What Are You Exiting To?

It's probably no surprise to anyone, including if this directly involves your own "exit" that the toughest part of an exit strategy is determining what you are personally going to exit to.

In my experience, exiting to the beach, to more time with grandkids, to golf and fishing seldom works. Has it? Yes. I know of cases where it absolutely has. But it looks more like this:

• I'm golfing a lot more, but I'm also making custom clubs.
• I'm fishing a lot more, but I'm also making my own flies.
• I'm spending more time with my grandchildren, but I'm also a care provider several days a week.

This is why I do my best to focus founders and family members exiting the business to have several options to exit to. And yes, it all does "depend."

It depends on things such as

• leisure
• family
• industry involvement
• community leadership
• finances
• philanthropy
• next-next generation strategic thinking

and of course there are others.

More than likely you won't be exiting to just one thing, but you do want to have backup plans because you may be bored fairly quickly with Plan A and Plan B.

ryan

Ryan Kauth

Ryan Kauth coaches established founders and family business owners in several aspects of their businesses. He is also a fractional executive, does some university teaching, and does some co-hosting. His calendar is available for a 30-minute no-obligation intro call.