About
Dave and Ann Marie Weaver are independent franchise advisors based in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Between them they have underwritten franchise systems for lenders, bought and run franchises of their own, and spent years helping other people work out whether to do the same.
Dave grew up in Indiana in a house where both parents ran businesses, which is where he picked up a plain view of what owning one costs and what it gives back. He decided at thirteen that he would own a business himself, and worked out that he would need to understand four things first: sales, project management, operations and finance. Then he went and got each one.
He started at General Electric running program sales processes, moved into project management at a large manufacturer, and was eventually called back to help the family business through a hard stretch. He found it a buyer.
He came into franchising in 2005, underwriting franchise loans for a non-bank lender. That meant judging whether the fit between a franchisor, a franchisee and a finance company was sound enough to lend against, several thousand times over. When the credit markets collapsed in 2008 the lending business came under real strain, and he spent much of the following stretch evaluating businesses to buy rather than businesses to finance.
In October 2010 he began advising candidates through FranChoice, and bought a bar the same year. The bar was a poor investment and he has been candid about why. It is part of why he is careful about partners, about due diligence, and about telling people what a bad deal actually looks like from the inside.
In 2013 he and Ann Marie married and bought two Elements Massage studios, in Littleton and Highlands Ranch. They rebuilt how those ran when the brand's support fell short, and sold the business four years later. From 2021 to 2023 he was one of three partners in an area developer agreement for EarthWise Pet, covering eleven stores across California between Los Angeles and San Diego. That one did not go well, which he will tell you about if you ask.
So when he tells you what the first year of ownership feels like, or what a partnership looks like when it stops working, he is not repeating something he read.
He has written that experience up as The Franchise Framework: Distinctive Strategies of Successful Franchise Owners, out now. The line he opens with is the one that governs how he works: I want to make you an educated buyer, not a sale.
Both he and Ann Marie have earned the FranChoice Honor Roll, awarded each year at the national conference to the top handful of consultants in the country. They are also both shareholders in FranChoice, which is disclosed on thehow it works page alongside how they are paid.
Dave lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado with his family and spends as much of the year outside as the seasons allow: camping in summer, mountain biking in spring, hunting in autumn, and skiing as many days as he can get away with.
Ann Marie Weaver grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana, where business was part of family life. Her family’s office and art supply company began in 1929, and her parents bought it outright while still in their twenties. At the dinner table, conversations often turned to risk, vision, and the decisions that come with building a business. What began as a struggle grew into one of Northwest Indiana’s largest employers.
After college, Ann Marie joined the family business and learned alongside her father. Selling copiers in the steel mills wasn’t glamorous, but it taught her lessons she still draws on today. Her father’s service in the U.S. Marine Corps also shaped the family’s approach to leadership, resilience, and pushing through challenges. Eventually, her parents sold the business and retired in their early fifties.
Ann Marie then moved into corporate America, spending nearly 20 years in software sales focused on payroll and HR technology. She worked with thousands of business owners and built a successful career, but the pull toward entrepreneurship never went away.
In 2011, she began exploring franchise ownership as a candidate herself. She went through the FranChoice process and purchased multiple locations of a national health and spa franchise. She has since built, operated, and sold businesses of her own. That experience gives her a personal understanding of the questions, excitement, and uncertainty her candidates face.
Today, through Weaver Franchise Advisors, Ann Marie helps people explore franchise ownership with clarity and confidence. She starts by getting to know each person: what matters to them, what they hope ownership will make possible, and what kind of role they want to play in a business. Her approach is grounded in education, honest conversation, and firsthand experience.
Ann Marie is a published author, a FranChoice shareholder, and a recipient of the FranChoice Honor Roll, an award presented at its national conference to a small group of top consultants. One of her greatest joys is visiting the franchise owners she has helped and seeing the businesses they’ve built.
Outside of work, Ann Marie and Dave enjoy an active life, whether they’re in the Colorado mountains or spending time in Florida. She also loves cooking, traveling, and being with family, and has supported charities through long-distance running.
“She challenged me to slow down and reflect on what I was really looking for. I never once felt like I was being steered toward a decision for the wrong reasons.”
In the press
Entrepreneur · July 2024
A feature on buying and turning around struggling franchises. It follows Ann Marie and Dave from taking over two existing Elements Massage studios in Littleton in 2013 to selling them, and what inheriting a team of 50 taught them.
By Liz Brody
The name
This practice spent years operating as Franchise Your Freedom. The work has not changed and neither have the people, but the name had a problem: several other franchise consultants use something close to it, and candidates were regularly turning up confused about who they had actually been talking to.
Putting the family name on the door fixes that. There is one Weaver Franchise Advisors, it is Dave and Ann Marie, and you will not confuse us with anybody else.
If you worked with us under the old name, nothing about that relationship has changed. Same phone number, same people, same approach.
You can book with either of us. If you are not sure which, take Dave's slot and we will work it out from there.
A 15-minute conversation, no cost, no obligation. We will tell you honestly whether franchising fits what you are after.
Whichever of us you pick, the call is the same.
