Slow Carpenter – Crafting purposeful and enduring company transitions to employee ownership in Oregon

Home

You built your business with intention: laying a solid foundation, cutting and fitting the pieces carefully, smoothing out the rough edges, all while working with others alongside you.

Our transition process is similar: we take time to understand your vision, carefully measure what matters most, and craft a succession plan that bears weight, honors the workers who built beside you, and remains square and true to your mission and values. Like a careful carpenter, we help business owners craft a lasting structure of ownership for their employees.

We specialize exclusively in employee ownership structures. These are solid direct share, cooperative, and purpose trust frameworks that take some time and care to build. We work to preserve your legacy for the direct benefit of your employees so they continue to thrive.

We’re building access to economic opportunity with succession & ownership models that reward the people doing the work.

About

Daniel Stoops, CEPA

Daniel was born and raised in Oregon with a giant appetite for reading the news and understanding how the world works. He studied Politics, then spent his early career in publishing, marketing, and web design.

At 35, he made the leap to entrepreneurship, founding and running two different businesses over the next 17 or so years. After selling his second company in 2022, he found himself at a crossroads: What’s next? The answer pulled him toward non profit work and social impact – a chance to use nearly two decades of hard-won business experience for something bigger than profit.

He spent a couple years at the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC), leading the Conversions practice, working to connect with business owners and helping them explore a possible transition to employee ownership. His work included education, advice and providing council as well as feasibility assessment, deal structuring, and on-going project management. And he has been a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) since January of 2026.

As much as he can, he’s working to expand employee ownership in Oregon. On the weekends, he’s often working on house projects in the 1926 home in SE Portland where he has lived in for over 25 years. (Yes, it was in doing these projects that he started calling himself the Slow Carpenter.) He also enjoys cooking, skiing in the winter, and meeting friends for beers…especially on Friday afternoons.

NOTE: While there are over 20 states with formal, nonprofit, and professionally staffed Centers for Employee Ownership, Oregon does NOT have one…yet. He thought it would be a good idea start Slow Carpenter as sort of early stage, freelance, and often a volunteer version of Oregon’s Center for Employee Ownership. Let’s see where things go…

Clients

We’re looking for to connect with owners who share the following values:

Mission + values alongside valuation. Employees and community guide legacy wishes as much as wanting a good sale price.

Building business with people, not just capital. Companies are not built alone by their owners. Workers should have the opportunity to own what they worked to create.

Community over cash-out. Preserving jobs and positive economic impact for the community the business operates in.

Legacy preservation. After years crafting something meaningful, it should continue on.

Intentional leadership > Intentional Exit. The way to leave matters as much as what was built.

Thinking in years, not quarters. Exit timelines matter less than ensuring the company’s purpose survives the transition.

Contact

Are you an owner, co-owner, or a curious employee of an Oregon company wanting to learn about employee owned and employee centered succession/exit options?

Let’s Talk. We’d Love to Help. Use the form to provide some basic info about yourself, your company and what you’re looking for. We’ll get back to you (1 to 3 business days) to schedule a call or video meeting.