Emily Potts Coaching

Helping founders build value, create options and prepare for a future exit

I’m Emily Potts, an exit strategist and transition coach working with owners of established SMEs.

I help founders prepare their business, and themselves, for a future exit before they have necessarily decided exactly how or when that exit will happen.

You may know you won’t run the business forever, but still be unclear about what you want an exit to achieve, what the business can realistically support, or what needs to change to put you in a stronger position.

That is where Exit Compass comes in.

My work focuses on three things:

• Assess – understand where you and the business are today, and what you want an eventual exit to achieve
• Prioritise – identify what matters most given your ambitions, timing and options
• Strengthen – build value, improve transferability and create greater choice

That can mean reducing owner dependency, strengthening leadership and systems, addressing customer or revenue concentration, exploring succession or ownership options, and getting clearer about what you actually want from an exit.

I typically work with owners of established, profitable SMEs who know they won’t run the business forever, but may not yet have decided exactly how or when they will step away. They may be considering a sale, succession, MBO, EOT or simply reducing their day-to-day involvement.

I bring together commercial and strategic thinking from my management consulting background, first-hand experience of building, leading and selling my own business, and professional coaching expertise for the leadership and personal challenges that come with change.

I started my career at Accenture before spending more than a decade building and leading my own online retail business through to sale.

I work alongside accountants, lawyers, corporate finance advisers and other specialists where needed. I don’t sell businesses and my fee does not depend on a transaction happening, so the focus stays on the outcome that is right for the founder and the business, bringing a whole-business and founder perspective to the preparation process.

Post-exit support

I also work separately with founders navigating the transition after a sale, including handovers, earn-outs, changing roles and working out what comes next.

Many find that adjusting to life after the deal, and working out what they want the next chapter to look like, is unexpectedly one of the most difficult parts of the whole process.

I am an EMCC-accredited Senior Practitioner and hold the ILM Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching & Mentoring.

My style combines commercial thinking with warmth and constructive challenge. I create a confidential space where founders can think openly, test assumptions, explore concerns they may not feel able to share elsewhere, and turn insight into practical action.

No one runs a business forever. The earlier you prepare, the better the options you can create.