Alternative Exit

Andy
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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.

  1. 5d ago

    Alternative Exit #73 | From "Dogs on Leads" to 100% Employee-Owned | Monica O'Malley

    In 2012, Monica’s boss told her he treated his staff “like dogs on leads.” That conversation shaped everything she built after it. Monica started in dentistry at 18 as a dental assistant, became a dentist, and founded Your New Dentist in 2015. In 2023 she moved 100% of the business into an Employee Ownership Trust. Australia has no dedicated EOT legislation, so she worked it out with her accountant and lawyers as they went. She talks about funding the move through a 5 to 7 year buyback, running two practices with no middle management, flexible quarterly profit share for a mostly female team, and why she expected the business to get smaller before it grew. Chapters 00:53 Welcome and introduction 02:22 The “dogs on leads” boss 05:54 Dentistry, trust and conscious capitalism 07:47 Your New Dentist: two practices, 10 people, no middle management 09:59 Buurtzorg and self-management 14:19 The 2016 turning point 16:05 An industry that is 88% female 17:37 “Employees don’t want this” 19:46 Why ownership: wealth distribution and social justice 22:40 Choosing an EOT over corporate, franchise and ESOP 24:50 Being a pioneer without legislation 26:33 Funding the transition: a 5 to 7 year buyback 28:21 Telling the team with a 10-year strategic plan 30:10 Rebuilding trust takes patience 32:41 Financial transparency and women’s financial independence 34:22 Naked in, naked out: no secondary market 37:19 Why she went all in at 100% 37:46 Quarterly round tables and flexible profit share 40:26 Fast round 43:49 Where to follow Monica, plus Grace O’Malley Key Takeaways ✅ You can do an EOT in Australia without dedicated legislation if you have advisors willing to work it out with you. ✅ Monica funds her exit through incremental buyback payments over 5 to 7 years. ✅ Going 100% builds trust in a way a partial transfer doesn’t. ✅ Expect some people to leave. The transition shows who is committed to the work. ✅ Profit share can fit around people’s lives: showing up counts, and doing more earns more. 💡 Trust takes years to build. Monica started talking to her team about it in 2017. Notable Quotes 🎧 “I don’t do infantilisation and I don’t do exploitation.” 🎧 “Be prepared for your business to get smaller before it gets bigger. It’s the breakdown before the breakthrough.” 🎧 “I’d be being disingenuous to the mission if I didn’t go a hundred percent.” Links 🔗 Monica O’Malley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-o-malley-233a2021/ 🔗 Your New Dentist: https://yournewdentist.com.au 🔗 Employee Ownership Australia: https://employeeownership.com.au 📚 Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux: https://www.amazon.com/dp/2960133501 📚 Small Is Beautiful, E.F. Schumacher: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061997765 🔗 Buurtzorg: https://www.buurtzorg.com 🔗 Corporate Rebels: https://corporate-rebels.com 🎙️ Host: Andy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/ 🌟 a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

    Alternative Exit #73 | From "Dogs on Leads" to 100% Employee-Owned | Monica O'Malley

  2. Oct 22

    Alternative Exit #72 | Private Equity Where the Exit Is to Employees. Brittany Brown, CoRise Capital

    Earlier this year, Brittany Brown left a career across corporate finance, venture capital and private equity to build one thing: a fund whose job is to create employee owners. CoRise Capital buys 100% of stable, profitable businesses, professionalises them over three to five years, then exits by selling to a 100% ESOP. Brittany explains the “ESOPs creating ESOPs” model, why the fund is evergreen, and why investors have agreed to roll 50% of every distribution back in. She walks through the debt structure that offsets management fees, the governance, finance and culture work needed before an ESOP conversion, and where the fund stands on its first close. Chapters 00:53 Welcome: a fund built to create employee owners01:48 ESOPs creating ESOPs: where CoRise came from03:00 Leaving PE for employee ownership04:45 Same playbook, different end game06:12 An evergreen fund and the 50% reinvestment commitment08:03 Who invests: ESOP companies, then individuals09:38 Why ESOPs invest in other ESOPs12:05 Using portfolio debt to offset management fees14:01 Additional fees for value creation16:24 Getting a company ESOP ready in three to five years19:29 Who sits on the board19:56 Reading culture on the shop floor22:11 Bringing governance to life through transparency23:38 Budgeting for culture change26:13 Fund status, first close and pipeline29:12 Fast roundKey takeaways✅ An evergreen structure gives the fund time to convert each business when an ESOP will be most successful, not when a fund term ends.💡 Investors contractually roll 50% of each distribution back into the fund, compounding the creation of new employee owners.✅ Part of each acquisition is structured as debt. The interest paid by the portfolio company offsets investors’ management fees.🌟 For an ESOP investor, the fund adds asset value without adding heads to their census.💡 Before conversion: finance and accounting capability, an independent board, annual valuations and audits, a stable leadership bench, and early profit sharing.🎧 Culture diligence starts on the shop floor. If the owner doesn’t know people’s names, it may be a turnaround, not a platform.Notable quotes“If I had to kind of give you a sentence, it would be ESOPs creating ESOPs.”“I saw the end game and I didn’t always feel great about the concentration of wealth that came at the end of a transaction.”“When we have a liquidation event, we’re gonna take 50% of what gets distributed to us and we’re gonna roll it back into the fund.”LinksBrittany Brown: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-brown-b9b84076/CoRise Capital: https://corisecapital.comAndy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

    Alternative Exit #72 | Private Equity Where the Exit Is to Employees. Brittany Brown, CoRise Capital

  3. Oct 15

    Alternative Exit #71 | The Jerry Maguire Letter That Started an EOT with Aaron Schroeder

    In 2022, Aaron Schroeder sat down after work and wrote what he calls his “Jerry Maguire letter” to his team. In it he committed to moving Brightspot Climate, the climate consultancy he founded in 2015, to employee ownership once the right structure existed. Canada’s Employee Ownership Trust legislation arrived in 2024, and in April 2025 Brightspot became one of the first companies in the country to use it. Aaron explains how the team built financial literacy ahead of the transition, why the transition year carries an asterisk in the company’s books, and why every bank asked him for a personal guarantee. He also shares how owner thinking is starting to show up across the 40 person team. Chapters 00:53 Welcome: one of Canada’s first EOTs01:46 From burnout to founding Brightspot Climate03:13 Sharing the wealth: project level profit sharing03:38 The “Jerry Maguire letter”05:22 Planning before the legislation existed06:36 Preparing the team: open books and financial literacy07:39 “How much is this going to cost me?”09:29 The asterisk year: the cost of non billable time11:13 Life as an employee owned company13:17 Brightspot Labs: two and a half hours a week in the sandbox15:38 Financing: no assets, and a personal guarantee17:45 Why not sell to a big firm?19:24 Bank loan plus deferred consideration20:25 Financial Freedom Day: five to seven years21:08 Fast roundKey takeaways✅ Start on financing early. Banks lending against an asset light services firm asked for a personal guarantee from the seller.💡 Plan for an “asterisk year”. The transition brought heavy non billable time plus legal and accounting fees.✅ Open the books well before the deal. Brightspot shared its balance sheet and income statement regularly from 2022.🌟 Expect to repeat yourself. People come along at different paces, and “zero money down” takes time to believe.🎧 Owner thinking grows after the transition. Staff questions have shifted from “will my bonus change?” to the company’s five year finances.💡 Protected time builds ideas. Brightspot Labs has already produced new processes and business lines.Notable quotes“Right up until April 1st, 2025, people were like, how much is this going to cost me?”“I’ve been through enough mergers in consulting firms, or watched them, to know that you never really get the full value that you’re promised at the beginning.”“The questions have gone to the next level.”LinksAaron Schroeder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronlschroeder/Brightspot Climate: https://brightspot.coBrightspot’s EOT announcement: https://brightspot.co/library/brightspot-climates-next-chapter-begins-with-employee-ownership/Employee Ownership Canada: https://www.employee-ownership.caEmployee Ownership Canada Conference 2026, Vancouver, 20 to 22 October: https://www.employee-ownership.ca/conference/Andy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

    Alternative Exit #71 | The Jerry Maguire Letter That Started an EOT with Aaron Schroeder

  4. Oct 8

    Alternative Exit #70 | Eleven Years to an Overnight Success | Andreas Jørgensen, Demokratisk Erhverv

    Two years ago Denmark had almost no employee-owned companies. Since then it has passed employee ownership legislation (in force 1 January 2026), launched Center for Medarbejdereje, a national centre for employee ownership, and completed the largest study yet comparing UK Employee Ownership Trusts with management buyouts. Andreas explains how the Danish model differs from the UK EOT, with direct ownership through an employee association and tax that is paid back from surplus over time. He shares the study’s headline numbers, why Denmark’s unions moved from sceptical to supportive, and what other countries can learn from a decade of groundwork. Chapters 00:54 Welcome back: a year of momentum02:03 The first companies using the new law04:47 A perfect storm: politics, unions and 40,000 businesses05:51 Why the unions came on board11:17 The Danish model vs the UK EOT13:03 Tax: level treatment, paid back from surplus16:25 Gifting a company to employees17:24 The largest EOT vs MBO study23:10 The most surprising finding29:37 Scaling: pioneers, advisors, policy34:16 Lessons for other countries37:59 Fast roundKey takeaways✅ In a study of 218 UK EOTs against 330 comparable management buyouts, EOTs showed productivity about 5 percentage points higher and revenue growth 8% higher.💡 Payroll per employee was £6,300 higher in EOTs, with investment and EBITDA margins on par with MBOs.🌟 The Danish model gives employees direct, democratic ownership through an association, not a trust.✅ The seller’s tax moves to the employee vehicle, which repays it from surplus, so a weak year does not trigger a tax bill.🎧 In highly unionised countries, bring the unions in early. Denmark started those conversations ten years ago.Notable quotes“If the unions don’t want this to happen, it’s not gonna happen in a lot of European countries.”“It seems that they were actually, as we say in Denmark, hitting several flies with one stroke.”“It may not always be the easiest way, but it’s the most purposeful way.”LinksAndreas Pinstrup Jørgensen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-pinstrup-jørgensen-021ba3a8/Tænketanken Demokratisk Erhverv: https://demokratiskerhverv.dkCenter for Medarbejdereje: https://medarbejdereje.dkMedejer, Andreas’s book: https://www.gyldendal.dk/produkter/andreas-pinstrup-jørgensen/medejer-46926/hæftet-9788702254112The Citizen’s Share, by Joseph Blasi, Richard Freeman and Douglas KruseAndy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

    Alternative Exit #70 | Eleven Years to an Overnight Success | Andreas Jørgensen, Demokratisk Erhverv

  5. Sep 24

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

    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

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

  6. Sep 17

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

    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." LinksSam Boustred: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samboustred/Scott Bader: https://www.scottbader.comScott 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/9781041396406John Hoffmire: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hoffmire-5999621/John Hoffmire on The Alternative Exit, episode 34: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2414792/episodes/17747330Andy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

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

  7. Sep 10

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

    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." LinksKevin Franks on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-franks-208b4aa/novo hair: https://novohair.co.ukGo EO (Chris Maslin), who valued the business: https://goeo.ukChris Maslin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-maslin-9a5a2316/Richer Sounds, the EOT Kevin learned from: https://www.richersounds.comHost, Andy Farquharson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyfarquharson/a better monday: https://abettermonday.me

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

  8. Jul 16

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

    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. 🌟 Chapters00:00 — 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 LinksMonarch 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.

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

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Andy
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    74
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Andy
  • Show Website
    Alternative Exit