Alternative Exit

Alternative Exit is a dedicated to educating small business owners about the possibilities, benefits, and challenges of transitioning to an employee ownership model. There are over 200m SMEs with an owner who will be retiring in the next 10 years, many of which will never find a buyer for their business, forcing them to close their doors. There is an alternative. This show will explore various the different forms of employee ownership and best practices for successful transitions. Each episode features interviews with experts in employee ownership, business owners who have made the transition, and consultants who facilitate these changes.

Alternative Exit is a business podcast hosted by Andy, with 70 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Andy hosts Alternative Exit, a business show with 70 episodes published.

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  Episode #68

  Alternative Exit #69 | The Finish Line She Didn't Want to Cross | Shannon Litton, 3LS

  Sep 24, 202646 min

  About the episode: Shannon co-founded 5by5, a Nashville marketing agency that made the Inc. 5000 list in five of its first seven eligible years. As private equity and trade buyers came calling, she realised selling would mean walking in the next day and saying goodbye to the team that built it. Then a new client told her over lunch that his employees owned the company. Shannon walks Andy through years of research, winning over a sceptical boomer partner, and starting with a 30% ESOP because a bigger loan felt too risky. She explains why she brought 12 leaders into the plan a year early, how 55 people heard the news at Disney World, and why companies need a steady cadence of inspiration and information. Then a conversation with her mentor, 3LS CEO Eric Strickland, made 5by5 100% employee owned within weeks. Today Shannon leads 3LS Professional Services, part of an employee-owned group of about 1,500 people, and argues the movement should count employee owners, not ESOPs. Guest: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slitton/ 3LS: https://3ls.com 5by5: https://5by5agency.com Tennessee Center for Employee Ownership: https://www.tnceo.org About The Alternative Exit: A podcast exploring employee ownership as a succession planning strategy, hosted by Andy Farquharson of a better monday. Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/ Learn more: https://abettermonday.me Links and resources Alternative Exit #42 with Eric Strickland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNLYhuPNAio NCEO: https://www.nceo.org Journey to an ESOP podcast (The ESOP Guy): https://journeytoanesop.buzzsprout.com The ESOP Association: https://www.esop.org Book: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni #EmployeeOwnership #ESOP #SuccessionPlanning #BusinessExit #AgencyLife #OwnershipCulture #SilverTsunami #Leadership #EmployeeOwned

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  Episode #68

  Alternative Exit #68 | It Took a Strike To Give the Company Away | Sam Boustred, Scott Bader

  Sep 17, 202629 min

  am Boustred, Chair of the Global Members' Board, Scott Bader (Wollaston, UK) Scott Bader went employee owned in 1951, 63 years before the Employee Ownership Trust existed in UK law. Founder Ernest Bader was a Quaker who did not want to share ownership. He wanted to dissolve it. So he put every share into a registered charity, the Scott Bader Commonwealth. Sam joined the company in 2012 as a process operator on the shop floor. He is now the first person to hold the Chair of the Global Members' Board as a full time role, leading industrial democracy across a group of around 800 colleagues. He talks Andy through the profit formula that has not moved since 1951, the strike that finally forced Ernest to hand the company over, why every pound paid to colleagues must be matched to charity, and what ownership means when nobody owns anything. Key takeaways ✅ Scott Bader's shares sit in a registered charity, so the Charity Commission holds the business to its purpose as well as its numbers. The split has held since 1951: 60% of surplus stays in the business, up to 20% goes to colleagues, and every pound paid to colleagues is matched to charitable causes. Ownership is not automatic understanding. Six months of structured onboarding, culture cafés and refreshers every couple of years keep it real. ✅ Members do not vote on daily decisions, they vote on who makes them. The 1963 constitution gave members appointment rights over directors. When the 2022 constitution review went to a vote, 80% of colleagues took part and 95% of them backed the changes. Notable quotes "We don't own the shares, we own the responsibility." "You don't get many bosses or owners of businesses who go on strike, because you'd be poking yourself in the eye." "In a true democracy you're not deciding all of the day to day decisions. You're deciding who is making those decisions, and you have the right to appoint and remove them." Links Sam Boustred: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samboustred/ Scott Bader: https://www.scottbader.com Scott Bader Commonwealth: https://www.scottbader.com/about-us/commonwealth-board/ Fred H. Blum, Work and Community: The Scott Bader Commonwealth and the Quest for a New Social Order (1968): https://www.routledge.com/Work-and-Community-The-Scott-Bader-Commonwealth-and-the-Quest-for-a-New-Social-Order/Blum/p/book/9781041396406 John Hoffmire: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hoffmire-5999621/ John Hoffmire on The Alternative Exit, episode 34: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2414792/episodes/17747330 Andy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/ a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

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  Episode #67

  Alternative Exit #67 | It Feels Too Good To Be True….but It Is | Kevin Franks, novo hair

  Sep 10, 202630 min

  In 1980 Kevin walked out of his accountancy studies to cut hair. Three years later he opened his first salon in Southend with five chairs and a £1,000 decorating budget. This April, 43 years on, he handed the whole business to his team. novo hair is now 100% employee owned through a UK Employee Ownership Trust, 15 people, all partners. Kevin walks Andy through the three trade sales that fell over, why he could not stomach three years of being hated by his own staff, how he landed on a number and then deliberately took the bottom of the valuation range, and the grand announcement that landed to fifteen completely blank faces. Five months in, he shares what has actually changed: the bonus pot the team controls, the financials they now lean into, and the tumble dryer filter that suddenly matters. Key takeaways ✅ A trade sale is not the only number. Salons typically fetch one to one and a half times earnings, and every offer Kevin received came with three to five years of him staying put. Leaving something on the table can be the point. Kevin took the bottom of the valuation range so the business could carry the debt and still pay the team an annual bonus from year one. Do not save the announcement for a big reveal. Fifteen people who have never heard of an EOT cannot get excited in the two minutes before you explain it. ✅ Give the team a quick win they control. Retail profit and in-salon treatments go straight into a bonus pot, so ownership shows up in this month's numbers, not year five. Ownership changes how the financials land. The same numbers that used to glaze people over now get real attention, because the net profit is theirs. Get your ducks in a row first. If the business cannot run without you for a month, it is not ready to be handed over. Notable quotes "The old adage is if it feels too good to be true, it's too good to be true. I very much feel with the EOT it feels too good to be true, but it is true." "I can be hated to a degree, but I can't be hated for three years and be there every day." "That won't save me a hundred and twenty pound. It will save you a hundred and twenty pound." Links Kevin Franks on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-franks-208b4aa/ novo hair: https://novohair.co.uk Go EO (Chris Maslin), who valued the business: https://goeo.uk Chris Maslin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-maslin-9a5a2316/ Richer Sounds, the EOT Kevin learned from: https://www.richersounds.com Host, Andy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/ a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

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  Alternative Exit

  Alternative Exit #66 | Returns & Purpose on a Level Playing Field | Monarch's Katie & Michael

  Jul 16, 202632 minS66

  Our first ever double episode. 🎧 Andy sits down with both founders of Monarch Investment Partners to explore the question at the heart of employee ownership: who should own your business next? Katie and Michael unpack why external capital has been the missing piece in scaling employee ownership, how ESOPs create genuine alignment of incentives, and why returns and purpose belong on a level playing field. A candid, practical listen for any owner weighing their exit. 🌟 Chapters 00:00 — The double episode format 04:00 — Bridging employee ownership and external capital 05:18 — Why the "benevolent seller" model needs capital to scale 06:57 — Monarch's focus: 100% employee-owned ESOP transitions 08:04 — How ESOPs create alignment of incentives 09:53 — Turning open-book data into ownership behaviour 12:38 — Underwriting and the buy box 14:16 — Diligence on the management team 18:36 — How Monarch differs from the wider field 21:27 — The buy box: $5–15m EBITDA, US, industry agnostic 23:48 — Post-transaction support and Michael's book 27:16 — Measuring success: the double bottom line 30:13 — Rapid fire questions 36:06 — The monarch butterfly effect Key Takeaways ✅ Capital, not appetite, is the biggest barrier to scaling employee ownership. ✅ ESOPs align incentives, but that only compounds through repeated communication, typically from year three. ✅ People manage their behaviour to the data they are given. Open-book transparency turns employees into owners. ✅ Returns and purpose can sit on a level playing field. Impact and competitive returns aren't a trade-off. Notable Quotes 💡 "Who do you want to own your business? It may very well not be a private equity firm." — Michael McGinley 💡 "We're not trying to sacrifice returns for impact. We want to prove both can coexist." — Katie Kimball Links Monarch Investment Partners: https://www.monarchinvestmentpartners.com/ Michael McGinley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljmcginley/ Katie Kimball on LinkedIn: [add — see note below] Monarch Performance Disclosure: https://mcusercontent.com/3bef2e9f4d6f9832d50e71e3e/files/cd67868e-0f83-8cbb-9a4e-015bf2da300a/Monarch_Performance_Disclosure.pdf Host: Andy Farquharson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/ a better monday: https://abettermonday.me Disclosure: Any performance figures referenced are subject to Monarch's full performance disclosure, linked above.

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  Episode #65

  Alternative Exit #65 | He Bought a 94 yo Business, Then Gave It to the Team | Bob Whalen, HB Global

  May 21, 202644 minS0

  <p>Bob Whalen walked into a 94-year-old, third-generation family business in 2008 and, within two years, transitioned it to a 100% ESOP. What started as a way to make the deal more tax-efficient became his professional purpose. Fifteen years on, HB Global has grown almost 10x, completed close to 20 acquisitions, and built over $110M of value sitting inside its employee owners' accounts. In this episode, Bob shares why he runs the business like a sports team rather than a family, how he protects culture through every acquisition, and why the person who "gave away" the most is the happiest about it. A...

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