For owners · Legacy
You built it. Let's protect it, and give you back your time.
Most owners we meet have made the money. What they haven't got is time. Every fire, every big deal and every hard call still finds its way to them. We put in somebody to carry that, so the business keeps its name, its people and its direction, and you choose when to step in.
Thinking about growing faster instead? That's a different conversation.
Why we exist
Big money is good at money. It is not good at founders.
Private equity is built for the quickest, biggest return. If that costs a legacy, that is a price it is willing to pay.
That is not a criticism. It does what it is designed to do. It is simply the wrong instrument for a founder who wants the business, the name and the people to come through intact.
We put our own money in, beside the person running it, and take the same risk you took. Protecting what you built is the point, not a side effect.
What we look for
Established, profitable, and built by somebody who has done the hard part.
The hard part is getting it to work. We have done that several times ourselves, which is why we know what the next stage needs.
- A real track record
- Established and profitable, with numbers you can show us through good years and bad. We are not a rescue fund and we don't back ideas.
- Owned by the people who built it
- A founder, a family, or a small group of working shareholders. The people who carried the risk.
- An owner who wants time back
- The business is in good shape and you would like your time back. There may be nobody obvious inside to take the day-to-day, or somebody who could, given backing and time you have never had to give them.
- Any sector, anywhere
- We have built and run engineering, environmental technology, manufacturing and services businesses on six continents. If we can understand how yours makes money in one meeting, that is usually enough.
- Not for us
- Pre-revenue ventures and property. If it isn't for us, you'll hear that in the first hour.
How it works
Four steps, and you set the pace of every one.
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01
An hour
In confidence, with one of the three of us, exploring the options. Not a sales pitch. No NDA is needed, and we'll sign one if you'd rather.
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02
A written review of the business
A few weeks on the floor, not a forty-page questionnaire. At the end you get a written report: an objective view of the accounts and the operation, where the margin goes, where the cost sits, and a short list of what we would change first. It is yours to keep, whatever you decide.
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03
Options, in writing
From a leader who takes the day-to-day off you while you stay in charge, to a handover over a few years, to a sale now or later. With the working shown, and your own adviser welcome to check it.
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04
At your pace
Most owners start by handing over the day-to-day and step back as and when they want to. Nothing happens until it is written down and you are happy with it.
Your time back
Somebody who thinks like an owner, because they are one.
At the moment you are the person the phone rings for. We put in a leader who carries that, with a guaranteed share of the value they create, so they run it like it is theirs.
You choose where you stay involved: the big decisions, the customers you love, or none of it. The rest of the time is yours, for family, for grandchildren, for whatever you have been putting off for twenty years.
Sometimes the right person is already working for you and has never had the backing, or the time, to show it. If so, we would like to meet them.
To be clear
What we are not.
- Not a fund with a five-year clock
- If we invest, there is no date by which we have to sell. If the business is good, we would rather own it than trade it.
- Not a trade buyer
- Nobody is folding your business into theirs or moving the jobs to a head office. It keeps its name, its people and its own leader.
- Not a spreadsheet exercise
- Three of us, all of whom have built and run businesses, with our own money in it.
Before you ask
The questions owners ask first.
Do I have to step back?
No. Most owners start by handing over the day-to-day and stay as involved as they want. Some ease out over a few years, some stay for good, and a few want to be gone quickly. All of it works.
What if I want to hand it to my own family?
Then that is the better answer, and we can help you get there: the structure, plus coaching and mentoring for the next generation. Just as important, with the day-to-day off your desk, you will have the time to mentor them yourself.
What happens to my staff?
They are usually the reason the business is worth anything. Nothing changes for them unless you want it to. There is no head office to move jobs to and no roll-up to fold them into.
How do you value the business?
Openly, with the working shown, and independently if you would prefer. Before any number, you get our written review of the business, and that is yours whatever you decide.
How long does it take?
The first conversation is an hour. The written review takes a few weeks. Anything more is months, not years, and moves at your pace.
Who will I actually deal with?
One of the three founders, throughout. Nobody gets handed to a junior, because there aren't any.
Will anyone know we have spoken?
No. It stays between you and the three of us. We have run confidential processes from the inside for years at a time, and we know how to keep them that way.
Start with an hour.
In confidence, with no obligation on either side. If it isn't for us, we'll tell you why in that first hour.