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Practitioner Driven. Principal Led. Results Focused.

323 Ocean provides business advisory for mid-market companies facing growth challenges, transaction opportunities, operational complexity, and leadership development needs. Every engagement connects to building lasting enterprise value. We do not theorize about building companies. We have done it. Five exits, eleven acquisitions, and seventeen years of building shape how we approach your situation.

Advisory That Builds Enterprise Value

We organize around your situation.  Whether you are navigating a crisis, preparing for a transaction, scaling operations, implementing technology, or developing as a leader, the work connects. Operational discipline enables AI implementation. Systems optimization supports exit preparation. Leadership development strengthens culture. The services are distinct but designed to work together.  Every engagement is principal-led. You work directly with Michael Crafton, not junior consultants. Limited engagements ensure the attention your situation requires.

PROVEN RESULTS

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Buy-Side Acquisitions
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Sell-Side Exits
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Projects Completed
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Recognitions & Awards

OUR SERVICES

Six distinct capabilities organized around the challenges mid-market companies face.

Turnaround Execution

Restore distressed companies to operational and financial health through hands-on execution. We implement 13-week cash flow management, optimize working capital, stabilize operations, and rebuild leadership capacity. Principal-led engagements for PE portfolio companies and owner-operators when the stakes are highest.

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Transaction Advisory

M&A advisory for owners who have received offers or identified acquisition targets. LOI analysis, negotiation support, due diligence management, and closing execution. Fifteen completed transactions with experience on both sides of the table. We help you navigate with confidence, whether you are buying or selling, without the conflicts of traditional intermediaries.

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Systems & Process Optimization

The systems that worked at $2M break at $5M and collapse at $10M. We diagnose operational bottlenecks, document processes running on tribal knowledge, integrate disconnected systems, and build infrastructure that scales. The foundation that makes growth sustainable, AI implementation effective, and exit preparation successful. Built from experience scaling to twenty offices.

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AI & Automation

Practical AI implementation using enterprise platforms. Custom AI workspaces, workflow automation, prompt engineering, and intelligent systems that amplify your operation. AI without discipline creates chaos. We build the foundation first, then layer intelligence where it creates real advantage. Results measured in productivity gains, not technology deployed.

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Branding & Go-To-Market

Your brand is not your logo. It is how customers experience doing business with you. We clarify positioning, define ideal customers, and build go-to-market strategies that convert. Not creative execution. Strategic foundation that makes marketing spend productive and sales conversations compelling. The work that precedes effective marketing.

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Leadership Guidance

Gain clarity, strengthen resilience, and navigate complexity with a grounded, intentional mindset. This work helps leaders align with who they are with how they lead, creating meaningful and sustainable growth.

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How Our Services Work Together

Business challenges rarely fit neatly into categories. A company preparing for exit often needs operational optimization to maximize value. A turnaround frequently reveals leadership development needs. AI implementation requires documented processes to automate. 

323 Ocean’s services are designed to work together: 

Foundation → Technology: Systems optimization enables effective AI implementation. You cannot automate undocumented processes. 

Operations → Transaction: Operational discipline and documented processes directly affect exit valuation and due diligence success. 

Leadership → Culture: Culture flows from leadership presence. Leadership development strengthens organizational health. 

Turnaround → Growth: Crisis stabilization creates the foundation for sustainable growth. 

One advisory relationship can address what would otherwise require multiple specialists.

Does This Sound Like You?

"WE ARE IN CRISIS MODE"
Cash is critical. Operations are struggling. The current trajectory is unsustainable.
Turnaround Execution
"WE HAVE A DEAL ON THE TABLE"
You have received an acquisition offer or identified a company to acquire.
Transaction Advisory
"GROWTH IS CREATING CHAOS"
Revenue is up but the business feels harder. Systems that worked before are breaking.
Systems & Process Optimization
"WE WANT TO LEVERAGE AI"
You want AI benefits but recognize implementation requires more than buying software.
Automation & AI
"WE NEED CLEARER POSITIONING"
Your company has evolved but your brand has not kept pace. Marketing generates activity but not results.
Branding & Go-To-Market
"I AM READY FOR DEEPER WORK"
You have achieved success but sense something is missing. Ready for transformation.
Leadership Guidance

Start the Conversation

323 Ocean accepts limited engagements to ensure every client receives principal-led attention. If you recognize your situation in the challenges described above, we welcome the conversation.  Share your situation. We will determine together which services fit and whether there is a mutual fit.

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About Ann

Ann Marie Moorman serves as the operational backbone of 323 Ocean, coordinating complex engagements and ensuring seamless client experiences. With experience spanning financial services and hospitality, she brings exceptional organizational capability and client relationship skills to every project.

Ann Marie manages large-scale initiatives, supports executive operations, and leverages advanced AI technologies to optimize processes and drive strategic initiatives. Her ability to coordinate across multiple workstreams while maintaining attention to detail makes her invaluable to 323 Ocean’s delivery excellence.

She ensures that the practitioner experience Michael brings to strategy translates into flawless execution.

About Michael

Michael Crafton founded 323 Ocean to channel decades of building experience into advisory that helps leaders scale with confidence. He is also CEO of Healthcare Chaos Management (HCM), a fast-growing healthcare revenue-cycle company improving financial performance for provider groups nationwide.

Michael is best known for turning an $800 startup into Nelbud Services Group, one of the nation’s largest fire and life safety companies. Over seventeen years, he expanded from a pickup truck and handwritten invoices to more than twenty offices serving 40,000 customer locations nationwide. He orchestrated five successful exits and led eleven acquisitions, learning what buyers look for and how deals succeed or fail.

When economic shocks arrived, Michael did not retreat. During the 2008 downturn, he automated field operations and secured national contracts that grew revenue while competitors struggled. In 2020, when the pandemic caused 70% attrition, he rebuilt the business model from the ground up. Nine months later, the company posted record earnings.

Michael blends executive discipline with entrepreneurial grit, leveraging AI-driven systems, people-first leadership, and his 4CAP performance framework to build resilient, growth-minded organizations.

Throughout these cycles, Michael held firm to his Employees First, Customers Second philosophy. The counterintuitive approach reduced customer acquisition costs, raised customer lifetime value, and earned seven Top Workplace awards. When you take care of your people, they take care of your customers.

To institutionalize this mindset and address leadership development holistically, Michael created the 4CAP methodology. The framework strengthens leaders across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions, making them Capable, Able, and Prepared for whatever comes next. The methodology emerged not from textbooks but from personal experience, including completing SEALFIT Kokoro, a 50+ hour crucible with retired Navy SEALs, running with the bulls in Pamplona, and the harder internal work of reconciling with the past to become fully present.

Michael currently serves on the boards of Polygon Composites, Freije Engineered Solutions, Lushin and Associates, and YPO Indiana, where he serves as Chapter Chairman. His selection for YPO Learning Year 2024-2025 reflects peer recognition of his commitment to continuous development.

Away from the boardroom, Michael pursues experiences that reinforce resilience and expand perspective. These adventures, from endurance challenges to global exploration, inform how he approaches business: with boldness, preparation, and willingness to step into discomfort.

He holds a B.S. in Business from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and brings a global, adventure-driven perspective to every engagement, grounded in performance, purpose, and high standards.