laats
    Founder, Chairman, CEO - Client Company
    "Kane makes a significant difference in maximizing the value to a client company.... helping foster superior returns to the investors"
    ★★★★★
    Keith Benjamin
    Research Analyst, Technology Investment Bank; Venture Capitalist
  • "Kane teaches an M&A Master Class to everyone involved, if you’re interested in learning (and if you’re not, that’s your loss). He brings a unique blend of experience, process, discipline, creativity and intelligence that you're just not going to get from anybody else. ."
    ★★★★★
    Dan Erickson
    CEO - Client Company
    "Michael Kane has the most experience of any-one you'll likely meet in making successful deals -- an astounding range of business types, busi-ness conditions, and buyers. He knows what's possible, and what is a waste of time...He"s a real chess master for selling companies."
    ★★★★★
    Grant Langston
    CEO - Client Company
    "I have found Michael Kane to be very knowledgeable and competent in evaluating companies to determine optimal equity market value and for preparing companies to execute transactions designed to realize that value"
    ★★★★★
    MIchael Moe
    CEO - Investment Bank