Henry Maksoud Neto
Owner Side Advisor
"To be happy, you must first eliminate two things: the fear of a bad future and the memory of a bad past."Seneca
"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."Marcus Aurelius
"The fundamental algorithm of life: repeat what works."Charlie Munger
My standing comes from
having been in your position.
At the beginning of the restructuring of my company, two lawyers gave me advice I never forgot.
"You need someone to make sure execution flows precisely between all of us. No principal can hold this alone."
"Hand the business to someone. You cannot run a company and fight a crisis at the same time."
Both were right. I chose to do both anyway, and I paid a price. But I know exactly what breaks when a principal carries this without support. What rarely appears in any report is what this costs the person. The owner who carries it alone pays in health, in family, in judgment. The weight does not stay in the office.
That changes when the weight is distributed. Decisions move faster. Negotiations are conducted with more distance and protection. Advisors pull in the same direction. The conditions for better outcomes are created.
You may be living this right now, whether the pressure comes from a sale, an M&A process, a transition with too many moving parts, or a crisis. The work is done, but nothing moves. You hire more help, and each new advisor pulls you a little further from where you need to be. You are not standing still. You are working hard, and still losing ground. That is what I prevent.
For eleven years I was the sole decision-maker and sole person institutionally accountable for Grupo Maksoud, a multigenerational family enterprise with over 50 years of history and more than 600 employees. I navigated R$1.4 billion (USD 250 million) in liabilities across multiple jurisdictions, through family litigation, internal sabotage, a global pandemic, and full divestment. With complete personal legal exposure. Alone.
I did not advise someone through this. I was the principal.
I am currently engaged by a Private Equity firm coordinating the resolution of a divestment in Brazil, blocked by legacy ownership liabilities that came with the assets acquired from a family business. I am aligning the PE investors, the family, and four separate Brazilian law firms, covering tax, corporate and real estate, to restore transaction momentum. It is a precise example of what I do.
Because I am not part of your family or your problem, I see clearly what those inside it cannot. I find the blind spots that hide between advisor mandates. I surface risks before they become costly. I make sure every angle is covered.
I have watched real value disappear, not because the advisors were wrong, but because no one held the full picture on the ownership side. That is why I do this work. I know what that isolation costs. And I know how much it saves when someone is there to prevent it.
Even the best advice is only as useful as your ability to act on it. If that is the bottleneck, I am the person to call.
