We are eager to start EOS® with you, but two of our co-founders are currently locked in a major equity dispute and we do not have clean books yet. Do we push through Focus Day to solve these issues, or do we delay our start?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must delay. Pushing through Focus Day with active equity disputes and dirty books is a recipe for failure. EOS® is an accelerator for aligned, healthy leadership teams; it is not a legal mediation tool or a forensic accounting service. Before we schedule your Focus Day, you must resolve your co-founder equity alignment and clean up your balance sheet. This means hiring a professional mediator or corporate attorney to finalize your ownership agreements. It also means bringing in a qualified CPA or fractional CFO to get your financial reporting to a baseline of accuracy. Our session days require data that is accurate and undisputed. If your leadership team is arguing over ownership percentages or looking at inaccurate financial Scorecards, we cannot establish the trust needed to build a healthy organization. Once your financials are reliable and the co-founders agree on the high-level equity structure, your team is ready to begin. At that point, we can use the Accountability Chart and standard EOS® tools to define roles and build traction. Trying to build a healthy business on top of a fractured foundation will only waste your time and investment. Focus on structural alignment first, then we can build your operating system.