How to Build an Executive Search Firm that Can Be Sold to a Successor, with Stephan Aschenbrenner

Is it possible to exit a small, boutique search practice where the owner is one of the primary billers? My special guest, Stephan Aschenbrenner, has found a way of making it possible.

Stephan is the CEO of EO Executives, a franchise network with offices throughout Europe. In 2011, he joined EO executives to build out their German territory. And after four years, they became one of Germany's top 50 executive search and selection firms. Stefan became the managing director of EO International Group in 2016 and became the owner in 2019.

Stephan’s goal is to help executive search professionals to build and scale a partner-led executive search firm and achieve annual billings of 2-4 million. The idea is to build a sustainable business that could be sold to a successor with a significant equity value.

Episode Outline and Highlights

[03:52] Stephan discusses the challenges and solutions to sustainably scale small boutique executive search firms.
[10:40] How Stephan’s retail background relates to growing recruitment businesses through partnership and franchising.
[14:05] Helping franchise partners to grow - Stephan shares the tools they provide.
[18:50] Leverage Level - enabling partners to maximize their time and productivity by providing assistants.
[21:45] Team Level - spreading business relationships within the partner’s team.
[26:30] Developing others - billing while building teams.
[33:50] Fostering a culture of training and coaching.
[43:33] Finding and retaining the right partners in a franchise setup.
[49:50] Building the equity value of a search firm.
[54:43] Why 12 is the magic number?
[57:32] Leveraging technology platforms.