If you’re a business owner starting to think about exiting your company, you already know it’s not as simple as just finding a buyer. The truth is, most businesses never sell. And the ones that do? They’ve usually spent years getting exit-ready.
In this episode of the Exit Insights podcast, Darryl Bates-Brownsword and Kevin Harrington share the backstory of how Succession Plus has evolved into Fabric Business Solutions—and why that matters for business owners looking to exit on their terms.
Darryl and Kevin reflect on their journey helping business owners increase business valuation, reduce risk, and prepare for sale. They explain why a business needs more than a strong profit line; it needs systems, reduced owner reliance, and a team of experts to help along the way.
One of the biggest takeaways? Exit planning is about building value—not just ticking boxes for a future sale.
“Buyers don’t want smoke and mirrors—they want to know your business can run without you.”
With Fabric, business owners now have access to a closed ecosystem of trusted partners—from CFOs to risk managers, M&A experts to estate planners. It’s everything you need in one place to plan a smooth, valuable exit.
Whether you’re looking to step back in a few years or just starting to consider succession planning, this episode will help you understand what real exit preparation looks like—and how Fabric can guide you every step of the way.
???? Show Notes:
- Why Succession Plus merged into Fabric Business Solutions
- The challenges of working in isolation during exit prep
- The five stages of exit planning
- Why valuation depends on more than just profit
- How Fabric supports business owners through a closed, trusted ecosystem
????️ Actionable Tips:
- Start exit planning 3–5 years before you want to leave
- Assess your business from a buyer’s perspective
- Eliminate owner dependence to improve valuation
- Consider hiring a fractional CFO to improve financial clarity
- Think beyond the sale—plan for life after the business
Transcription
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (00:00.000)
Welcome to the podcast that’s dedicated to helping business owners prepare for exit. So then you can go on and maximize the valuation of your business and even exit on your own terms. This is the Exit Insights podcast and we’re presented by Fabric. Now there’s a new name for you so that’s what we’re going to be talking about this episode. We’re to be talking about why the change from our why the change from our support and our backers being Succession Plus and how that’s evolved to Fabric. And Kevin and I are to give you the backstory because we think it’s a fascinating story and it’s an important one if you’ve been following the Exit Insights podcast for little while now and the characters behind it. So we’re going to share some insights around where we think we’ll, or where we’re currently planning to take this in the future.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (01:06.966)
our support and our backers being Succession Plus and how that’s evolved to Fabric. And Kevin and I are going to give you the backstory because we think it’s a fascinating story and it’s an important one if you’ve been following the Exit Insights podcast for a little while now and the characters behind it. So we’re going to share some insights around where we think we’ll or where we’re currently planning to take this in the future. And we’ll hopefully get you some excited about that direction as well. Kevin, welcome.
Haven’t seen you for a while. We’ve had a bit of a hiatus, I guess, or a bit of an early summer break, but now we need to get back into it and back into regular weekly episodes.
Kevin Harrington (01:47.294)
Yeah, all this rushing around Wimbledon and Henny Ragatti, you’re gonna have to stop that for now. Let’s get back to it, Darryl.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (01:57.666)
Get back to it. Yeah, well, I’ve been flitting around and enjoying the sunshine and and lovely weather and, you know, I won’t say turning into an Englishman because I’ll have my passport revoked, but enjoying what everything is. Summer. Brilliant. So where are we? We’ve we’ve we’ve missed a few episodes and we’ve probably missed about a month or maybe six weeks.
Kevin Harrington (01:58.246)
Get back to it. Yeah, well, I’ve been flipping around and enjoying this.
Kevin Harrington (02:07.27)
So where are we? We’ve missed a few episodes and we’ve probably missed about a month or maybe six weeks just while we’ve been going through all the bits and pieces with the transition and the backstory is that Succession Plus here in the UK has rolled into fabric and become part of Fabric Business Solutions.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (02:23.202)
just while we’ve been going through all the bits and pieces with the transition. And the backstory is that Succession Plus here in the UK has rolled into Fabric and become part of Fabric Business Solutions. And there’s a great reason why. So Kevin, a bit of background. how long is this story? How long have we been going? How long ago did we meet Tim at Fabric? Do you recall?
Kevin Harrington (02:36.677)
And there’s a great reason why. So Kevin, a bit of background. how long is this story? How long have we been going? How long ago did we meet? Gosh, I don’t know. So our Succession Plus UK business, we launched, well, you were slightly ahead of me, weren’t you? But that was 2018. I think that started and I joined.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (03:00.526)
2019, middle of 2019, we launched it and I reckon you came on maybe early 2020.
Kevin Harrington (03:06.213)
I think it might have been 2019. Anyway, we’re talking five, six years ago and Succession Plus, a great service for business for owner managed businesses in that, know, as we know, most businesses don’t sell. If they do sell, they don’t necessarily get the value they deserve to get. And one of the interesting things I think we discovered on the way was that
In isolation, it was always a struggle for us to do all the right things for clients. We’ve worked with some fantastic clients in the UK and we’ve helped them a great deal and increased valuations and so forth. But it’s a bit like taking a car along to a specialist and all they can do is work on the engine. But if you want the bodywork sorted out or the transmission or whatever, you had to go elsewhere.
What we had started to do was to say, well, it’s obvious how you fix this, isn’t it? As you work with services that help other businesses, business owners get everything they need. So not just the business exit planning and succession planning, but what about risk management and assurances and the finance support they need and so forth. And then when they do get the success, they…
wanted from exiting their business, they get the right wealth management so that they can make the most of the success they’ve had. And those conversations were happening with people like Partners and people like Fabric, which weren’t called Fabric when we first met them. We started talking to them probably, I don’t know, three years ago about the how well could we work together because we’re not doing exactly the same thing, but
our individual clients all need the same things. So that was really the genesis of it all. Yeah. So let’s tell the stories of timelines, shall we? And sort of go back.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (05:03.01)
Yeah. So let’s, let’s, tell the story as a timeline, shall we? And, sort of go back so people can thread it together when you’re hearing and you can see all the, the links of value that we’ve been, I guess, trying to embed and, create for, for businesses along the way. So what did we notice? Why did we start succession plus in the first place? Well, we’d been consulting and coaching and help helping businesses grow and increase
Kevin Harrington (05:10.755)
And you can see.
Kevin Harrington (05:22.308)
Why did we start Succession Plus in the first place? Well, we’ve been consulting and coaching, helping businesses grow and increase their size and their scale over many years. And we understood all of the steps that were required to take a business from one size to the next size. And as we know, businesses don’t grow at a nice smooth curve and on an exponential growth path. If you have a look at it, they actually grow in steps. And we’ve talked about this on the podcast a couple of times from memory.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (05:30.126)
their size and their scale over many years. And we understood all of the steps that were required to take a business from one size to the next size. And as we know, businesses don’t grow in a nice smooth curve and on an exponential growth path. If you have a look at it, they actually grow in steps. And we’ve talked about this on the podcast and a couple of times from memory. And I remember we’ve talked about the stages of growth and how every time you triple your size,
Kevin Harrington (05:51.876)
And I remember we talked about the stages of growth and how every time you triple your size, you need to rebuild all of your systems and infrastructure. And they’re the sort of stages and the steps that we help business owners prepare for. As that they grew, what are the new level of systems and infrastructure that you need to have in place to set you up and build that foundation for the next stage of tripling the size of your business?
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (05:57.998)
you need to rebuild all of your systems and infrastructure. And they’re the sort of stages in the steps that we’d help business owners prepare for. As they grew, what are the new level of systems and infrastructure that you need to have in place to set you up and build that foundation for the next stage of tripling the size of your business? And we built Succession Plus because we knew that just growing for growth sake,
Kevin Harrington (06:18.659)
And we built Succession Plus because we knew that just growing for growth’s sake wasn’t any good if you got a tap on the shoulder one day and someone would come and they’d make an offer for your business. And when they sort of looked under the covers, they realized that it wasn’t as good as it all seemed to be. So we recognized the need to get businesses exit ready. So if you wanted to get that exit, if you wanted to be one of the 20 % who actually got to sell their business,
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (06:23.678)
wasn’t any good if you got a tap on the shoulder one day and someone would come and they’d make an offer for your business. And when they sort of looked under the covers, they realized that it wasn’t as good as it all seemed to be. So we recognized the need to get businesses exit ready. So if you wanted to get that exit, if you wanted to be one of the 20 % who actually got to sell their business and get an exit on their own terms and get a good valuation as well.
Kevin Harrington (06:47.492)
and get an exit on their own terms and get a good valuation as well, then they were the 20 % were preparing. So that’s why we set up Succession Plus. And we teamed up with Craig at, he started Succession Plus in Australia and he had a methodology that he’d learned and he’d followed over the years. And what is that methodology? Well, it’s over the five stages and we’ve done another episode on the five stages. But as a reminder,
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (06:52.046)
then the 20 % were preparing. So that’s why we set up Succession Plus. And we teamed up with Craig who started Succession Plus in Australia. And he had a methodology that he’d learned and evolved over the years. And what is that methodology? Well, it’s over the five stages and we’ve done another episode on the five stages. But as a reminder, Let’s identify what the business has got. What are all the assets that
Kevin Harrington (07:16.641)
let’s identify what the business has got. What are all the assets that in the first stage you do? Let’s recognise it, let’s do a bit of a fact-find. Let’s See what the current state assessment is of the business and just get a starting point in the business and identify all the gaps and raise that awareness for the business owners so they can see and start to understand what’s holding the evaluation back from where they want it to be.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (07:21.006)
in the first stage you do, let’s recognize it, let’s do a bit of a fact find. Let’s See what the current state assessment is of the business and just get a starting point of the business and identify all the gaps and raise that awareness for the business owners so they can see and start to understand what’s holding their valuation back from where they want it to be. And we prepare a business insights report for those clients.
Kevin Harrington (07:44.747)
and we prepare a business insights report for those clients, Which is effectively, what’s the current state? Let’s do an assessment of the current state of their business. And what do we learn from that, Kevin? That’s always a massive eye-opener when we do that with clients, and we dig in, and we’re basically doing due diligence but from their side of the desk, and starting that educational process and the…
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (07:49.566)
Which is effectively, let’s what’s the current state? Let’s do an assessment of the current state of their business. And what do we learn from that, Kevin? That there’s always a massive eye opener when when we do that with clients and we we dig in and we’re basically doing due diligence, but from their side of the desk and and starting that educational process and of of what a buyer is going to want to do when they start looking looking to acquire the business.
Kevin Harrington (08:12.179)
of what a buyer is going to want to do when they start looking to acquire the business. And do you any stories that come to mind that were some aha moments for business owners?
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (08:17.954)
Have got any stories that come to mind that were some aha moments for business owners?
Kevin Harrington (08:28.01)
Yes, I mean, there’s many, I mean, we could do several episodes based on that as a opening question. But I guess the kind of really big thread that made me smile often was people saying, well, clearly my business is worth a multiplier times EBITDA or whatever, which is fair enough, isn’t it? It’s four times the profit, let’s say. And they get confused why people are interested in buying the business for that.
And it’s, think our role and the aha moment for the client is saying, well, why don’t you look at it from the buyer’s point of view, from the buyer’s perspective, and you’re dead right. If you’ve got a following wind, it’s worth four times the profit, your business, and of course it is. But what’s happening is you’re saying you’re gonna leave, and you’ve got the major contacts with the biggest clients.
And actually, you know, half the business is like you just disappear overnight. So actually the profit is probably going to be none at all the time we take out the two biggest clients. so actually it was about helping owner managed businesses realize the risk that’s going on. And in essence, lots of the conversations you and I have had with clients is about saying as a purchaser of a business, you’ve got a few million pounds you could invest.
Now, the start point is the person that’s going to buy it could just go and invest that relatively safely and earn three, four, five percent a year, know, medium risk, low risk type investments. So why should they go and put that business into buying this owner managed business where the risk is so high and the rewards aren’t going to be so great? So what do they do? They come in and negotiate it down. And the comfort of an owner managed business is one of the great things about it.
It launches, it evolves, it’s got that family feel to it. Everything just kind of works nicely because everyone’s loyal. But actually, when you talk about handing over the reins of the business to someone else, you need to have everything well trained. You need to have processes. You need to de-risk it. And I think that was one of the areas I said that probably made me smile the most, is that moment of dawning in people’s faces when they go, yeah, yeah.
Kevin Harrington (10:55.692)
Right, so what you’re saying is I’ve got to convince them this is okay and I can’t do that with smoke and mirrors. It’s got to be set up correctly. Absolutely, smoke and mirrors.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (11:04.639)
Absolutely. Yeah. Smoke and mirrors won’t work. It’s, I was speaking to someone earlier and they’re going, it’s different to selling a house. The fact that you’ve got a house is something you can sell and there’s a ready market for a house and it is where it is. And, and there’s a fairly established methodology for valuing it. Every business is different and it’s got a whole lot more moving parts in it. And therefore the valuation is a bit more complex, a lot more complex. And one of the bigger ha’s I, I,
Kevin Harrington (11:08.413)
speaking to someone earlier and they’re going it’s different to selling a house the fact that you’ve got a house is something you can sell them there’s a ready market per house and it is where it is and and there’s a fairly established methodology for value management. Every business is different and it’s got a whole lot more moving parts in it and therefore the valuation is a bit more complex a lot more complex and one of the bigger ha’s I always get with a client or we go through and do an assessment like that is we go
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (11:33.42)
you always get with a client when we’d go through and do an assessment like that is we go, well, your profits, not your profit. What a buyer is going to do is they’re going to look at your financials and they’re going to make some adjustments to those financials as if they were running the business. So they’re going to make some adjustments and they’ll prepare adjusted P &Ls to get a profit that they will use for valuing the business. And that way may mean replacing you, the owner with some employees to run the business.
Kevin Harrington (11:37.803)
Well, your profit’s not your profit. What a buyer’s gonna do is they’re gonna look at your financials and they’re gonna make some adjustments to those financials as if they were running the business. So they’re gonna make some adjustments and they’ll prepare adjusted P &Ls to get a profit that they will use for value in the business. And that way may mean replacing you, the owner, with some employees to run the business and…
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (12:02.85)
And there’s always some rude awakenings from the general rules of thumb that they were always aware of to now it’s getting a bit real. How is this really done? So that was a business insights report where we do an assessment of the current state of the business and start to get all of those ahas and awareness and start to educate the owners of, you you’ve heard about the urban myths about how business is valued and how they’re bought and sold. Let’s get into the nitty gritty.
Kevin Harrington (12:03.585)
there’s always some rude awakenings from the general rules of thumb that they were always aware of to now it’s getting a bit real, what, how’s this really done? So that was a business insights report where we do an assessment of the current state of the business and start to get all of those ah-hahs and awareness and start to educate the owners of, you you’ve heard about the urban myths about how business is valued and how they’re and sold, let’s get into the nitty gritty and start to expose the deep secrets if you like.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (12:30.506)
and start to expose the deep secrets if you like. And the big piece there is we’d go, well, here’s what your business, know, a buyer would be likely to value your business at today. And here’s what it could be worth if you closed all of the gaps. If you addressed all of the issues in your business, here’s the things that would make the business worth a bit more. And that you’d see their eyes light up and that’s always a fun time to go. All is not lost. Here’s what it could be worth.
Kevin Harrington (12:34.685)
And the big piece there is we go, well, here’s what your business, know, that a buyer would be likely to value your business at today. And here’s what it could be worth if you closed all of the gaps. If you addressed all of the issues in your business, here’s the things that would make the business worth a bit more. And that you’d see their eyes light up and that that’s always a fun time to go. All is not lost. Here’s what it could be worth. And let’s see if that number is bigger than your aspirational.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (12:58.956)
And let’s see if that number is bigger than your aspirational number. And then what we’d have to do is as part of Succession Plus is we’d go, OK, so here’s a program we need to follow to close all of those gaps. And we would often need to bring in and project manage other professionals. And we’d need to bring in professional people to upgrade and professionalize the finance function, change it from an accounts department to turn it into a finance function.
Kevin Harrington (13:03.125)
And then what we have to do is as part of succession classes, we go, okay, so here’s a program we need to follow to close all of those gaps. And we would often need to bring in and project manage other professionals. And we’d need to bring in professional people to upgrade and professionalize the finance function, change it from an accounts department to turn it into a finance function. And you need a good fractional CFO for that because a smaller SME doesn’t need a full-time CFO yet.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (13:25.942)
And you’d need a good fractional CFO for that because a smaller SME doesn’t need a full-time CFO yet, but boy do they benefit from an experienced and capable CFO who’s worked in bigger businesses. We’d need to do some risk analysis. We’d need to have a look at what all of the risks are in the business, just like a buyer would, and put a mitigation strategy in place and address those risks. We’d often need to do some marketing. Does the business outgrow in its current marketing?
Kevin Harrington (13:32.756)
Why do they benefit from an experienced and capable CFO who’s worked in bigger businesses? We need to do some risk analysis. We need to do, have a look at what all of the risks are in the business, just like a buyer would, and put a mitigation strategy in place and address those risks. We often need to do some marketing. How do we, know, does the business outgrow on its current marketing capabilities and what do they need to do to create some real assets in their business around their marketing?
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (13:55.478)
capabilities and what they need to do to create some real assets in their business around their marketing in a way that creates some predictable flow of new clients coming in. How there’s a real asset in their business. Do they need to create any IP? Do they need to create a methodology that they become known for in the marketplace? And we’d bring in experts and professionals to address all of these issues. And we couldn’t do it all ourself. And once we got to the point of
Kevin Harrington (14:02.088)
in a way that creates some predictable flow of new clients coming in. How there’s a real asset in the business. Do they need to create any IP? Do they need to create a methodology that they become known for in the marketplace? And we bring in experts and professionals who address all of these issues and we couldn’t do it all ourselves. Once we got to the point of, we need to maximize the valuation of the business by addressing all of these things.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (14:24.952)
Well, we need to maximize the valuation of the business by addressing all of these things. And the business owner says, yeah, I want to pull the trigger after working for two or three years to boost the valuation of the business and eliminate owner dependence and brand it up and get the branding up there and the IP and all these things, the systemization. And then they’re ready to sell.
Kevin Harrington (14:30.816)
and the business owner says, yeah, I want to pull the trigger after working for two or three years to boost the valuation of business and eliminate owner dependence and brand it up and get the branding up there and the IP and all these things, the systemisation, and then they’re ready to sell, then we’d have to bring in someone else to do either an M &A consultant or a broker or corporate finance or a PE house or someone else to help with the transaction because we didn’t do that ourselves.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (14:49.57)
Then we’d have to bring in someone else to do either an &A consultant or a broker or corporate finance or a PE house or someone else to help with the transaction because we didn’t do that ourselves. And then they’d end up with a bank account full of money. Hopefully, if they’ve done it right and we’ve done a good job and they’ve taken advantage of all the opportunities available to them. We couldn’t help them with that either. We had to get some some private client teams, get them some proper advice.
Kevin Harrington (15:00.616)
And then they end up with a bank account full of money. they’ve done it right and we’ve done a good job and they’ve taken advantage of all the opportunities available to them. We couldn’t help them with that either. We had to get some private client teams, get them some proper advice, depending on how much money they’d ended up with their bank account, how much tax they need, know, they’d be aware of tax and other opportunities and strategies they needed to take advantage of, estate planning to manage their wealth.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (15:18.894)
depending on how much money they’d ended up with their bank account, how much tax they need, they had to be aware of tax and other opportunities and strategies they needed to take advantage of, estate planning to manage their wealth, get some lawyers into estate planning. We had to introduce those as well. Now, the exciting thing is, with Fabric, we in succession plus would go, we’d identify the valuation of the business with that assessment.
Kevin Harrington (15:30.494)
get some lawyers into estate planning, we had to introduce those as well. Now, the exciting thing is, with Fabric, we in succession plus would go, we identify the valuation of the business with that assessment. We then work with them to protect it and build a business continuity plan and work with some, so we introduce partners and we work with various professionals to help with that risk assessment.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (15:46.242)
We then work with them to protect it and build a business continuity plan and work with them. So we’d introduce partners and we’d work with various professionals to help with that risk assessment. And then once we’d shored up the valuation there, we’re able to maximize the valuation. And that’s where we get Kevin’s expertise and my expertise and another business architect’s expertise within succession plus.
Kevin Harrington (16:00.604)
And then once we shored up the valuation there, we’re able to maximize the valuation. that’s where we get Kevin’s expertise and my expertise and another business architects expertise within Succession Plus. And through all of our experience and knowledge and our frameworks and methodologies, we’re able to maximize valuation and systemize and secure it. And then we have to hand it over to someone else to get help along the way. Tim with Fabric.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (16:12.562)
And through all of our experience and knowledge and our frameworks and methodologies, we’re able to maximize evaluation and systemize and secure it. And then we’d have to hand it over to someone else to get help along the way. Tim, with Fabric, was starting from the other end of the spectrum. Tim’s got amazing experience in working with private clients and managing wealth and generational wealth and estate planning and structuring and
Kevin Harrington (16:29.246)
was starting from the other end of the spectrum. Tim’s got an amazing experience in working with private clients and managing wealth and generational wealth and estate planning and structuring and doing all those things you have to do to manage money. It’s a regulated market and he’s got years of experience in private clients. Tim was starting there and he was working backwards and recognising that a lot of his clients are in the business.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (16:41.55)
doing all those things you have to do to manage money. It’s a regulated market and he’s got years of experience in private client. Now Tim was starting there and he was working backwards and recognizing that a lot of his clients owned businesses and their biggest asset or their biggest risk was associated with their business because that was their biggest asset and it was locked down.
Kevin Harrington (16:57.647)
and their biggest asset or their biggest risk was associated with their business because that was their biggest asset and it was locked down. They had a massive risk when it comes to trying to extract the value from that asset. So he was working back from looking up to the wealth of the individual and the family and the shareholder and coming back to going, okay, so how do we secure your business so that your business will give you what you want and give you the freedom?
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (17:07.288)
They had a massive risk when it comes from trying to extract the value from that asset. So he was working back from looking after the wealth of the individual and the family and the shareholder and coming back to going, OK, so how do we secure your business so that your business will give you what you want and give you the freedom that you’re looking for? So he was approaching it from one end. We were approaching it from the other. And, yeah, what
Kevin Harrington (17:28.03)
He was approaching it from one end, we were approaching it from the other. yeah, what we were both finding as we working in the market is we both knew the CFO Center, we both knew that you both were partners and both of those partner companies were saying to us, you guys are, you’re doing very similar things and between you, you complete the picture. How old do know each other? Maybe you should, the guys should talk.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (17:34.734)
what we were both finding as we’re working in the market is we both knew the CFO center. both knew, we did work with partners and both of those partner companies were saying to us, you guys are, you’re doing very similar things and between you, you complete the picture. How well do you know each other? Maybe you guys should talk. And we did get together and we talked and well.
Kevin Harrington (17:57.765)
And we did get together and we talked and well, we figured that the best thing to do was to join forces. And so we’ve rolled Succession Plus in the UK into Fabric and we’ve joined forces and we’ve got a much bigger footprint now than we had before. And there’s the short story, I guess, if you like, of how we’ve converted to join with Fabric. Kevin, as always, I’ve…
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (18:01.644)
we figured that the best thing to do was to join forces. And so we’ve rolled Succession Plus in the UK into Fabric and we’ve joined forces and we’ve got a much bigger footprint now than we had before. there’s the short story, I guess, if you like, of how we’ve come to join with Fabric. Kevin, as always, I’ve glossed over the headlines and you’re much better at telling a story.
Kevin Harrington (18:26.413)
boss over the headlines and telling a story. What have I missed? What are the audience sitting there going, yeah, but Darryl, you didn’t address this. What are the gaps I’ve left? gosh, I think you did quite a comprehensive job there. I really the point, the point around this is that, yeah, this is the Exit Insights podcast and we’re explaining how our business associations have changed and it’s being rolled into fabric. This didn’t happen overnight.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (18:30.747)
What have I missed? What are the audience sitting there going? Yeah, but Darryl, you didn’t address this. What are the gaps I’ve I’ve left?
Kevin Harrington (18:55.996)
some sort of knee jerk reaction to an overnight idea. We’ve been talking with Tim and the team at Fabric for years and working together in a marketplace. And it was obvious early on that it was right. And it’s very reassuring that now we’re making that move because it is right. And the point is it’s right for all of our clients.
Yeah, it’s great for us, isn’t it? The setup and the organization is wonderful. But the real positive attribute to this is it’s great for a client because they’re entering into really kind of a closed ecosystem. This is not some service you sort of go through the old yellow pages or look up on Google. It’s there, but you’ve got to find it. But when you find it,
everything you need for your high net worth lifestyle, your SME that’s turning over, I don’t know, five to 250 million pounds, sort of thing. Everything you need for managing your business today and exiting it and your lifestyle afterwards is all there. And so in the past, we were only looking at people that were ready to exit.
and they started that journey too late. Fabric helps look after and support businesses way before people are thinking of leaving. So actually the exit becomes even easier. And working with us as a group with the CFO center type things going on, the partners and Fabric and the business exit stuff that we’ve been doing, people are assured of really the best attention and it makes a journey easier.
I think back to some of the clients we’ve dealt with and the number of them that were exceptionally good at running their business day to day and making money and marketing it fantastic. But at no point had they many of them anywhere had ever sold their business. And marketing your business to sell it is different to marketing your business to get people to buy your products and services. So why on earth should you know how to do that? Fabric becomes the specialist
Kevin Harrington (21:24.335)
bureau that can support you and help you on every stage and make a fundamental difference to how it feels and what the outcome is. Yeah, 100%. And I like your terminology, closed ecosystem. We’re talking to you. What’s the market?
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (21:33.666)
Yeah, 100%. And I like your terminology closed ecosystem. We’re talking to you. And what’s the market fit here? As you say, five million in revenue at least, and probably about a million pounds in EBITDA. They’re the sort of businesses that are established and they’re looking to get value and really create that exit on their terms. They’re not sitting around going through Google going, I need some exit planning.
Kevin Harrington (21:44.699)
and probably about a
They’re the sort of businesses that are established and they’re looking to get value and really create that exit on their terms. They’re not sitting around going through Google going, I need some exit planning. They’re likely to have other advisors like a CFO in place or working with someone like partners who are really doing some great risk assessment in their business. And those people are going, hey, look, Mr. Clive, you’re really looking to increase the valuation of your business.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (22:01.656)
They’re likely to have other advisors like a CFO in place or working with someone like Partners And who are really doing some great risk assessment in their business. And those people are going, hey, look, Mr. Klein, you’re really looking to increase the valuation of your business. Have you considered to look at your business from a business planning perspective and looking at growing the valuation year by year, as opposed to just putting together a business plan and growing the revenue and the profit year to year?
Kevin Harrington (22:18.159)
Have you considered to look at your business from a business planning perspective and looking at growing the valuation year by year as opposed to just putting together a business plan and growing the revenue and the profit year to year? Have you considered that as part of your exit planning just to make sure you’ve got the confidence that when the time comes everything’s going to be working like a Swiss watch? Have you got access to the private equity houses? Do you know which private equity houses are going to be interested in your business?
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (22:30.456)
Have you considered that as part of your exit planning just to make sure you’ve got the confidence that when the time comes, everything’s gonna be working like a Swiss watch? Have you got access to the private equity houses? Do you know which private equity houses are gonna be interested in your business? We can help you there. It’s all through introduction, it’s through that network, it’s through that closed ecosystem. If you’re gonna come to Fabric, in all likelihood, you’re gonna be introduced to us.
Kevin Harrington (22:46.95)
We can help you there. It’s all through introduction and through that network. It’s through that closed ecosystem. If you’re going to come to Fabric, then all likely good, you got to be introduced to us. We don’t have big websites out there telling everyone how to follow our marketing machine and follow through the steps to become a client. It’s that introduction because someone knows you’ve got that network. Someone who cares about you, he says,
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (22:57.624)
We don’t have big websites out there telling everyone how to follow our marketing machine and follow through the steps to become a client. It’s that introduction because someone knows you’ve got that network, someone who cares about you, it says, you need to talk to these guys. All of our business architects have been through exits before. They know the journey. They’ve been there, they’ve done that, they’ve completed their own exit.
Kevin Harrington (23:16.185)
you need to talk to these guys. All of our business architects have been through exits before. They know the journey. They’ve been there, they’ve done that, they’ve completed their own exit and they’re going, okay, I now want to help business owners learn from my experience and I don’t want anyone else to fall through the cracks. So how do we help them maximize that valuation and become part of that ecosystem with us? So there is that.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (23:26.286)
And they’re going, OK, I now want to help business owners learn from my experience. And I don’t want anyone else to fall through the cracks. So how do we help them maximize that valuation and become part of that ecosystem with us? So there is that. Some said it’s a bit like a private members club. I’m not sure how to frame that, but I think that the private ecosystem describes exactly what we do and how we get there and who we do it for. But.
Kevin Harrington (23:43.138)
Some said it’s a bit like a private members club. I’m not sure how to frame that, but I think that the private ecosystem describes exactly what we do and how we get there and who we do it for. the beautiful thing is that we’ve had a number of clients tell us over the years, it’s great having you involved and you understand and you’ve worked with the CFO center. You guys know the guys at Partners and.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (23:56.194)
The beautiful thing is, is that we’ve had a number of clients tell us over the years, it’s great having you involved and you, you understand and you’ve worked with the CFO center. You guys know the guys at partners. And when you guys all talk together on my behalf, because you all know our business and you don’t have to keep coming through me. If I give you permission, when you guys all work together, you help me get to where I want to go so much faster.
Kevin Harrington (24:10.158)
When you guys all talk together on my behalf, because you all know our business and you don’t have to keep coming through me if I give you permission, when you guys all work together, you help me get to where I want to go so much faster. Because you all understand the business at the same depth, because you’ve got the same cultural style. You’re inquisitive, you’re curious, you ask questions, you don’t just come in and tell me what to do. You want to understand my business.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (24:24.398)
because you all understand the business at the same depth because you’ve got the same cultural style. You’re inquisitive. You’re curious. You ask you ask questions. You don’t just come in and tell me what to do. You want to understand my business. You really get the feeling behind it. You get the purpose of what I’m trying to achieve. You get that passion there, that desire. You understand the hours of hard work. You understand the risk. You understand that I’ve had the highs. You understand the lows. You guys all seem to get that and
Kevin Harrington (24:37.143)
You really get the feeling behind it. You get the purpose of what I’m trying to achieve. You get that passion, that desire. You understand the hours of hard work. You understand the risk. You understand that I’ve had the highs. You understand the lows. You guys all seem to get that and understand the way I think. And therefore, I know you’re the right advisors for us and you can all get to where we want to go. Yes, nice summary.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (24:54.336)
and understand the way I think and therefore I know you’re the right advisors for us and you can help get to where we want to go.
Kevin Harrington (25:06.362)
You mentioned the analogy with a private members club. is good about a private members club? You get everything you want when you’re there. It’s comfortable. You trust the place and everything that goes on inside there is private and confidential. Those aspects are the same as working with us. Too many people try and complicate things. I think the world of consultants has a…
big spread of people. There are some people that just try and make life too damn difficult. And the reality is that most people have never exited their business before, haven’t had all these things to face. They’re very, very good at what they do. We’re there to make it easier by working alongside these people in providing as much help at the right time as is required.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (25:59.348)
And rest assured, absolutely, I like the way you’ve framed that up. We probably should leave it there for today. I think we’ve described the transition of where we’re going. What a future episode is going to look like. I think the first next episodes that we’ll be doing, I’m really looking forward to interviewing some of our other business architects who have joined the business like Kevin. Guys and girls who’ve got amazing backgrounds and experience.
Kevin Harrington (25:59.831)
Rest assured, absolutely, I like the way you’ve framed that up. We probably should leave it there for today. I think we’ve described the transition of where we’re going. What a future episode is going to look like. I think the first next episode that we’ll be doing, I’m really looking forward to interviewing some of our other business architects who have joined the business like Kevin. Guys and girls who have got amazing backgrounds and experience.
but they’ve all exited their business, been through an exit journey. Some have had better experiences than others, but they’ve all gone through and know what you’re experiencing as a business owner. So they’ve got great stories to tell and it’ll help you to get to know those people. We also plan to continue to talk to our partners. So we’ll be talking to some of our PE partners, we’ll be talking to some of the CFOs and case studies with the clients that we’ve worked with, with those guys.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (26:27.032)
but they’ve all exited their business, been through an exit journey. Some have had better experiences than others, but they’ve all gone through and know what you’re experiencing as a business owner. So they’ve got great stories to tell and it’ll help you to get to know those people. We also plan to continue to talk to our partners. So we’ll be talking to some of our PE partners, we’ll be talking to some of the CFOs and case studies with the clients that we’ve worked with with those guys.
Kevin Harrington (26:56.373)
and partners and some of the other partners we’ve been working with as well. So we’ll be keeping the theme of that closed ecosystem and we’ll be talking to all of our network within that ecosystem to share the wings, to share the stories and to get those business owners to say what an impact has been for them by working with this partnership. And rest assured, we’re not changing the name, exit insights, we think it’s a great name and it pulls everything together of what we’ve been working with.
Darryl Bates-Brownsword (26:56.374)
and partners and some of the other partners we’ve been working with as well. So we’ll be keeping the theme of that closed ecosystem and we’ll be talking to all of our network within that ecosystem to share the wins, to share the stories and to get those business owners to say what an impact has been with them by working with this partnership. And rest assured, we’re not changing the name, Exit Insights. We think it’s a great name.
pulls everything together of what we’ve been working towards for a number of years now. So we’ll keep the exit insights podcast. You may have noticed we’ve got a new website. You may have noticed we’ve got a new YouTube channel and we’ll be bringing those up to speed with a lot of the history and over time as well. So that’s it for now, Kevin. Thank you. And I’m looking to exciting future with you.
Kevin Harrington (27:24.984)
awards for a number of years now. So we’ll keep the Exit Insights podcast. You may have noticed we’ve got a new website. You may have noticed we’ve got a new YouTube channel and we’ll be bringing those up to speed with a lot of the history and over time as well. So that’s it for now, Kevin.
Thank you. And I’m looking to an exciting future with you. Yeah, that’s it. Thanks very much, Daryl.