Thinking about handing your business over? What could this mean for your and your team?
Today we’re taking inspiration from Spotify’s founder, Daniel Ek, who is transferring from his role as Chief Executive to Chairman. We take a look at how this could affect him and his staff, and what steps you could take if you’re thinking of changing your role.
Preparing Your Business for Life Beyond You
When Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek announced he would step down as chief executive, it made headlines. After nearly 20 years running one of Europe’s most successful tech companies, he’s shifting into a chairman role and leaving day-to-day control to two long-serving deputies.
For most business owners, the sums and scale are very different – but the principle is the same. At some point, you may want (or need) to step back. Maybe that’s for retirement, maybe to focus on new opportunities, or simply to avoid burning out. The question is: how do you prepare your business to thrive without you in the driver’s seat every day?
Here are some practical steps worth thinking about:
1. Build a capable leadership team
Ek’s handover wasn’t sudden. His deputies have been running much of the business since 2023, which means staff and customers are already used to them leading.
For a smaller business, this might mean gradually giving key managers more responsibility. Let them make decisions, even if you’d sometimes do things differently. Better to iron out issues while you’re still around than to hand over untested.
2. Separate ownership from management
Many founders assume stepping back means selling up. Not necessarily. Ek is still chairman and still guiding long-term strategy, for the time being at least, but no longer managing the day-to-day.
As a business owner, you could consider keeping your shares and remaining involved at board level, while hiring or promoting someone to run day-to-day operations. That way you benefit from the company’s growth without being tied to the grind.
3. Get your systems in order
The bigger the reliance on “what’s in your head”, the harder it will be for anyone else to run things. This isn’t always easy to detect, particularly if you enjoy being in the middle of things.
You could ask yourself: how many decisions come my way during a typical day? Do all those decisions need my input, or if some of the business processes were written down could staff get things done without waiting?
Having up-to-date procedures, good accounting systems, and clear contracts with customers and suppliers can all help. The more clarity there is, the less your team has to guess.
4. Think about your own role differently
Ek is shifting his focus to strategy, capital allocation and regulatory efforts – this long term, strategic work is likely to be work that he is best placed to do. This is a useful way of thinking about your own role.
Ask yourself: what are the tasks that genuinely require you? And what could be delegated?
Freeing yourself from day-to-day firefighting gives you time to work on the bigger picture.
5. Plan the story you’ll tell staff and customers
Spotify’s share price dipped when Ek’s decision was announced, a reminder that transitions can unsettle people. The same is true in smaller businesses – staff may worry about job security and customers may have concerns about service quality.
Good communication can help. Explain the plan, show confidence in your team, and reassure people.
A final thought
You don’t need to be running a global giant to learn from this. Every founder has a choice to make about how long they stay hands-on. Planning your own “step back” early can help to make your business stronger, give you more options, and protect the value you’ve worked so hard to build.
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3rv35xp07lo
Autumn Budget 2025 – What Might Be Coming for Businesses?
The Autumn Budget will be delivered on 26 November, but the Chancellor’s recent speech in Liverpool gave us some useful hints about what could be on the table.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to prepare the ground when she said: “We will face further tests, with choices to come, made all the harder by harsh global headwinds and long-term damage to the economy, which is becoming ever clearer.”
Her comments note two factors:
- Global headwinds – trade tensions, wars and higher interest rates driving costs up.
- The UK’s own productivity problem – the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is due to publish a critical reassessment of the long-term productivity performance of the UK economy.
In short, the message seems to be: don’t be surprised if taxes rise, and don’t expect giveaways.
How might taxes be raised?
It looks as though there will be no change to the main tax rates (Income Tax, National Insurance and VAT). When pressed on whether VAT could rise, the Chancellor said: “The manifesto commitments stand.” She further said that she wants to protect pay packets and “not put up the prices in shops” – which also makes a straight VAT rise unlikely. But she hasn’t ruled out changes elsewhere.
One option for raising money without headline rate rises is to keep tax thresholds frozen. As wages rise with inflation, more people and businesses get dragged into higher tax bands.
Pensions, housing-related tax breaks, and other business reliefs could also be reviewed. The government may frame these as closing “loopholes” rather than introducing new taxes.
Reeves has also confirmed that there could be changes to the legally required biannual forecasts carried out by the OBR. When the mid-year OBR forecasts don’t meet expectations, the resulting speculation about tax changes can lead to wider instability. These forecasts might now only happen once a year, which could help with this.
What this could mean for you
We won’t know the detail until the budget is delivered at the end of next month. But this Budget is unlikely to bring windfalls for business – it looks like it could be more about stability and plugging gaps in public finances.
As ever, preparation is key. Keep an eye on the announcements and be ready to adapt. We’ll be keeping you informed with details of what’s changed following the Budget. As ever, if you would like any personalised advice please give us a call. We would be happy to help you!
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6x07j9e43o
£150 Million Boost for Creative Industries Across the Regions
Creative businesses and freelancers outside of London could receive increased support following a government announcement aimed at accelerating growth in the sector.
Six regions with established strengths in film, TV, music, fashion and video games will each receive £25 million to grow their creative industries. The funding is part of the new Creative Places Growth Fund, first outlined in June’s Creative Industries Sector Plan.
£25 million each for six regions
The money will be spread equally across:
- Greater Manchester
- Liverpool City Region
- North East
- West of England
- West Midlands
- West Yorkshire
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy confirmed that the allocations will be devolved to local Mayors, giving them scope to tackle regional challenges and opportunities in their community. The funding will be provided over three years, starting in the 2026 financial year.
£8 million in grants for SMEs today
Alongside the regional funding, more than 100 micro, small and medium-sized creative enterprises across 12 regions are receiving a share of £8 million in Create Growth Programme grants.
Grant sizes range from £20,000 to £140,000 and are designed to help firms commercialise new ideas and access resources, knowledge and private investment that will help them to scale up.
Some of the recipients include:
- Translating Nature, an art and design studio in Margate
- King Bee, an animation studio in Hertfordshire
Whether you’re in line for government support or not, if you run a creative business and would like help to see how you could grow and scale your business please get in touch. We would be happy to help you!
See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/six-regions-receive-25-million-to-bolster-creative-industries