2.9 million American businesses, with $6.5 trillion in revenue, are owned by people over 55, and almost half have no succession plan. Employee ownership could keep those businesses rooted in their communities, but few owners ever consider it.
With MEDlab and the State of Colorado, I built a campaign that reintroduces employee ownership as a way for owners to keep doing what they love: building their businesses and communities.
Problem
More than half of America’s small business owners are over 55, and the average owner plans to step away at 63. When that day comes, the options on the table aren’t great. They can sell to a competitor, a corporation, or private equity. They can pass the business to a family member, if one wants it. They can keep putting off the decision. Or they can close the doors and turn off the lights.
The business owners who built our communities deserve better exits than the market is offering them. So do the businesses they built, the employees who helped build them, and the communities that supported them along the way.
Insight
According to a 2025 U.S. Bank survey, 46% of small business owners have no succession plan. My hunch was that two things keep them from making one: none of the options feel worth embracing, and they simply aren’t ready to step away from something they’ve spent so much time and effort building.
Fair enough. For many owners, their business is more than a job. It’s how they provide for their families, their employees, and their communities. It’s a part of who they are, and planning for the day they give that up is a hard sell. So rather than offering a better exit, I set out to offer a way to keep doing what they love.
Solution
I delivered everything the partners would need to take the campaign live: a full brand strategy, colors and typography, a campaign logo with an animated version, and an Instagram campaign. The strategy is the core of it.
It starts with the audience, which I call Generational Builders: owners who measure success beyond revenue. They’ve spent their careers providing for their families, employees, and communities, and they want their exit to reflect that.
For them, employee ownership isn’t a way out. It’s how they honor what they built. That idea became the foundation of the campaign and shaped its name. Build On presents stepping back as a continuation instead of an ending, and tells owners they’ve made something the next generation can build on.
Where it stands
- Presented to MEDlab
- MEDlab and the State of Colorado plan to use Build On in their outreach to business owners
Tools
- Claude (strategic sparring partner)
- Figma (planning and slides)
- Adobe Illustrator (visual design)
- Adobe Photoshop (visual design and mockups)
- Principle (logo animation)
