ABOUT PAULSON EXCHANGE

Real people. Real businesses. Real transitions.

Paulson Exchange helps privately held business owners navigate one of the biggest transitions they’ll ever make: handing their business to its next owner. We work with owners and buyers throughout Washington and Idaho, helping them understand value, prepare for a transaction, find the right fit, and get the deal across the finish line.

Our approach is pretty simple: Be straightforward. Do the work. Treat people fairly.

Experience with businesses like yours.

Our team has helped guide more than 140 small businesses through ownership transitions, across a surprisingly wide range of industries. That includes businesses such as:

Manufacturing & machine shops
Home services & building trades
Retail & specialty products
Pet businesses
Food, coffee & hospitality
Professional and local services
And plenty of businesses that don’t fit neatly into a category

Every business is different. That’s part of what we like about this work.

Meet Kris Fuehr

Founder | Business Broker | Commercial Real Estate Broker

Kris founded Paulson Exchange to help privately held business owners move from one chapter to the next without turning the process into something unnecessarily complicated or impersonal. Her work focuses on helping owners understand what they’ve built, prepare businesses for transition, find qualified buyers, and work through the details that get a transaction to closing.

Kris also teaches Pitching and Persuasion as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga University, giving her the opportunity to work with the next generation of entrepreneurs as they learn how to communicate ideas, gain support, and build businesses.

What you can expect from Kris:
Expertise, understanding, practical advice.

Meet Josh Allison

Business Broker | Commercial Real Estate

Josh brings a background in B2B sales, corporate consulting, business development, and commercial real estate.

Before joining Paulson Exchange, his work included commercial real estate roles with Daines Capital and NAI Black, along with consulting and business-development experience in the credit-union industry.

At Paulson Exchange, Josh works with business owners and buyers to evaluate opportunities, structure transactions, and move deals toward closing with an incredible passion for outreach, phone calls, and efficiency.

What you can expect from Josh:
Practical thinking, focus on getting things done, and a willingness to say what he actually thinks.

Why “Paulson”?

Paulson Exchange is named for Kris’s grandparents, Floyd and Lucille Paulson. For decades, Floyd Paulson sold farm machinery in Northwestern Minnesota. But according to the family story, selling equipment wasn’t really the point.

He knew the farmers.

He knew their land.

He paid attention to how their crops were doing.

And when someone needed help, he tried to help them do better — sometimes with equipment, sometimes with information, and sometimes simply by knowing what was going on in their business.

The Paulson name represents something we still believe in:

Know the people. Understand the business. Add real value.

No fancy philosophy required.

Business transitions are about people.

A seller may be thinking about retirement. A buyer may be making the biggest financial decision of their life. Employees may be wondering what happens next. Families may have years of work and identity tied up in the business. The numbers matter, but so do the people.

That’s why we try to approach every transaction with the same combination of practicality, honesty, and care.