Stuart Chrisp is a founder of executive search firm Rothbury Kinross, and Totara Investments.
Can you tell me about your background in business?
I'm actually on to my fifth career now. My first was as a lawyer, then I worked in banking and finance here and in the UK, then I branched out and brought the first Subway franchises to New Zealand. So I went from being a professional advisor, to actually rolling up my sleeves and doing it myself. Then around 16 years ago I ended up in recruitment, and have spent the past 12 years in higher-end executive search.
My current search business, Rothbury Kinross, essentially works with a lot of private businesses in growth mode, where they're doing things like transitioning from being run by a founder to bringing in professional management or professional boards.
And now I'm also involved in Totara Investments, which has two elements to its business: it's an investment fund and a consulting business aimed at high-growth, privately owned food technology and agri-tech businesses.
It's that experience with developing growth businesses that's given me a real interest in the area of exit strategies and succession, because I've seen that when it's done well it can have a big impact on the value of a business.
What are the trends you're seeing among the business owners you work with in terms of their planning for exit?
Generally the owners who are well organised in this regard have good advisors around them. One of the challenges for private business owners who have been running an operation for 15 or 20 years is a lot of their identity is tied to their business.