Disentangling the Entrepreneur: Preparing Your Brand

If a founder wants to exit well, there’s one crucial step that’s often overlooked: separating themselves from the brand they created.

For many entrepreneurs, the business begins as a deeply personal extension of who they are — their values, their decisions, their reputation, their story. Over time, this can become both the business’s greatest strength and its biggest vulnerability.

👉 Is a rebrand advisable during succession?

Often, yes; but when done for the right reasons.
A well-timed rebrand can:

• signal renewal without erasing history

• shift identity from family-run to professionally led

• give the next leader legitimacy

• modernise the brand for talent, partners, or future buyers

• stabilise culture during a vulnerable transition

• support the founder’s emotional detachment

A rebrand should follow strategy, not lead it.
Done well, it’s one of the most effective tools for making succession smoother and strengthening the business for its next chapter.

A founder-dependent brand may feel authentic, but it can also limit scale, confuse succession, and weaken valuation. Investors or acquirers aren’t just looking for great businesses — they’re looking for transferable value. And a brand that only works when the founder is in the room is, by definition, not transferable.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been developing a joint framework with brand strategist Mark Thouless called Disentangling the Entrepreneur: From Founder Brand to Scalable Brand. It will become the foundation of a Mastermind Webinar we’re launching next year — and it’s already one of the most invigorating collaborations I’ve worked on.

Below are three early insights from our work so far, especially relevant for any founder contemplating exit, investment, or succession.

1. Your story doesn’t disappear — it evolves

A founder’s story is often one of the business’s most powerful assets. But at some point, it needs to shift from your story to the company’s story.

This isn’t about erasing the founder’s identity. It’s about reframing it so others in the organisation can carry it forward. When your narrative becomes a shared narrative — held by leaders, teams, and clients — the brand becomes much more resilient.

2. A strong brand must be a business asset, not a personal identity

A brand tied too closely to the founder can limit growth.

What buyers look for is consistency, clarity, and measurable equity:

• a repeatable customer experience

• a recognisable identity

• trust that extends beyond one individual

• visual and verbal consistency across touchpoints

When the brand stands on its own, buyers see a scalable asset — not a personality-driven operation.

3. Start early — identity transfer takes time

Most founders begin this process far too late, often only after an acquirer shows interest or burnout hits.

But detaching your identity from the brand is both a strategic and an emotional journey. It requires:

• narrative transfer

• leadership development

• brand guidelines and consistency

• transition of key relationships

• clarity about your role post-exit

Early shifts create enormous long-term benefits: smoother due diligence, stronger valuation, and a far more grounded personal experience during the sale.

What’s Coming Next

In early 2026, Mark and I will be launching:

• the Founder Self-Score Checklist

• a masterclass based on our Six Pillars Framework

• practical tools to support founders preparing for scale, succession, or exit

Our goal is simple: to help founders transform their legacy into a brand that can grow beyond them — and to exit with clarity, confidence, and dignity.

More updates coming soon.