The Legacy Question Every Owner Should Ask

For a long time, the biggest question in business was: What is my company worth?

It is an important question. Owners take risks. They work hard. They deserve to build value.

But as I began thinking about the future of Ocaquatics Swim School, I found myself asking a different question.

Who benefits from what we built?

That question changed everything.

After 30 years in business, private equity firms were interested in Ocaquatics. The offers were real. The financial outcome would have been significant.

But I had spent decades building a culture around people, learning, and purpose. I could not separate the value of the company from the people who had helped create it.

So in 2024, I chose to sell 100 percent of my company to an Employee Ownership Trust for the benefit of our qualifying employees.

I chose what I see as a win-win-win option. It was good for our team members, who could participate in the company they helped build. It was good for our community, because future profits stayed in the community. And it was good for me, because I received fair market value for the business I had built over three decades.

This was not a sacrifice. It was not giving something away. It was a succession strategy that matched the values we had practiced for years.

The transition did not magically create an ownership culture. That culture had to come first. We had already spent years teaching people to take responsibility, understand the business, learn from mistakes, and make decisions for the long term.

But the transition made something official: the future did not have to depend on me alone.

Every founder will answer the legacy question differently. Some will sell, some will pass the business along to a family member.

I simply believe every owner should consider all of their options available and ask more than what they can take out of a company. Ask who gets to participate in what comes next.

The businesses we build shape families, opportunity, and communities. They also help define our legacy!