Do entrepreneurs ever really retire?
After a successful exit and a much-needed holiday, many entrepreneurs will be hotly pursuing their next challenge.
But the next chapter - whether it’s a new venture, project, paid or unpaid consultancy, charity work, non-exec roles or extensive leisure pursuits - is not always inmediately obvious and can take as much planning as the exit itself.
So just a little inspiration from a few well-known UK entrepreneurs who have been there and done that already…
Sarah Wood - co-founded and sold Unruly, a video ad tech company, to News Corp. Later took non-exec roles with Superdry and Signal AI, plus charitable work for the Prince’s Trust.
Simon Nixon - exited Moneysupermarket and went on to invest in start-ups like Kabbee and set up a luxury travel website.
Tom Singh - previous owner of New Look, has since set up an online marketplace for discounted clothes and ramped up his impact investing.
Julie Deane - founded and exited the Cambridge Satchel Company and now supports a range of UK cultural projects.
Michael Birch - one of the key people behind Bebo, he sold the company to AOL for $850M.. and THEN? He then bought it back 5 years later for $1M :) and now supports charities with major social impact, like charity: water.
Selling your business is not the end of the road, but a new opportunity to achieve your next success - however you choose to define that. Time to start planning your exit and your post-exit strategy..?