The Alignment Table

Sharon Preston
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Business growth, exit planning and leadership for business owners who want more than a job. Hosted by Sharon Preston, fractional CEO and COO, who has built, scaled and sold her own businesses. You built the business. Now everything runs through you. Each week, Sharon tackles the questions owners rarely get straight answers to: How to scale a business without burning out Paying yourself: salary, dividends and building equity Bootstrapping or raising investment, and what you give up for outside money Hiring, delegating and building a leadership team Exit planning and succession planning: selli

  1. 3 Sept

    Dilution Isn't The Enemy

    Dilution might be the most feared word in business ownership, and most of the fear comes from the word itself rather than what it actually does. Sharon Preston runs the actual numbers, showing how a smaller percentage of a genuinely bigger business can be worth considerably more than full ownership of a small one, and where the maths only works in your favour. This episode unpacks: What dilution actually is, explained plainly with real numbersA worked example showing when a smaller stake is worth more than a bigger oneWhen dilution genuinely does hurt you, including flat and down roundsWhy the percentage feels so personal, beyond the pure mathsThe different ways dilution happens: option pools, funding rounds, and convertible notesProtections worth knowing exist, including pro-rata rights and anti-dilution provisionsHow this same trade plays out for a restaurant partnership or a franchise deal, not just cap tables For entrepreneurs and business owners weighing up a partner, an investor, or equity for a key hire, bricks and mortar or online. Ways to work with Sharon: Join The Alignment Circle™, her community for high achieving leaders ready to stop performing and start aligningExplore her workshops, built for entrepreneurs ready to grow past where they are nowJoin her group coaching programs for structured, ongoing support as you scaleLearn more and get involved at sharonpreston.com.

    Dilution Isn't The Enemy

  2. 27 Aug

    Capital vs Control

    Every pound of outside money that enters a business arrives with strings attached, and those strings are rarely explained plainly before the money lands in the account. Sharon Preston breaks down exactly what different types of funding actually cost you in control, from a bank loan to an investor to money from someone close to you, using plain English instead of jargon. This episode unpacks: The three very different kinds of money, and what each one actually costs youWhat a bank genuinely expects from you beyond repaymentWhat an investor actually expects, and the governance terms explained in plain EnglishThe informal money from friends and family that often costs the most control of allFour questions to ask before any money changes handsWhether you can ever buy control back once you've given it awayFor entrepreneurs and business owners weighing up funding decisions, whatever size the deal, bricks and mortar or online. Ways to work with Sharon: Join The Alignment Circle™, her community for high achieving leaders ready to stop performing and start aligningExplore her workshops, built for entrepreneurs ready to grow past where they are nowJoin her group coaching programs for structured, ongoing support as you scaleLearn more and get involved at sharonpreston.com.

    Capital vs Control

  3. 20 Aug

    What no one tells you about exit planning

    Every business owner leaves their business one day, sold, handed over, closed, or stepped back from. Sharon Preston breaks down the difference between a planned exit and an accidental one, and why most owners end up in the second category without ever meaning to. This episode walks through the four real ways to exit a business, sale, merger, gradual wind-down, or handover, what each one actually demands, and how long they genuinely take. This episode unpacks: The difference between a planned exit and an accidental oneThe four routes out of a business, and what each one actually requiresA simple readiness test for whether your business could run without youThe emotional side of leaving something you built, even when it's the right decisionThree questions to start exit planning now, whatever stage you're atWhy businesses built without an exit in mind are worth less when the moment comesFor entrepreneurs and business owners, bricks and mortar or online, ready to build with the end in mind rather than leaving it to chance. Ways to work with Sharon: Join The Alignment Circle™, her online community for high achieving leaders ready to stop performing and start aligningExplore her workshops, built for entrepreneurs ready to grow past where they are nowJoin her group coaching programs for structured, ongoing support as you scaleLearn more and get involved at sharonpreston.com.

    What no one tells you about exit planning

  4. 13 Aug

    Bootstrapped or Backed

    There's a belief that sits under a lot of funding decisions without ever being said out loud, that bootstrapping is the noble path and raising money is for people who couldn't cut it alone. Sharon Preston takes that belief apart, including her own honest story of why she bootstrapped three businesses, and what it taught her about confidence, identity, and the environment that shapes what you even think to attempt. This episode unpacks: What bootstrapping actually buys you, and what it genuinely costsWhat raising outside money actually buys you, and the control it quietly costs in returnThe hidden shame and guilt narratives carried on both sides of this decisionSharon's own honest story of why she bootstrapped, and what she wishes she'd known soonerThree questions to ask before choosing a funding path for your own businessThe middle ground options between fully bootstrapped and fully backedA thirty second practice for making this decision with a clear headFor entrepreneurs and business owners deciding how to fund their next stage of growth, whichever path that turns out to be. Ways to work with Sharon: Join The Alignment Circle™, her community for high achieving leaders ready to stop performing and start aligningExplore her workshops, built for entrepreneurs ready to grow past where they are nowJoin her group coaching programs for structured, ongoing support as you scale Learn more and get involved at sharonpreston.com. Get your copy of The Blind Spot Playbook here

    Bootstrapped or Backed

  5. 6 Aug

    Equity vs Salary

    Every month your business pays you something, and that number is quietly answering a question most business owners never ask outright. Are you paying yourself to run the business or building something the business will eventually owe you for? In this episode, Sharon Preston breaks down the real difference between salary and equity, using two contrasting business scenarios to show how the same choice plays out everywhere from cap tables to shop tills. This episode unpacks:- - The real difference between salary and equity, and why you can have plenty of one and none of the other. - Why a comfortable monthly wage can quietly mask a business that isn't actually building any value. - What equity genuinely requires from you psychologically, not just financially . - The three questions to ask before you set your own pay this year. - A real example of how this exact decision played out in one of Sharon's own businesses. - A 30 second practice for making clearer decisions. For entrepreneurs and business owners, bricks and mortar or online, ready to build something worth more than the wage it currently pays them. Ways to work with Sharon: - Join The Alignment Circle, her community for high achieving leaders ready to stop performing and start aligning. - Explore her workshops, built for entrepreneurs ready to grow past where they are now. - Join her coaching programs for structured, ongoing suppor as you scale. Learn more and get involved at sharonpreston.com

    Equity vs Salary

  6. 30 Jul

    The silent wobble behind every growing business

    Every entrepreneur hits the same moment. You make the right call, hiring your first member of staff, raising your prices, stepping back from the parts of the business only you have ever done, and your stomach still drops. In this episode, Sharon Preston unpacks why that feeling isn't a red flag but proof you're growing, and how to tell the difference between a genuine warning sign and the ordinary wobble that shows up right before every scale point in business. This episode unpacks: Why confidence isn't the absence of doubt, and what to do instead of waiting for itThree ways to tell a growth wobble apart from a genuine warning signHow the same wobble shows up whether you run a salon, a building site, an online consultancy, or a restaurantWhat staying in the old way of waiting for certainty actually costs youA thirty second practice for making bigger decisions with a clear headWhy "imposter syndrome" is the wrong name for what you're actually feeling Real talk for entrepreneurs and business owners, bricks and mortar or online, ready to grow past where they started. Ways to work with Sharon: Join The Alignment Circle™, her community for high achieving leaders ready to stop performing and start aligning. Explore her workshops, built for entrepreneurs ready to grow past where they are nowJoin her group coaching programs for structured, ongoing support as you scaleAttend her international retreats for immersive, in-person work on your business and yourself Learn more and get involved at sharonpreston.com.

    The silent wobble behind every growing business

  7. 23 Jul

    What every leader must sacrifice to grow

    What got you here was never meant to carry you the rest of the way. In this episode of The Alignment Table™, Executive Mentor and Strategic Advisor Sharon Preston explores what every leader must eventually sacrifice to keep growing, - the habits - control - identity built in earlier stages that quietly become the ceiling on what comes next. Whether you lead a team or build entirely alone, this episode names the specific moment growth asks you to let go, and why that release is an act of leadership, not loss. Everything you need to continue this conversation is at sharonpreston.com.

    What every leader must sacrifice to grow

  8. 16 Jul

    You most valuable leadership asset

    The people who challenge you well are not a threat to your leadership. They are evidence it is still working. In this episode of The Alignment Table™, Executive Mentor and Strategic Advisor Sharon Preston names one of the quietest leadership blind spots there is, the moment a business succeeds and the room around its leader grows a little too agreeable. Learn why:- the people who once disagreed with you stop doing it,what it costs a business when they dohow to build genuine challenge back into your leadership before the silence becomes expensive.Take the free Blind Spot Assessment at reports.sharonpreston.com to find out where your own leadership may have stopped being challenged. Everything you need to continue this conversation is at sharonpreston.com.

    You most valuable leadership asset
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About

Business growth, exit planning and leadership for business owners who want more than a job. Hosted by Sharon Preston, fractional CEO and COO, who has built, scaled and sold her own businesses. You built the business. Now everything runs through you. Each week, Sharon tackles the questions owners rarely get straight answers to: How to scale a business without burning out Paying yourself: salary, dividends and building equity Bootstrapping or raising investment, and what you give up for outside money Hiring, delegating and building a leadership team Exit planning and succession planning: selli

Information

  • Creator
    Sharon Preston
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sharon Preston
  • Show Website
    The Alignment Table