Selling to private equity or just riding it out isn’t the only way to exit a business. Just ask Tim Rettig.
In this episode, Franziska sits down with Tim, an employee ownership advocate (it’s literally in his LinkedIn title 😉), who spent six years turning his IT company, InTrust IT, from founder-owned into 100% employee-owned. He didn’t plan on becoming an advocate for any of this. It started after watching a private equity deal blindside a company he was working with, and thinking, “I am never doing that to my team.”
So instead of selling to the highest bidder, Tim handed the business over to the people who actually built it with him, and set it up to keep going strong long after he left. 🔥
Key Highlights
✅ The private equity story that changed how Tim thought about exits (muddy boots included).
✅ What an ESOP actually is, and how employee ownership looks different around the world.
✅ Why opening up the books, and teaching staff what the numbers actually mean, mattered more than ownership itself.
✅ How it affected staff retention (people don’t love company takeovers, turns out).
✅ What Tim would do differently if he started the transition again.
✅ Why employee ownership might matter even more now, with AI and automation changing the game.
An honest conversation about building a business that lasts, for the owners, the employees, and whoever comes next. 🚀
Learn more from Tim Rettig by connecting with him on LinkedIn.
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