How do I reduce founder dependency before selling?
Short Answer
Document the decisions and relationships only you hold, distribute customer contacts across your team, build a management layer, and withdraw from day-to-day operations in stages so the business demonstrably runs without you.
Full Explanation
Founder dependency is the most common reason a strong-looking business attracts a weak multiple, because a buyer is paying for a business that continues after you leave.
Start by mapping what depends on you: the decisions only you make, the customer relationships only you hold, the knowledge that lives in your head. Then move each into the business. Document processes and decisions so they can be followed by others. Distribute key customer relationships across your team so no account walks out with you. Build or promote a management layer that can run operations, and then withdraw in stages, visibly, so a buyer can see the business functioning without you well before completion.
In the Opagio 12 this is the work of Organisational Capital — documented, transferable processes — and Human Capital — retaining the knowledge that matters. Evidencing the transition is as important as making it: a buyer needs to believe it, not just be told it.
Give yourself twelve to twenty-four months. See reduce founder dependency before you sell and see Opagio Intangibles in action to evidence your Organisational and Human Capital.
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