Deep Dive: Employee Ownership—Ultimate Accountability or Recipe for Chaos? | Monday Next Episode 7 скачать в хорошем качестве

Deep Dive: Employee Ownership—Ultimate Accountability or Recipe for Chaos? | Monday Next Episode 7

In this episode of Monday Next, Scott and Meredith go deep on employee ownership, specifically the ESOP structure that powers Here Comes the Guide. [https://www.herecomestheguide.com/] Meredith explains what an ESOP actually is, how employees vest, how share value gets set each year, and how the founder exit worked in real life. Scott brings the operator lens and asks the questions most founders are thinking but do not say out loud: Where does the cash come from? How long does this take? Does it really change behavior? And should a solo owner even consider this path? If you run a business between $2M and $20M, are thinking about an exit someday, or you keep saying you want employees to “act like owners,” this episode will help you think more clearly about what ownership really requires. QUICK JUMP LINKS 00:00:53 — Today’s topic: Here Comes the Guide is employee-owned 00:02:08 — Monday Moment: Meredith vs early workouts 00:03:40 — Scott’s discipline struggle: cheesecake and Whole30 00:05:05 — Monday Moment: Scott’s EO Accelerator talk and flow state 00:07:35 — Tool Time: Wispr Flow (voice-to-text) [https://wisprflow.ai/] 00:10:44 — Transition into ESOP deep dive and why Scott wants the chronology 00:11:25 — What an ESOP is and how vesting works 00:13:02 — Why the founder set it up and how the exit actually happened 00:15:13 — The mechanics: valuation, cash, loan, and tax advantages 00:18:51 — Who does the work behind the scenes and what changed after 2017 00:19:04 — How control works: the 100 voting shares 00:21:18 — Employee perspective: what you get, when you vest, what statements look like 00:25:21 — The younger employee problem: long timeline, “funny money” 00:27:25 — Core value “act like an owner” and what the ESOP changes in reality 00:30:21 — Profit share and quarterly incentives: the “right now” money 00:31:15 — Should you consider an ESOP? Meredith’s founder checklist 00:34:35 — Succession planning: the “hit by a bus” conversation 00:36:19 — Scott’s exit thinking: loving the game, not thinking about selling 00:39:20 — Does employee ownership reduce the pressure of being a sole owner? 00:41:32 — The “ownership fades” story: Scott’s truck analogy 00:43:53 — Future episode idea: How Meredith built Currently Reading 00:44:43 — This week’s micro-action: “If my employees were owners…” 00:46:27 — Monday Family Business: risk, dreams deferred, and why they built their own paths 00:52:16 — Final takeaways and next week: to scale or not to scale 00:53:32 — Where to find Scott and Meredith + how to support the show KEY TOPICS WE COVER What an ESOP is, and how the trust structure works How Here Comes the Guide bought out the founder Why transparency changes when employees are also owners The problem with long-horizon incentives for younger employees Why “act like an owner” is often unfair without authority and upside Exit planning, succession planning, and key person insurance THIS WEEK’S MICRO-ACTION Take 15 minutes and write down: “If my employees were owners, what would I do differently?” Choose one change you can implement this week in how you share decisions, numbers, or context. RESOURCES MENTIONED Wispr Flow: [https://wisprflow.ai/] EOS and leadership frameworks: [https://scottmonday.substack.com/p/eo...] Whole30: [https://scottmonday.substack.com/p/wh...] Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill): [https://scottmonday.substack.com/p/wh...] Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Accelerator: [https://eonetwork.org/accelerator/?sc...] Scott’s Substack: [https://scottmonday.substack.com] Meredith’s Currently Reading Podcast: [https://www.currentlyreadingpodcast.com] ABOUT SCOTT & MEREDITH We’re siblings who run two very different businesses. Scott runs kitchen & bath CRATE [https://kbcrate.com/], a systems-first construction company. Meredith runs Here Comes the Guide [https://www.herecomestheguide.com/], an all-women wedding venue platform built on relationships and trust. Monday Next is our weekly conversation about building better businesses, staying human, and challenging norms. CONNECT WITH US Monday Next on IG: [  / mondaynextpodcast  ] Monday Next on YouTube: [   / @mondaynextpodcast  ] Scott on LinkedIn: [  / scottmonday  ] Scott on IG: [  / scottmonday  ] Scott on TikTok: [  / scottmonday  ] Scott’s Substack: [https://scottmonday.substack.com] Meredith on LinkedIn: [  / meredith-monday-schwartz  ] Meredith on IG: [  / meredithmondayschwartz  ] Meredith’s Currently Reading Podcast: [https://www.currentlyreadingpodcast.com] IF YOU FOUND THIS HELPFUL... Please like, subscribe, and share this episode with a business owner who’d get value from it. It helps the show reach more leaders like you. Until Monday next....