We are a search firm built around one problem: finding the senior leader who takes over the running of a family or founder-owned business — so the owner can transition out on their own terms, at their own pace, without the business losing a step.
In a business built by its owner, the owner is usually the commercial director, the person who knows how the operation works, the final escalation point, and the relationship behind the top three accounts. Very little of that is written down, and less of it is delegated.
That works, right up until the owner wants to slow down, sell, or simply take a month off. At that point the concentration of knowledge that built the business becomes the thing that caps its value and holds the person who built it in place.
Succession recruitment is the work of replacing that concentration with a structure: a successor with the authority, credibility and support to run the business, and a handover that transfers the decisions rather than just the job title.
Which one comes first depends on what the owner personally holds. Most transitions need two of these over a two to three year period — rarely all four, and rarely in the order people expect.
The appointment that makes everything else possible. Someone who can hold the P&L, carry the customer relationships the owner personally owns, and make the decisions the owner would have made — without the owner in the room.
For owners who are still the operational centre of gravity — scheduling, firefighting, supplier relationships, the shop floor. A COO takes the running of the business off the owner first, which is often the fastest route to a genuine step back.
Owner-led businesses are frequently run on judgement rather than reporting. A commercially strong FD or CFO builds the numbers a buyer, bank or board will actually accept — and is often the most valuable single appointment ahead of a sale.
Many family boards are made up of the family alone. An experienced non-executive or independent chair gives the board outside judgement and supports a new MD or a family successor through the handover. It is often the first appointment, because it can be made while the owner is still fully in charge.
Timelines are indicative. The variable is almost never the market — it is how quickly decision rights can be moved across.
We work out what the owner actually does — not the job title, the real load. That becomes the specification. Most owner successions go wrong here, because the role gets written for a hire rather than a handover.
Primary research into people who have already done a version of this: run an owner-led business, taken over from a founder, or stepped up from a strong number two in a comparable environment.
Confidential approaches, structured interviews, and candidate reports that address the thing that matters — whether this person can operate with the owner still present, and then without them.
A structured handover plan, with decision rights transferring on a timetable rather than by drift. Reviews at 90 days and 12 months with both the owner and the successor.
Succession searches stall more often over the owner's readiness, or disagreement in the family, than over the successor's ability. We raise both early: who decides, who the new leader reports to, and how family members already in the business fit in. We will say when we think a business is not ready to hire yet.
Staff, customers, and often family do not know. We run these searches without advertising the role and without naming the business until a candidate is screened and serious.
The question is not only whether someone can run the business, but whether they can run it while the founder is still in the building. Those can be different people. We reference specifically for it.
We advise on the shape of the appointment — notice, incentive, equity expectations, board reporting — because a successor on the wrong structure leaves inside two years and the owner is back where they started.
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.
Recruited a managing director so the founder could step back from the day-to-day running of the business ahead of a transition to employee ownership.
Hired the company's first finance director to build a finance function capable of handling buyer due diligence.
Appointed a chief operating officer to take operations over from the founder, reducing key-person dependency before an investment process.
Earlier than most expect. If the intention is to sell, a successor should ideally be in seat and performing for at least twelve months before a buyer looks closely at the business, which means starting eighteen to thirty-six months out. If the intention is simply to step back, the constraint is the handover, which typically takes six to twelve months after the hire.
Both, depending on the mandate. Some owners want out entirely; others want to move to a chair or non-executive role and keep the equity. The search is materially different in each case, and we shape the brief accordingly.
Yes, and most of these searches are confidential. The role is never advertised, the business is not named in outreach until a candidate is screened and serious, and we work to whatever disclosure timetable the owner sets with their staff, family and advisors.
Sometimes it should, and we will say so. Where there is an internal candidate, we can benchmark them against the external market so the decision is made on evidence rather than loyalty — and support their development into the role instead of running a full search.
Willingly. Where a business is preparing for a sale we work with the corporate finance advisor, accountant or private equity sponsor so the hiring plan supports the deal timetable rather than cutting across it.
Yes. A first independent non-executive or chair is often the right place to start, particularly where the board is made up of family members only. We run these searches in the same way as executive appointments, and they can run alongside a search for a managing director or finance director.
Most of our work is with established family and founder-owned businesses in manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, engineering, energy and renewables, and the built environment. In many of them the owner is both the commercial lead and the person who knows how the operation really works, so a successor has to be credible on both.
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.
For an owner stepping back, the first senior hire is usually a COO or an MD. How to tell which the business needs, and what goes wrong with each.
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.
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.
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.
A short, confidential call with the person who would run the search. No obligation, and nothing leaves the conversation.