I would like to talk through you mentoring me. I’m ready to expand my photography business nationwide and will need help brokering the business for acquisition.

I 100% respect your retirement: Your time commitment would be one hour per month for 2025 and then TBD for acquisition (late 2026)

You’d be 10% revenue share on all sessions and then 25% of acquisition.

Pilot: From January to July 12 Corporate Portrait has completed 62 sessions (Omaha and Lincoln, NE.)

YTD revenue is $123,500. After paying photographers and expenses, EBITDA is approximately $49,400, reflecting a 40% margin.

I have inroads at several national brands for headshot sessions and an inside track for acquisition.

To ramp up I want to recruit VHT photographers. My photographer pitch is a transparent 50/50 revenue share and market exclusivity. If you agreed to take me under your wing this is my pitch to your photographers: 

>> Click here for my photographer pitch.

Apollo Global Management, Inc > Shutterfly > Lifetouch

Apollo is the world’s 23rd largest investment firm ($548 billion/Fortune #163). Apollo acquired Shutterfly (annual revenue was $2.2B.) Lifetouch photography is under their umbrella.

Shutterfly Business Solutions

Founded in 2008, Shutterfly Business Solutions (SBS) serves large enterprise clients, with $350M revenue in 2024 and $437.5M projected for 2025. They build automated systems that connect CRMs, intranets, databases, and marketing tools, using custom APIs to drive targeted communications and streamline customer and employee engagement.

My friend (C-suite) at SBS has repeatedly tried to partner with sister company Lifetouch for headshots, but politics, culture, and “Sacred Cow” thinking have left him frustrated. Lifetouch’s current corporate offer is sending people to a JCPenney mall studio. This is retail masquerading as B2B.

David is under a clear mandate from Apollo: expand SBS’s enterprise value by investing in distribution technology that automates, personalizes, and scales client engagement. (I’ll give you one guess why he’s been given this direction – LOL.)

Acquisition

I am designing this from the word go to sell Corporate Portrait for $3M before September 2026.

Here’s the playbook I’m following, shaped by conversations with Apollo and Shutterfly Business Solutions:

• Team & Talent → Build a national team of certified photographers
• Systems & Process → Put the right tools and workflows in place to support them
• Enterprise Clients → Win big logos and expand into multi-location deals
• Data & Delivery → Handle client assets securely and consistently, at scale
• Financials → Keep the business clean, profitable, and ready for due diligence
• Strategic Fit → Make sure we’re positioned as an obvious bolt-on for the buyer

Bottom Line

Now more than ever, in the age of the algorithm, headshots matter. You can automate a lot but you can’t automate human connection. A great headshot takes a real person working with a real person, creating something no app or AI can replicate.

Photographers will love this because it brings them steady, meaningful work with premium clients. No more chasing small jobs or racing to the bottom.

Clients will love this because it gives them one seamless, reliable, nationwide solution for professional employee photography. No more piecing together local photographers or juggling inconsistent results.

And most important, the people we photograph will love it because they’ll finally have a headshot they actually like.

Fortune 500 Inroads

CAT(#64/112,900), US Bancorp (#105/70,300), Union Pacific (#177/32,400), Peter Kiewit (#247/31,800), Principal Financial (#263/19,700), Mutual of Omaha Insurance (#299/6,500), 

Property Management Inroads: Regus Workspace and Cushman & Wakefield. Note: 11 of our 62 sessions were “hosting” sessions. We set up in either the lobby or an office and the property manager underwrote headshots for their tenants.