Business Succession
Most family businesses do not survive the second generation \u2014 not because the numbers fail, but because the family conversation never happened. We help founders plan the transition while there is still time to do it well.
Overview
Every successful business owner eventually faces the same questions. Who runs it next? Who owns it? Who buys out whom? What about the children who are not involved? What if you become unable to make decisions? And what do you actually want the next chapter of your own life to look like?
These conversations cannot be delegated to accountants or M&A advisers. They must be led — gently, structurally, in the right order, by someone the whole family trusts.
Where We Help
Plan your own next chapter — not just the business handover.
Preparing the next generation to lead, or to step aside gracefully.
Readiness for trade sale, MBO, ESOP or generational transfer.
What happens to the business if something happens to you tomorrow.
Facilitated meetings that surface the conversations no one wants to start.
Working with your accountant, lawyer and corporate adviser as one team.
The most common failures are silence (founders never communicate intent), unfairness (assumptions about who deserves what), tax surprises (no early structuring), and timing (planning starts the year of the exit, not the decade before).
We begin by mapping the business, the family, and the founder's own ambitions for the next chapter. We facilitate the family conversations that need to happen. Then we coordinate the legal, tax and corporate work with your existing advisers — making sure every workstream serves a single, coherent plan.
The right time is five to ten years before you intend to step back. The next-best time is now. Either way, the cost of starting late is almost always greater than the cost of starting early.
Common Questions
Your accountant and lawyer execute decisions. We help you and your family make them — in the right order, with full information, and as a coordinated plan rather than a series of disconnected transactions.
Most of our family-business clients have annual revenue between $5M and $100M, with one to three operating entities and a founder or founding family still actively involved.
An initial blueprint typically takes three to six months. The full transition itself usually runs three to ten years, with us alongside as coordinator.
Next Step
A private consultation to map your business, your family and the next chapter.
Book a Private Consultation