NorthStar team adds advisory service

In the better part of a decade together, the team at NorthStar Investors in Reno has financed startups, bought and sold existing companies and counseled innumerable owners and investors.

The company now has launched NorthStar Business Source as a vehicle to put that experience to use by growth companies, says Chris Howard, president and chief executive officer.

Experienced counsel, he says, often is more important than money to entrepreneurs who are growing a company.

Services provided by NorthStar Business Source, he says, range from strategic business planning to operational oversight. The company also provides representation in mergers and acquisitions.

Among the company's areas of expertise is negotiation of contracts for offshore manufacturing.

"That's a trickier process than people think it is," Howard says.

NorthStar Investors, the parent company of NorthStar Business Source, was founded in 2002 by Stuart Feigin, who was one of the first employees of Oracle; Howard, a veteran venture capitalist and business advisor; and Randolph Townsend, a businessman and state senator.

The company was an early investor in Alere Medical in Reno, bought and sold Veterinary Ventures; continues to own manufacturers Glacier Outdoor and ModaPet; and launched business advisory and litigation support firms.

Howard says NorthStar Business Source represents a return to his roots in Howard Consulting Group, a company he launched in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1984.

Between then and now, Howard says, he's learned much about what growing companies need and when they need it.