What We Have Learned as a Boutique Adviser Working Closely With Founders

The Department for Business and Trade published its business population estimates on 2 October 2025. They put the number of UK private sector businesses at 5.7 million at the start of 2025. Small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 99.85% of them.

Behind most of those businesses is someone who built it, often over decades. After years of working closely with founders as a small, partner-led firm, we have formed some views on what makes a sale go well for them. These are some reflections.

1. Founders Are Selling More Than a Business

For most founders, the company is tied up with their identity, their income, and their relationships with staff and customers. A sale touches all of it at once.

We find the first conversation works best when it starts there, with what the owner wants from the sale, and not with a valuation range.

2. The Honest Conversation Comes First

The most useful thing we can do early on is give a realistic commercial picture. If expectations on value look out of step with how buyers will assess the business, it is better to say so at the outset.

That conversation can be uncomfortable. It still costs far less than a process that fails because the starting point was wrong.

3. The Future of the Team Weighs on Founders

Long-serving staff are often the first thing a founder raises. They want to know whether jobs are safe, whether the culture survives, and how the team will be treated by a new owner.

These concerns shape which buyers make the shortlist. A buyer with the highest price and no plan for the people may not be the right one.

4. Two Founders on One Deal Can Want Different Things

When Mars agreed to buy Hotel Chocolat in November 2023, the offer announcement valued the company at approximately £534 million. The two co-founders then made different choices. FoodNavigator reported that Angus Thirlwell was staying on and would reinvest 80% of his shareholding, while Peter Harris was "bowing out" and planned to retire.

Two people who built the same company, on the same deal, wanted different things. Neither choice is wrong. A founder's role after completion is negotiated, not assumed. We encourage owners to decide which they want before Heads of Terms, not after.

5. Close Involvement Means Fewer Surprises

In a small team, the people an owner meets at the start are the people who run the mandate. Founders share sensitive information about a business they have built, and dealing with the same few people throughout builds trust faster than any pitch.

It also means problems surface early. A concern raised in week two is a conversation. The same concern in week ten is a crisis.

In summary

Working closely with founders has taught us five things. Start with what the owner wants, be candid about value, take the future of the team seriously, settle the founder's own role early, and keep the same people involved throughout. The Hotel Chocolat example shows that even co-founders can want different things from the same sale.

At La Salle, we run a partner-led process from first conversation to completion. Our aim is to give founders a realistic picture and a clear path, so that a major decision feels manageable.

If you have questions regarding any stage of the sales process, reach out in confidence and we'll be happy to talk you through the process.