Driving Value through True Partnerships
Aurynion founder Michael Guethlein builds every client interaction from the founding values of the company: integrity, prudence, courage and trust. And, perhaps most importantly, respect. This approach affords him and his team the ability to truly understand a client’s issues — from their point of view — to drive functional outcomes that yield maximum value.
Question: Why did you found Aurynion?
Answer: I founded Aurynion in 2012 with the vision of bringing together a network of professionals and business partners who truly understand business needs — from the client’s perspective. I always thought I was an entrepreneur at heart and after working for 15 years at a global management consulting and services company leading and managing projects to support companies in their overall strategic planning, M&A, business analysis, outsourcing and performance optimization, I knew I had the experience to start my own firm.
When the time was right, I founded Aurynion, and I vowed to build this company with one main goal in mind: to truly partner my clients. The name Aurynion means “Positively Charged Guidance.” It consists of two words: “ion,” the positively charged part of an atom; and “auryn,” which traces its roots back to an ancient word meaning “guidance”.
Question: Describe what you mean by “truly partnering.”
Answer: I decided to strike out on my own because I wanted to be able to help clients for the long-term, and the way I could do that was to work on projects in which I knew I could tend to the client’s needs and create real value. Our approach is different because we tap into the client’s resources to help drive projects. We gather people from their teams — with relevant experience — and work with them to create deeper knowledge and expertise and achieve sustainable results.
We act like entrepreneurs and business owners, and we go the extra mile to make every project successful. When we created the company I established four values that we would stand for: integrity, prudence, courage and trust. They are a critical component of our approach and success.
Question: What services does Aurynion provide?
Answer: Aurynion focuses in three primary areas: Business Growth, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Business Optimization. Our business growth practice focuses on achieving sustainable company growth. Our team works with the client to develop a strategic operational foundation with performance measures and actionable plans to realize goals while minimizing risk and effort.
Our M&A practice provides overall strategy, during-the-deal planning and implementation and post-transaction integration to create and increase value for your company through the whole M&A cycle.
Business Optimization helps companies determine what is working and what isn’t working inside their organizations. We identify and recommend improvements and opportunities for consolidation, eliminating redundancies and improving overall efficiency and performance.
Question: What piece of advice would you give to others?
Answer: I try to step into my client’s shoes. I want to understand how someone thinks — from an entrepreneurial perspective. By having that mindset, we are able to achieve the best outcomes because we’re starting from the same place and working toward the same goals. It’s because of this that we are able to provide value and understanding.