The earnout statistic

Six out of ten agency founders don't make it to the end of their own earnout.

The reason is not complicated. Nobody starts an agency because they want a boss. Then they sell, and on day one they have one, plus a board, plus somebody querying their expenses for the first time in twenty years. Most walk before the cheque clears in full.

Buyers know this. It is priced into every offer you will ever receive. An agency that depends on its founder gets discounted twice: once for the risk that clients leave when you do, and again for the near certainty that you will leave earlier than you promised.

The fix is a succession team, and I do not mean your senior leadership team. I mean the people who will still be driving growth ten years after you have gone. When a buyer can look at your agency and conclude they do not actually need you, your price goes up. It is one of the stranger truths of this industry: you become most valuable at the point you become unnecessary.

I have been on both sides of 17 of these deals. If you are two or three years from wanting out, the succession work starts now, not in the data room.