You are 58. The plan says step back. The bench is empty. The accountant says formalize. The estate planner says document. Neither of them has answered the question of who actually runs the company on the day you stop.
This page is for the owner who wants succession to be real and is staring at a company with nobody ready inside.
You have four real paths: develop someone internal over three to five years, hire externally on a two-year runway, sell the business to a buyer who brings their own operator, or keep running it until one of the first three becomes possible.
Each path has a different cost.
The wrong move is to delay choosing while the runway shortens.
The search phrase is the confession. The diagnosis comes after the confession is visible.
Four real paths: develop internal, hire external on a two-year runway, sell to a buyer who brings their operator, or keep running. Each has a different cost. The wrong move is to delay choosing.
Succession requires the founder to make a decision about who they are when they are no longer the operator. The legal and tax pieces are easy. The identity piece is what stalls most owners for a decade.
Internal: 3 to 5 years. External hire: 2 years. Sale: 12 to 24 months. Run forever: until you cannot. Plan against the longest path that fits your appetite.
Hire on a long runway. Identify two candidates externally now. Bring one in at a senior operating role with a clear path to general manager within 24 months. Reserve the right to sell if it does not work.
estate planning fees, accountant succession-prep hours, deferred decisions about hiring, the slow tax cost of pretending the question is not the question
the owner who delays choosing for a decade often discovers the business is worth significantly less because the founder dependency is now obvious to any buyer
the legal and tax frame asks "who inherits ownership". The real question is "who runs the company". They are not the same question
The point is not to collect another opinion. The point is to name the hidden decision well enough that the next move is not theater.
The structural decisions under the plan.
Timing The SaleIf sale is one of the paths under consideration.
Selling The Family BusinessIf the family piece is the hard part.
Family DecisionsThe structural pattern under family transitions.
Ways To WorkUse this after the pattern is clear.
Apply for Tier 03Succession with multiple principals is Tier 03 territory.
If you want Stan to read the live decision, use the application route and describe the situation in plain language.
When the transition involves family or principals, Tier 03 applies. When the question is one specific live decision, Tier 01 is the route.