About
I spent 26 years finding what the numbers were hiding
Now I read them forward, for owners who want to know what the business can afford, what it is worth, and what to do next. Before the guess gets expensive.
Mike Laskowski
Founder, 41 Legacy
My Story
A different path into financial strategy.
For 26 years I was a Special Agent with IRS Criminal Investigation. The job was to follow the money: take a stack of financial records, reconstruct what actually happened inside a business, and find the story the numbers were telling when nobody else was reading them closely.
For more than 15 of those years I was also an owner. I have run payroll, hired and lost people, set prices, carried overhead, and watched a good revenue month turn into a tight cash month. I know what it feels like to make a big decision on a gut call because the number you needed did not exist yet.
41 Legacy is where those two sides meet. Most owners in the $1M to $30M range have a bookkeeper keeping the record straight and a CPA handling the taxes. What they do not have is someone reading the numbers forward and telling them what to do about it. That is the seat I fill.
WHAT I BRING TO THE SEAT
Three lenses. Most advisors bring one.
1
The Forensic Lens
Twenty-six years of tracing where money actually goes, not where the report says it went. Margin leaks, cash traps, and patterns that hide in plain sight.
2
The Operator Lens
Fifteen-plus years on the owner side of the desk. Every recommendation gets tested against payroll on Friday, customers who pay late, and a team that has to carry it out.
3
The Value Lens
Trained to see the business the way a buyer, a lender, or a successor will. Every cash flow decision is measured by what it does to what the business is worth.
Credentials
The training behind the work.
Special Agent, IRS Criminal Investigation
26-year career in financial forensics. Retired 2026.
Certified Exit Planning
Advisor (CEPA)
Exit Planning Institute. Value
growth and transition readiness.
Growth Drive Certified
Practitioner
Strategic capacity and business
value analysis.
Degree in Finance
Practitioner
Plus specialized training in
fractional financial leadership.
how i work
A few things I will not do.
I will not hand you a binder. I will not bury you in twenty KPIs. And I will not tell you a decision is safe when the number says otherwise.
"Today's cash flow decisions are tomorrow's enterprise value."
Mike Laskowski, Founder, 41 Legacy
A few things I will not do.
I will not hand you a binder. I will not bury you in twenty KPIs. And I will not tell you a decision is safe when the number says otherwise.
One constraint, not five
Most of the damage usually traces back to one thing. Find it, and the symptoms tend to follow.
Decisions, not documents
The value is in what changes in your business, not in what lands in your inbox.
Stop guessing what the business
can afford.
Thirty minutes, no pitch. A clear look at where the business is, what is limiting it, and whether the CFO seat is the right next move. If it is not, you will hear that too.
41 Legacy LLC provides fractional CFO, financial advisory, and enterprise value services. The scope of each engagement is defined in the client's written agreement. 41 Legacy is not a CPA firm and does not provide audit, review, or other attest services, legal advice, or investment advice. Information on this site is general in nature and is not advice for any specific situation.
© 2026 41 Legacy LLC. All rights reserved.
