After working in New York City for 10 years, Amy Cross and her first business partner launched StillPoint Capital LLC as an industry-wide solution to conducting privately held M&A securities transactions without having to own your own securities firm.
We were told by our regulator, FINRA, that it could not be accomplished, and it could never be approved, as countless securities attorneys and consultants also told us the same, said Cross. Choosing to turn the negative feedback into motivation, and after many significant setbacks, we were able to manage each obstacle in our path to success.
The firm ultimately created an impossible to achieve niche in the securities industry as the first FINRA-approved broker-dealer of its kind. StillPoint Capital LLC is the leading independent investment bank conducting M&A and private placements in the middle market.
Under Cross leadership, StillPoint has paved the way to allow independent investment bankers to support their clients and conduct their securities transactions in full compliance as it continues to grow and evolve in the same niche today. It has also paved the way for an entire market of competing firms and service providers that serve the newly found niche and its developing demographic. The firm has grown in multiples over many years from pre-revenue at inception to a high of more than $62 million in annual revenue.
Amys passion for M&A and capital raises began while she was still in New York City when she raised $30 million for a personal project in Manhattan, said her staff. It was a variety of experiences that inspired her desire to create a supportive and ethical securities firm where bankers and clients would always be treated with respect, transparency and honesty.
StillPoint Capital was a startup venture that has risen to become one of the top 200 largest privately held companies in the Tampa Bay area as well as the 5th largest women-owned privately held company per the Tampa Bay Business Journal (TBBJ) for many years running. The firm has been awarded the TBBJs fast 50 award, was twice named on the Inc. 5,000 fastest growing businesses list, and has continued to be awarded many with designations and awards by various trade groups and networking organizations nationwide.
Cross has been honored twice with the business women of the year award in the Tampa Bay area and has held positions on local and national boards.
As a leader, she said she strives to see true disposition and personality in everyone she meets. I find the metaphor, Being the Buffalo to be a powerful mindset of successful leaders where they face situations head-on while strengthening their resistance and forging new opportunities, said Cross.
