One of the hardest parts of preparing for an exit is realizing that the loyal employees who helped you build the company may not have the capacity to lead it under new, professional ownership. Keeping the wrong people in key seats during your runway is a major deal killer.

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

One of the hardest parts of preparing for an exit is realizing that the loyal employees who helped you build the company may not have the capacity to lead it under new, professional ownership. Keeping the wrong people in key seats during your runway is a major deal killer.

To resolve this, you must ruthlessly evaluate your leadership team using the GWC filter. Ask yourself if each leader truly gets, wants, and has the capacity to execute their role at the scale a buyer will expect. If they do not, you must address the issue on your Accountability Chart before you go to market.

Use structured Thinking Time to plan these transitions with care and respect. You do not have to fire loyal staff. Instead, look for ways to move them into specialized individual contributor roles where their historical knowledge is preserved but they no longer block the operational scaling of the company. When a buyer looks at your leadership team, they need to see highly capable professionals in every major seat. Making these tough people changes during your runway proves to a buyer that you run a professional organization.