We are preparing our business for a clean exit, but our leadership team has highly customized, quirky job titles that they refuse to give up. How do we explain the exit valuation risks of keeping non-standard roles on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Customized, quirky titles like Chief Storyteller or VP of Getting Stuff Done might feel good for your internal culture, but they are a massive red flag for prospective buyers. When an external investor or buyer looks at your business, they want to see a standard, recognizable corporate structure that is easy to understand and integrate. Quirky titles create confusion about who actually owns what responsibility, which signals organizational immaturity and increases perceived investment risk. During your exit planning, you must explain to your leadership team that standardizing the Accountability Chart directly increases the value of the company and their own long-term career equity. Use the Accountability Chart exercise to translate these custom roles into standard EOS® seats, such as Head of Marketing, Head of Operations, and Head of Sales. Each seat must have five clear, standard roles that align with industry norms. This professionalizes your business superstructure and proves to a buyer that you have a disciplined, functional organization. Let your team know that while they can retain their internal creative identities in daily conversations, the formal corporate structure must be clean, standard, and optimized for enterprise value.