About Salt Creek Advisory

Family-owned. Founder-led.
Built for owners like you.

Salt Creek Advisory is a family-owned, Chicago-based investment bank founded in 2026 by brothers Jack and Connor Pitts. We represent lower middle market owners who are selling their businesses, and only owners.

The principals

Jack and Connor grew up close, and starting Salt Creek Advisory together has been one of the better decisions either of them has made. They built this firm around the idea that owners deserve to work directly with the people actually doing the work. We didn’t build Salt Creek Advisory around clever positioning. We built it around the idea that if you treat people well over a long enough time, you don’t need much else.

Why we built the firm around relationships →

Jack Pitts Co-Founder & Principal Leads client relationships and sponsor coverage.

Connor Pitts Co-Founder & Principal Worked on 40+ transactions in corporate development (M&A) at Cadence Education, an early childhood education company.

We come from Chicago (Bears in the fall, Cubs in the summer) and we work with owners everywhere who understand what it means to build something with your hands and your name on the door. Every situation is different: your timeline, your family, your employees, your legacy. We listen first, then help you find a path that makes sense for you. If you want the longer version of where that comes from, Jack wrote about coming home to family and the Midwest.

We trained inside respected institutions and kept what works: the rigor, the discipline, the standards. What we left behind is the bloat. At Salt Creek, the people you meet on the first call are the people who run your deal to close. The senior attention other firms reserve for their largest clients is simply how every engagement here works.

Firm at a glance

Legal name: Salt Creek Advisory LLC
Founded: 2026, in Chicago, Illinois
Principals: Jack Pitts and Connor Pitts, brothers and co-founders
Services: Sell-side M&A advisory. We represent owners only and do not take buy-side mandates.
Client size: Privately held companies with $2M–$75M in revenue, roughly $500K–$5M in EBITDA
Sectors: Early childhood education, business services, industrials, MSP and IT services, and dog daycare and pet care
Fees: Success fee, paid by the owner when the transaction closes. No retainer and no monthly fees. Some engagements start with a small deposit, credited against the fee at closing. Never a fee from a buyer.
Regulatory status: Not a broker-dealer registered with FINRA or the SEC, and not a registered investment adviser. To the extent applicable, M&A engagements rely on the M&A broker exemption at Section 15(b)(13) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Reach: Midwestern roots, national reach

Family-Owned

Salt Creek was founded by two brothers. There is no outside investor, no institutional backer, no one to answer to but you. We wrote about why we built the firm around relationships rather than deal volume.

Sell-Side Only

We represent owners selling their companies, and nothing else. We never take a buyer’s mandate, so there is never a question of whose side we are on. Selling businesses is our entire business, and we want to be the best at it.

Honest Advice

We will tell you if the deal doesn't make sense. We are not here to push a transaction. We are here to help you make the right call for your business and your family.

Lower Middle Market

Privately held businesses with revenues between $2M and $75M. Our deepest experience is in preschools and early childhood education, with more than 40 transactions Connor worked from inside a national acquirer. We also bring experience in business services and industrials. Midwestern roots, national reach.

Where our experience comes from

Private equity: Jack worked at Blue Wolf Capital and Kingfish Capital.
Investment banking: Jack worked at ButcherJoseph & Co. Connor was an analyst at Brown Gibbons Lang & Company in Chicago.
Corporate development: Connor worked in M&A at Cadence Education and EyeCare Partners. Across two stints at Cadence, he worked on more than 40 early childhood education transactions on the buyer’s side.
Senior advisors: Experienced operators and bankers.

Former employers are named for background only. No affiliation is implied.

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