Longtime Friendship and Experience Leads Excel Pump and Well, Inc. to New Ownership

Tyler Christofferson and Colton Baertsch’s friendship began in fourth grade; today, they are business partners and co-founders of Excel Pump and Well, Inc. They lead a team that provides services for drilling water wells, setting up water well pump systems, and monitoring groundwater throughout the state of Montana. In 2010, Baertsch started working for what was then Excel Drilling, and Christofferson joined Baertsch in the field two years later. Since then, they have worked all over the country as drilling supervisors.

A series of unexpected events led to an offer for Christofferson and Baertsch to purchase the water well drilling portion of the business. To navigate the purchase process, Christofferson was referred to Prospera by three different people. “I had heard of Prospera over and over, and I just walked into the office one afternoon,” said Christofferson. He has met with Suzi Berget White, Prospera’s Director of Business Development, for twenty hours of no-cost business counseling and attended Prospera’s Power Up course, which helped him develop the business plan and introduced him to the loan officer that financed the business purchase.

Reflecting on his experience Christofferson said, “It was really complicated to get our funding. It was harder than I expected, and it took so long. Prospera’s checklists and their Power Up were the most useful aspect.” With Prospera’s assistance, Christofferson and Baertsch were able to get the funding they needed through a bank, and they continue to meet with Suzi regularly.

“Without Prospera's help, I wouldn't have even known where to start. Writing a ten-page totally detailed business plan would have been tough without their guidance,” said Christofferson.

Now that Christofferson and Baertsch have put the loan application process behind them, they are looking toward a future of business growth. “I feel like we've done really well and we’re definitely excited to see what the future's going to hold and see where we can go. Our number one focus right now is getting everything paid off. Then the sky's the limit,” said Baertsch.