Families come to us when the next stage of the business depends on someone other than the owner running it: a first managing director from outside the family, experienced directors alongside the next generation, or a team in place before a sale. We find those people confidentially and help you hand over to them.
In most family and founder-owned businesses, the value sits in the same place as the risk: one person. The owner quotes the difficult jobs, holds the key accounts, signs off the technical decisions and knows why the business does things the way it does.
That works until the owner wants to slow down, falls ill, or wants to hand over. Staff and customers are used to one person making the call. If a sale is planned, a buyer sees the same thing and prices it in, through a lower multiple, a heavier earn-out or a longer tie-in.
The answer is a person: a credible senior leader, in post long enough to have a track record, running the business while the owner steps back. That is the appointment we are built to make.
Rarely all four, and rarely in the order people expect. The right sequence depends on what the owner personally holds today.
A chief executive from outside the family who holds the customer relationships, the P&L and the decisions the owner used to make personally. Staff and customers need to see that person as the one in charge, which takes a clear handover and time.
The business runs without the family in the building, which matters to staff, customers and any future buyer.
Often the first appointment rather than the last. Where the owner is the operational centre of a plant, depot or field team, a COO releases them fastest and creates the space for a CEO handover later.
Takes the owner out of daily firefighting, so their time goes on the decisions only they can make.
Family businesses are frequently run on instinct and a good accountant. A commercial FD builds management information a buyer can underwrite, cleans up what diligence will find, and sits beside the owner through the process.
Numbers, controls and forecasts that the family, the bank and any buyer can rely on.
Many family boards are made up of family members only. An independent non-executive or chair brings experience of other businesses and helps the family keep ownership decisions separate from day-to-day management. It is often the first appointment, because it can be made while the owner is still fully in charge.
Outside judgement on the board, and support for a new MD or a family successor.
Anonymised. These searches are confidential, so we do not name clients or give figures.
Appointed an external chief executive to take over from the owning family in preparation for a trade sale. The family moved to non-executive roles.
Hired the company's first finance director to build a finance function capable of handling buyer due diligence.
The appointment needs a full trading year behind it before a buyer will credit it. If no sale is planned, the same steps apply without the deadline.
Work out what the owner personally holds and which appointment releases the most. Agree a sequence — usually one hire now, one later — against the intended exit date.
Run the search confidentially and get the successor in seat. The appointment needs a full trading year before a buyer looks at it, so this is the step that dictates the timetable.
Decision rights transfer on a schedule. Customers and staff meet the successor as the person in charge, not as the owner's deputy. The owner starts genuinely stepping back.
A trading period with the successor running the business and the numbers to show it. Advisors take a business to market that already works without its founder.
Starting later than this is still worth doing. It simply changes what the appointment can prove by the time the business goes to market — and that is a conversation worth having honestly before you commit to a search.
What the family intends for the business changes who you need to hire, and when. We shape the brief around that plan.
Where a son or daughter is taking over, an external COO, finance director or non-executive can carry the experience gap while the family member grows into the role.
Not every owner wants to sell. Some want to move to chair, keep the dividends and stop working weekends. That is a succession search with a different brief and a longer horizon.
An EOT transfers ownership but not capability. The trustees inherit whatever leadership exists on day one, so the successor has to be in place and proven first.
An MBO needs a team that a lender believes in. That often means strengthening the existing management with one external appointment before the deal is fundable.
A trade buyer is buying capability and continuity. They discount for founder dependency, and they ask early who runs the business on day one after completion.
Private equity backs a management team. A credible CEO and a finance director who can report to a board are usually preconditions.
If a sale is the plan, our sister firm Mastella Advisory runs exit planning and M&A for founder-led businesses worth £5M to £50M. Its free Exit Readiness Score shows how a buyer would rate the business today, including how much of it still depends on you.
Most of our succession work is in manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, engineering, energy and the built environment. Knowing how these businesses work helps us judge which candidates will be credible with staff and customers who have dealt with the owner for years.
Often yes, but not in the top seat. A family successor usually needs experience beside them rather than above them — an external operations or finance director who has done it before, or a non-executive who can challenge and mentor. That is a different and usually easier search than replacing the owner outright.
The right ones actively seek it out, and the reasons are usually autonomy, a real product, and an ownership event they can share in. What loses those candidates is a brief that promises authority and does not deliver it. We test for that in the brief before we go to market, because it is the most common reason a good appointment fails in year one.
Yes. These searches are confidential by default. The role is not advertised, the business is not named in outreach until a candidate is screened and serious, and interviews happen off site. We work to whatever disclosure timetable you set — including keeping it from family members who work in the business, if that is what the situation requires.
Often it helps. A non-executive or chair who has seen leadership changes in other businesses can help the family agree the brief, join the interview panel and support the new MD once they start. It also gives the board an independent voice as ownership and management begin to separate.
Because buyers price risk. If the owner personally holds the customer relationships, the technical knowledge and the decision-making, the buyer is acquiring something that changes materially on completion day — and they price, structure and earn-out accordingly. A business that demonstrably runs without its owner removes that argument before it starts.
As a working rule, in seat and performing for at least twelve months before the business goes to market. Allowing for a three to six month search and a notice period, that means starting the conversation around two years out. Later than that is still worth doing — it just narrows what the appointment can prove.
Succession appointments at this level are retained: a phased fee across the search rather than a contingent placement fee. We will tell you honestly if a search does not warrant a retained model, and we will decline work we do not think we can deliver.
Regularly. Hiring is one workstream in an exit process, and it goes better when the search timetable, the diligence timetable and the deal timetable are planned together. We are comfortable working as part of that group. If you do not yet have an M&A adviser, our sister company Mastella Advisory provides M&A advice.
Appointing the first CEO from outside the family: what the family must settle first, the board around the role, where candidates come from and why it fails.
How buyers price key-person risk in founder-led businesses, what they test in diligence, and the senior hires that reduce the discount before a sale.
What a sale asks of the finance function, where due diligence finds the gaps, and when to hire a financial controller, a finance director or a part-time FD.
What to decide before recruiting an MD for an owner-led business: the scope of the handover, internal versus external, equity, and timing against an exit.
In an EOT sale the founder is paid from future profits, so the leadership team left behind matters. The hires, governance and timing to plan for.
Stepping back, handing over to the next generation or preparing for a sale: tell us where you are and we will give you a straight answer on what is achievable in the time you have.