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Build readiness
Build readiness
Most owners arrive here with some kind of destination in mind, but when you hold that future up against the business as it actually is (not as you'd like it to be) the gap is uncomfortable. The truth is, it just can't keep up with your hopes and dreams as they evolve and adapt.
The longer that gap stays unaddressed, the further your succession drifts from reach.
Even if there's alignment between what you want and what the business can enable — it still might not be viable.
Will the deal actually work? The value, the structure, the multiples — getting honest about commercial reality early is what separates a plan from a pipe dream.
Without this, the trade sale won't happen. The investor loses interest. The team can't fund the MBO. The EOT payback never completes.
Most owners overestimate the value of their business,
and underestimate the work required to realise it
What a business is worth to you and what it's worth to others are completely different calculations.
You're valuing the years, the relationships, the potential. They're valuing the risk. And right now there's probably more risk in the business than you'd like to admit. That key account you manage personally? It could be suppressing your valuation by around 25%.
A business that looks and sounds like everyone else is hard to grow, hard to sell, hard to transition and hard to value.
Fewer retained relationships. Shorter client tenures. AI decimating the billable hour. The agency model that worked five years ago is under real pressure — and whoever takes over needs to believe it has a future in that landscape.
Roughly half of all M&A deals come from an unexpected approach.
So even if you're not selling, build a buyable business and you have options when the moment arrives. The more options you have, the more leverage you have, and the more leverage you have, the more value you hold.
a complimentThe business runs on you. It was built that way.
Deliberately, at first — your relationships, your reputation, your standards. Then by habit. Then by necessity. And now it's the thing that makes leaving complicated, makes the business hard to value, and makes every succession route more nuanced than it needs to be.
Prime the business by confronting the changes, conditions and new capabilities necessary for your chosen future to become real.
Founder dependency, leadership depth, team structure, positioning, client mix, performance, lead generation and IP — I'll address the value levers that make you scalable, investable, sellable — or maybe even keepable.
£2,500
Translate your succession plan into a prioritised action map — surface every big move required, sequence them clearly, and build high-level plans you can execute against.
£2,000 PQ
Things change. People, performance, priorities, markets — and sometimes your own conviction. Four times a year I get back in the room to be honest about what's moved, what hasn't and what's been quietly avoided. Feet to the fire, until it's done.
£ POA
When the time comes to bring in technical specialists — M&A advisors, EOT lawyers, financial partners — I'll help you find and onboard the right people to make sure they hit the ground running.
30 days. Full access. No limits.
