Marketing and branding | Jul 6

How to build a brand that outlasts its founder

Marketing and branding | Jul 6

How SME leaders can reduce founder dependency, strengthen culture, and build long-term business value

Ian Wylie Journalist, broadcaster, educator

Reading Time 6 minutes

‘It’s easy to fall in love with what you’ve built. But on some level, you need to consider your business as an asset, especially if you want to exit.’ That’s one of the most important lessons Rachel Murphy, founder of The Grafter consultancy, learned after creating and exiting two businesses.

For many founders, the advice can be difficult to accept. Businesses often begin as extensions of their creator’s personality, expertise, and relationships. Customers buy from the founder, employees look to them for direction, and every key decision requires their input or approval. Yet if a business is to survive and thrive beyond its founder, those personal connections must eventually be transferred into something bigger: an organisation with its own identity, culture, and systems.

According to Kevin Ibeh, Professor of Marketing at Birkbeck Business School, building a brand that outlasts its founder requires deliberate action from an early stage. ‘Being intentional in pursuing that specific objective can help,’ he says. The organisation’s communications, messaging, and promotional activity should emphasise the business, its people, and its offerings rather than a single individual.

Businesses should also think carefully about who becomes the face of their marketing. ‘Using your Richard Branson-equivalent as the figurehead of your communications perpetuates loyalty to the individual,’ Ibeh warns, whereas highlighting the corporate brand and distinctive products or services is more likely to foster loyalty to the business itself.

This challenge applies to wherever you are on your journey. Think of The Body Shop which was built around the values and personality of founder Anita Roddick, but struggled to maintain that distinctive identity after she sold the business. By contrast, Apple continued to thrive after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs, demonstrating the value of strong succession planning, embedded culture, and a brand that extends beyond its founder.

Build systems, not dependency

Looking back, Murphy believes one of the most important steps she took was reducing customers’ reliance on her personally. In one of her previous businesses, services were consciously delivered by team members working from established processes rather than relying on founder intervention. ‘The process relied less on me than when I first started,’ she says. ‘This made selling it easier.’

Many founders unintentionally create organisations that depend on their constant involvement. While this can make them feel indispensable, it can also make growth harder and exit less attractive. ‘Ensuring the founder isn’t central to everything is vital,’ Murphy says. ‘Otherwise, the business needs to run without the hero-slash-founder being central to every task, or you just create a hideously busy job.’

A key part of solving this problem is documenting how the business works. Murphy believes creating detailed playbooks is essential because they allow knowledge, processes, and decision-making to be shared across the organisation. ‘Creating a playbook detailing processes is crucial,’ she says. ‘It shapes the narrative of your business’s origin and its potential when managed by others.’

Create a culture people can inherit

Systems matter, but culture matters just as much. ‘One of the biggest mistakes is not building a company culture and ensuring that this is widely and deeply shared across the organisation,’ Ibeh says. A strong culture helps ensure that employees understand the organisation’s values and behave consistently, regardless of who occupies the founder’s office. It creates continuity for customers and gives future leaders something to build upon.

Ibeh also highlights the importance of succession planning. Many founders either postpone it or approach it emotionally rather than strategically. ‘There’s a danger in elevating successors based on emotional considerations, rather than what the business needs,’ he cautions.

Murphy’s own experience illustrates the value of planning ahead. Before her second exit, she recruited senior leaders, including a delivery director and sales director. These appointments helped ensure the business could operate successfully without her involvement in every area.

Start preparing earlier than you think

‘I built the sell-pack two years before I was ready to do a deal, had the data room [where protentional investors or buyers can access confidential data and documents on your business] built and knew who was likely to buy us,’ recalls Murphy, of her second exit. Rather than waiting until she was ready to sell, Murphy spent years preparing the business structurally, financially and operationally. She also developed relationships with competitors and potential acquirers, giving her a clearer view of the market.

That preparation paid dividends. ‘Interestingly and rather unusually we received an extra multiple on our EBITDA purely because of the brand we created and how synonymous it had become with healthcare delivery,’ she says. A strong brand is not simply a marketing asset. It can materially increase the value of a business.

Institutionalise what makes the business special

Ibeh believes founders must also take steps to protect and embed the qualities that make their businesses successful. ‘Another mistake is not taking appropriate steps, in terms of governance, to institutionalise and protect what makes the business great,’ he says.

That means moving key knowledge, customer relationships, and values into systems that can survive changes in leadership. Customer relationships deserve particular attention. Rather than relying solely on personal connections, businesses should use customer relationship management systems and data to build a deeper organisational understanding of their clients. According to Ibeh, successful firms use these tools and skills to ‘understand, grade, and manage key customers on an ongoing basis’.

Prepare yourself as well as the business

Selling or stepping away from a business is often portrayed as the culmination of years of hard work. In reality, it can create unexpected questions about identity and purpose. Murphy says founders must prepare themselves for that hit.

‘You must prepare the business structurally and financially but as a founder, you must prepare yourself emotionally for what this will feel like,’ she says. ‘Whether you’re moving on as part of an earn-out or sailing off into the sunset, it’s a unique and often emotionally draining time for a founder, because you have achieved your dreams.’

Ian Wylie Journalist, broadcaster, educator

Ian Wylie is a journalist, editor, and broadcaster for the Financial Times, Guardian, BBC, Monocle, and others. For 16 years he was a staff writer, feature writer, and section editor at The Guardian newspaper. He also teaches on Newcastle University’s undergraduate and postgraduate journalism programmes.

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