For owner-led businesses

Build a business that runs without you.

Build a more profitable business that runs without you - so you can scale it, sell it or simply remove yourself from day-to-day operations.

Start your 90-day sprint Does your business run without you?

Built for owner-led businesses

Established companies where too much still depends on the founder, owner or key people.

Fully engaged partnership

We prioritise, plan and deliver the changes with your team, then stay to execute the plan.

90 days to unlock your constraints

Start with a sprint. Continue as strategic partners: growth, acquisitions, group, exit.

Operators who've built, bought and sold

Investors, board advisors and dealmakers, not theorists.

REDUCED OWNER DEPENDENCY✦VALUE CREATION✦EXPONENTIAL GROWTH✦EXIT PATHWAYS✦REDUCED OWNER DEPENDENCY✦VALUE CREATION✦EXPONENTIAL GROWTH✦EXIT PATHWAYS✦REDUCED OWNER DEPENDENCY✦VALUE CREATION✦EXPONENTIAL GROWTH✦EXIT PATHWAYS✦REDUCED OWNER DEPENDENCY✦VALUE CREATION✦EXPONENTIAL GROWTH✦EXIT PATHWAYS✦

The problem

You built a job,
not an asset.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, the business is built around you - but it's fixable, and it's where every plan we build starts.

01The business slows down when you step away.
02Every real decision still comes back to you.
03Sales still depend on your relationships.
04It's profitable, but it isn't worth what you think it should be.
05A buyer would price the risk of losing you into every offer.
06It's a good business, but not yet big enough to give you real choices.
07Growth adds pressure instead of options.
08You've thought about buying, selling or stepping back, and done nothing about any of them.

The Owner Trap Quiz™ · Free · 4 minutes

Does your business run without you — or because of you?

Answer 12 questions and get your Owner Independence Score, the No. 1 hidden way your business still depends on you — and your 90-day starting moves to remove yourself as the bottleneck.

12 questions · Instant results · Straight answers

Two levers of value

The value equation.

Value=Profit×Multiple

Most businesses are valued on their profit multiplied by a number: the multiple. The multiple is where the bigger gains are found. Most business owners are focused on profit. We work on maximising profit AND the multiple, because the two compound.

Profit up

Organic growth
Winning more business
Improving margins
Increasing prices
Raising productivity
Streamlining costs
Enhancing cash flow
Financial engineering
Joint ventures & partnerships
Innovation

Multiple up

Runs without you
Diversified revenue
Systems & processes
Reporting & KPIs
A team that owns outcomes
Strong EBITDA
Acquiring other businesses
Sector
Building a bigger group
Public listing

Pull one lever and value moves.
Pull both levers and value compounds.

The fastest path

Building a group is the fastest path to shareholder value.

Grow one company on its own and value builds slowly. Bring two or three complementary businesses together and something different happens: customers to cross-sell into, duplicated costs to remove, strengths shared across the group, and a bigger profit that investors and buyers pay a higher multiple for.

Profit might double. Value can grow four or five times over. It only works on a foundation that runs without you, which is why we start there.

How group building works

£3.5M

One company
£700k profit · 5x

£14M

Two combined
£2.2M profit · 6.5x

£60M+

Four in a group
£7M+ profit · 8–10x

Illustrative, conservative: 10% cross-sell, 10% cost synergies, multiple moving with size and quality. Your numbers will differ; the shape won't.

Core Team

Built by operators, not theorists.

Gavin Gibbons

GROWTH, ACQUISITIONS & VALUE CREATION

20 years in tech and AI. Investor and board advisor to owners of established companies. Founder of Exitable and Next Level Ventures. More about Gavin →

Rob Richmond

GROUP BUILDING, LISTINGS & EXIT PATHWAYS

Global board advisory roles across multiple sectors. Dealmaker, direct listings specialist and company group builder.

Ronnell Repil

SYSTEMS & DELIVERY

8 years building the systems, reporting and routines that let businesses run without their owners.

From owners we've worked with

In their own words.

“Gavin’s support has gone significantly beyond what we expected when he said he’d ‘hold our hand’ through this process, in a very positive way.”

OWNER · £9M WATER TREATMENT COMPANY

“Your approach aligns perfectly with what we’re trying to achieve: building a properly run, scalable business that’s attractive to investors while still something we’re proud to keep running.”

OWNER · £26M ECOMMERCE COMPANY

“You helped us turn a very busy, firefighting operation into a business with clear priorities and a structured plan, rather than just ‘mucking in’ every day.”

OWNER · £17M TELCO GROUP

“Week by week, you're allowing us to learn, refine and get better - the pace and quality of our progress has clearly improved.”

OWNER · £5M EDUCATION COMPANY

“What we value most is showing us the one thing to do next out of a thousand possibilities. That external sanity check is a real weight off our shoulders.”

OWNER · £8M IT MSP COMPANY

“It’s definitely been worthwhile - we’ve already been straight on to the accountant off the back of what you delivered.”

OWNER · £12M FIRE & SECURITY COMPANY