In this short but powerful Wisdom From Wizards episode, I sat down with Michael Hoy, cofounder and...
Would you rather IPO and stay involved — or sell to a strategic buyer and walk away?
It’s a question many scaleup CEOs will eventually face. And in a recent episode of Wisdom From Wizards, Kip Hollister, CEO of The Hollister Group, offered a powerful perspective grounded in experience and care.
“I would want to stay involved for a designated amount of time,” Kip explains. “Not because I want to hang on forever — but because I want to make sure the essence, the consciousness of the organization stays intact.”
Kip isn’t talking about just operations or finances. She’s pointing to something deeper: the intangible culture and values that can quickly disappear when a founder exits too fast.
And that disappearance, she warns, doesn’t just erode morale. It undermines long-term value, even for the buyers.
“Sometimes the people buying don’t understand the value of that. And if they did, they could actually net so much more gain in the long run.”
It’s a lesson for any CEO building toward a liquidity event:
Don’t just optimize for the exit. Think about what survives after you’re gone.
Even if your goal is to walk away, Kip’s advice is to bridge the transition with intention. Align your departure with the preservation of what makes your company exceptional — because that’s what buyers are really betting on.
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