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The principal
David D. Timpson
Thirty years turning owner-run companies into businesses that sell for a premium — and then guiding the sale.
The story
One question, asked for thirty years.
In 1994, David founded Management System Improvements, LLC on a single conviction: most owner-operated businesses are worth far more than anyone has told them — and the gap is almost always one fixable thing, not a hundred small problems.
Over three decades he kept arriving at the same intersection: strategic planning gives an owner a destination, and the Theory of Constraints — pioneered by Eliyahu Goldratt — tells them what to fix next, and in what order. Aimed together at a defined exit number, the two disciplines do something neither does alone: they compound disciplined work into a premium multiple.
The result is The Four-Year Exit Method: find the one thing most limiting the company’s value, fix it in the right order, make the business transferable, and take it to the right buyer — a four-year arc that has turned modest, owner-dependent companies into businesses that sell for many times their starting value.
How David works
Three pillars, in order.
The same sequence behind every engagement — value, the limit, the sale — never out of order.
Know the number
Most owners are handed a value by someone who has never sold a business. The work starts with a defensible read on what your company is truly worth today — and what it could be worth in four years.
Fix the one real limit
Every business is held back by one thing at a time — usually the owner. Find the one real limit, fix it in the right order, and the value of the whole company rises behind it.
Sell it right
A transferable business commands a far higher multiple than an owner-dependent one. When the value is built, the company goes to market and to a closing table on terms that protect what you built.
Practice founded
MSI, LLC, 1994
Focus
Owner-operated companies · $4M–$15M
Disciplines
Strategic Planning × Theory of Constraints
Region
Arizona / Utah + nationwide
Keystone Exit is a practice of Management System Improvements, LLC, est. 1994.
Common questions
About David.
David D. Timpson is the founder and principal advisor of Keystone Exit, a practice of Management System Improvements, LLC (est. 1994). For 30+ years he has helped owner-operated businesses build transferable value and sell for a premium, applying strategic planning and the Theory of Constraints.
No, and David never implies one. He is a practitioner who applies the Theory of Constraints — pioneered by Eliyahu Goldratt — alongside strategic planning across decades of engagements. He attributes the ideas to their originators and lets the track record speak for the application.
David personally guides each engagement. The practice works with a small number of owners at a time precisely so the person with 30 years of judgment is the one in the room — from first diagnosis through the sale.
Start with a conversation
Bring your business to a 30-minute call with David.
No cost, no obligation — understand what’s limiting your value, your timeline, and whether this is the right fit.