Inside a Founder-Led Scale-Up: Are You Really Suited to Build – and Share In – an Exit?

​A candid look at the risks, rewards and realities for those executive leaders considering or experience in founder‑led, high‑growth businesses.

For many leaders, considering joining a founder‑led scale-up feels like one of the more obvious ‘next step options’: closer to the value creation, more impact and perhaps even a possibility of sharing in a potential exit.

If only life was that simple! Pace, ambiguity, uncompromising founders and lean infrastructure can be thrilling and exhausting in equal measure. It can add rocket fuel to a career – or test your judgement, resilience and sanity! This “close-up encounter with the founder” session is for leaders who want a clear, honest from the horse's mouth view, of what people could be signing up for, and how to make it work if they do.

​What We’ll Cover

Hosted by Andy Young,  founder of Moorish Julie Waddell reflects on her experience, where she’ll candidly share elements of her journey and how she led Moorish to a successful exit. Highlights will include:

• Start-up → scale‑up → exit: what each stage really demands from senior leaders

• Where leaders working alongside a founder can add the most value – and where they can (unintentionally!) get in the way!

• The day‑to‑day reality behind the upside: pace, change, personality and culture

• How to think about risk, reward and equity when joining a founder‑led business

• What “a successful exit” might look like for SLT / Exec, not just for the founder

Expect an engaging, real life, BS free warts‑and‑all fire side chat.

​About Julie Waddell

Julie spent over 12 years building the disruptive food brand, Moorish, from her kitchen table, to early trading then through scale‑up to a successful exit.

Along the way she:

• Worked with a range of senior hires and advisors

• Learned what works – and what doesn’t – when “big business” leaders step into founder‑led environments

• Ultimately credits two key executives as critical to delivering the exit

Julie now runs a successful advisory business, helping and supporting a range of founders and businesses alike, harbouring ambitions to experience a scale-up journey. She’ll do this by providing a  founder’s lens on what makes a truly indispensable leader in a founders world.

​Register your Interest!

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