Stone Hammer Capital

Stone Hammer Capital

Stone Hammer Capital is a Minneapolis-based advisory firm founded by Zenas Hutcheson III and Michael Kline. Each managing director arrived with a resume built in operating roles — Kline as a CEO for three technology companies and Hutcheson as a co-managing partner at St. Paul Venture Capital. Their advisory practice draws on that dual background of building companies and advising boards. The firm advises technology company boards, management teams, and investors on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alternatives. It focuses on the entire M&A lifecycle: preparation, buyer outreach, negotiation, and close. The team's experience spans venture capital (Rally Ventures, Vesbridge Partners), interim C-suite roles (SaltDNA, AudtiComply, TA Labs), and direct operations. Geography is weighted toward the Midwest technology corridor, with principals who have invested and operated across enterprise software, networking, and industrial automation. Stone Hammer Capital lists two managing directors and a footprint at 100 Washington Avenue South in Minneapolis. The firm has not disclosed total transaction volume or deal count. No adjacent funds, philanthropic vehicles, or club co-investment structures are public. Kline also operates Kline Capital, a personal investment entity described as president and founder, and holds venture partner roles at Rally Ventures and Vesbridge Partners. The firm's telephone and email point to a lean, partnership-driven model that relies on the principals' Rolodex rather than a large analyst team. Structurally, Stone Hammer Capital differs from the typical family office or committed-capital investor. It does not invest a balance sheet — it sells companies. That pure advisory model, staffed by former operators and VCs, makes it a sell-side boutique that competes on sector fluency rather than capital deployment. Succession is not addressed publicly; the two managing directors represent the totality of named leadership.