Founder-led acquisitions carry huge potential, and a greater risk.
When the founder's know-how leaves, EBITDA follows. We find that knowledge, secure it, and design the handover, in short, focused engagements.
Identify the risks →Who we are
We're founders who have seen these transitions go wrong.
We started as founders, so we know what it is to hand over something you built. We have watched the people who made a company succeed go quiet, customers drift away, and years of judgment that no one wrote down walk out the door. Because we know the founder mentality, the people who built the business open up to us, and we know what a new owner needs to say to keep them engaged. A free 30-minute call walks you through where founder knowledge is exposed in your companies, and how to handle it.
See our services →Where EBITDA leaks
Four causes behind the decline in founder-led companies
The damage starts in the first months after a change. It shows up in the numbers months later, and by then nobody connects the two.
Key employees quietly leave
Retention bonuses keep the body, not the relationships. People loyal to the founder decide privately whether to stay, and resignations cluster around month fourteen.
Founder-loyal vs. company-loyal →The founder-to-CEO change is scheduled, not designed
On paper it ends the day the new CEO starts. In reality nothing has transferred, and decision speed, informal authority and customer relationships break first.
The first year under a hired CEO →Founder intelligence walks out
Fifteen to twenty years of judgment on which customers matter and what works. It fades when the founder moves to an advisory title and the questions stop.
What is founder intelligence? →The founder disengages
After the sale comes purposelessness, and watching new owners repeat old mistakes with no room to speak. A disengaged founder takes their knowledge with them.
What nobody tells you about the day after →What we do
Short, focused engagements on one problem at a time
Founder-Led Integration Framework
An integration plan built for a founder-led business, not an institutional one.
CEO / Founder Transition Design
The handover plan that has to exist before the new CEO starts.
Founder Trust Building
Keep the founder, and the people around them, engaged through the change.
Company Gap Analysis: Formal vs. Real
The org chart and processes on paper, versus how the company actually runs.
How we work
Short, hard work. Then we leave you a company that runs.
Step 1
Discovery call
A free 30-minute call. We walk you through the questions behind each engagement and how to handle them.
Step 2
Focused engagement
Short, senior-only work on one topic at a time. Fixed scope, no retainer.
Step 3
Handover
A clear plan your team owns, so the work holds after we step away.
Are your portfolio companies at risk?
A free 30-minute call. We walk you through the questions behind each engagement and how to handle them, so you know where to look first.
Newsletter
The Post-Merger Insider
One insight, one mistake, one checklist every week, on founder-led businesses.