SUCCESSION CONSULTING
Is company succession imminent, and are traditional solutions such as sale or inheritance out of the question? Is it necessary to preserve a certain corporate culture or mission beyond your own entrepreneurship? Is retirement as an entrepreneur and owner approaching, even though there are no suitable heir(s) available for the company succession? Should the company, your life's work, be transferred to the next generation in a steward-ownership structure?
Finding the right ownership structure for the next generation(s)
Is a generational change imminent, and is it necessary to consciously shape this groundbreaking moment in the company's history?
Shaping the company's succession with a suitable ownership structure for the company and compensation solution for the owners.
We accompany owners in clearly structuring the complex and multifaceted processes involved in company succession. This means appropriately involving the relevant groups of people alongside the owners – from family members and successors to management and employees – and navigating key topics such as owner compensation, business financing, and future governance.
A tailor-made solution based on your needs
Our consulting always centers on the needs of the owners, successors, additional stakeholders, and the company itself. The goal is to find customized ownership and succession solutions that are aligned with the company’s unique history, culture, purpose and business model – and enables coherent financial compensation for the owners.
Structured succession and ownership process
“What are the owners' and successors' needs and requirements for the future ownership and succession solution – and what is best for the company?”
A guiding question in our Succession Consulting
Selection of possible themes in Succession Consulting*
We see ourselves as your travel companion on the path to finding a fitting succession, ownership and compensation solution.
Company Ownership
​Deconstructing ownership and exploring the concept of steward-ownership with its diverse design options for ownership rights.
Entrepreneur Sparring
Sorting and clarifying themes such as ownership, succession, financing, organization, and strategy across the private and organizational systems of the entrepreneur, family, owners, and the company.
Financial Compensation
Clarifying and quantifying the financial needs of owners (or families) as well as the scope, timeline, and instruments of financial compensation for current shareholders and investors.
Succession Sparring
Sorting and accompanying the various succession process streams, such as the operational succession process at the management level, the development of the succession structure, or succession at the owner level.
Stakeholder Needs
Making the needs of existing owners, successors, and other stakeholders regarding the future ownership and succession solution explicit in terms of the various ownership and co-determination rights.
Succession Structure
Finding the right mix of future owners (number, qualities, skill sets, etc.) for the company, taking into account its purpose, values, business model, and size.
Governance Reflection
Reflecting on the effectiveness of the current ownership and governance structures in the context of the company’s history, culture, and its business model.
Succession Financing
Structuring existing corporate financing and financial compensation for owners in coherence with the future ownership and succession solution.​
Incentive System
Reflecting on the existing incentive and remuneration systems and conscious design for a succession and ownership structure in steward-ownership.
Please note
* Specialized lawyers and tax advisors from our network are available to handle the legal implementation of the ownership and governance solutions.
Clients about our Succession Consulting
“With Purpose Consulting, I have developed an ownership and succession structure that enables succession outside the family, secures my retirement provisions, and ensures the company's self-determination and the quality of our craftsmanship in the long term.”
Joachim Weckmann, Entrepreneur at Märkisches Landbrot (translated)
“Working with Purpose Consulting helped us to raise awareness of the succession options of inheritance and trust ownership, as well as the various levels of succession, and to initially structure the operational succession in management.”
Martin Meuer, Managing Partner in 2nd generation of the family company ISC Group (translated)
Individual Process Support
Our process support can take different forms depending on your needs and can be flexibly adapted to the topics and collaboration.
Formats range from group workshops to one-on-one sparring sessions – as unique as the processes themselves. Depending on your requirements, we define the best mode of collaboration together. All formats can be delivered both in person and digitally.
Our models of Succession Consulting
Intensive Consulting:
We lead through the entire succession process – from foundational questions of company ownership and the drafting of the financial compensation of the owners to the development of a tailored ownership and governance solution and its cultural as well as communicative anchoring in the company. In each workshop or sparring session, we work through the topics step by step, provide preparatory questions and materials in advance, and share documentation afterwards.
Extensive Consulting:
We support self-driven succession processes as sparring partners. In joint sessions, we structure process streams and themes, define task packages for next steps, and offer support with prioritization.
We jointly reflect on the outcomes, and when needed, we deepen the process with targeted sparring sessions or workshops on specific topics.
For succession and ownership processes to succeed, it is essential that all owners or voting rights holders are involved to a minimum extent – as only they can decide on changes to the succession and ownership structure. In our experience, succession and ownership processes unfold most effectively when entrepreneurs continuously engage with the associated questions and themes.
Please note
* Specialized lawyers and tax advisors from our network are available to handle the legal implementation of the ownership and governance solutions.
Our clients – from startups to SMEs and family businesses to corporations
Interested in collaborating with us?
We are honored to accompany people who consciously shape ownership, governance, and financing for their businesses and successions. We are happy to share further information about our consulting and conditions upon request.