Different industries face different transferability challenges. Professional services struggle with relationship dependency. Online businesses face founder vision dependency. Trade businesses need generational knowledge transfer. Pick your industry, understand your specific challenges.
Agencies, consulting firms, accounting practices, law firms. Your challenge: clients trust you personally, not your firm. Relationship dependency destroys 30-40% of value post-transition.
Learn moreSaaS, content sites, affiliate businesses, info products. Your challenge: founder vision dependency, key partnerships, undocumented operational knowledge about what actually works.
Learn moreB2B services, field services, home services. Your challenge: pricing in your head, customer relationships personal, supplier leverage undocumented, quality control dependent on founder judgment.
Learn moreHVAC, electrical, plumbing, construction. Your challenge: generational knowledge transfer, technical skills don't equal business management, everything dad knew is undocumented.
Learn moreIT services, managed services, software development. Your challenge: project-based revenue trades at half the multiples of recurring revenue, technical expertise dependency.
Learn moreDTC brands, Amazon FBA, Shopify stores, dropshipping. Your challenge: platform dependency, supplier relationships, marketing channel knowledge, inventory management systems.
Learn moreWholesale, warehousing, fulfillment, 3PL. Your challenge: customer concentration risk, supplier relationships, operational systems that work but aren't documented.
Learn moreLight manufacturing, fabrication, production. Your challenge: equipment value doesn't equal business value, operational knowledge in founder's head, quality control judgment-dependent.
Learn moreMulti-unit franchise operators, franchise systems. Your challenge: unit-level performance varies by operator involvement, brand value separate from operational value.
Learn moreBrick-and-mortar retail, food service, hospitality. Your challenge: location dependency, staff turnover, customer loyalty to place not business, thin margins make transferability investment difficult.
Learn moreThe industry matters because the specific challenges differ. A professional services firm dependent on founder relationships needs different solutions than a manufacturing business with undocumented operational knowledge. The tactics are industry-specific.
But the framework is universal. Every business, regardless of industry, gets valued on the same eight drivers: Financial Performance, Growth Potential, Switzerland Structure, Cash Flow, Hub and Spoke, Monopoly Control, Customer Satisfaction, and Recurring Revenue.
The transferability problem is also universal. Does the business need the founder to operate? Can someone buy it and run it successfully? Will customers stay? Will the competitive advantages transfer? These questions apply whether you're selling a SaaS company or a plumbing business.
What changes by industry is where the dependency lives. Professional services: relationships. Online businesses: vision and partnerships. Trade businesses: undocumented knowledge. Manufacturing: operational judgment. E-commerce: platform and supplier dependencies.
The Love It or List It framework works across all industries. Build a business that doesn't need you, then decide whether to keep it or sell it. The specific work of building transferability differs by industry, but the goal is the same.
Pick your industry above. Understand your specific challenges. Then decide whether to assess where you stand (Reality Check), learn for free (Founder HQ), transform with peer support (Masters), or get custom implementation (Bootcamps).
Not sure which industry fits your business? Or need to understand transferability before diving into industry specifics?