𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

An investor, a founder and a consultant might look at the same business very differently. But sometimes, their biggest challenges have exactly the same solution.

At ekwithree, we focus on high-value, specialist B2B service businesses. And while much of the business world is discussing how AI will transform professional services, the world is still driven by people, not robots.

That's why one of the most important questions in our due diligence remains fundamentally human:

⚠️ How much of a company's revenue could walk out the door with one key consultant?

Will clients follow? How quickly could the company replace the lost revenue? And how might this dependency affect its valuation? For founders, these are equally uncomfortable questions. After all, a business built around a handful of exceptional individuals can also become vulnerable to their departure.

But there is another side to the problem.

⚠️What happens when your most valuable consultant becomes your biggest bottleneck?

Imagine a consultant who is so good at what they do that clients insist on working exclusively with them. Their calendar is full, and they have little capacity to take on new clients or develop new responsibilities.

They have become indispensable. But they may also have become a bottleneck - both for their own career and for the company's growth.

These might seem like different problems, viewed from different perspectives. Yet the solution could be the same - and it could benefit everyone involved: the investor, who sees fewer red flags 🚨 during due diligence; the founder, who can sleep🌛 a little better at night; and the employee, who might discover an unexpected opportunity 🏇 for personal growth.

The surprising solution? 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.

It sounds counterintuitive. Why would a consulting firm want its best people to become replaceable? Because if nobody else can do their job, they can never move on to the next one.

Research published in Harvard Business Review (in comments) found that clients served by teams are much less likely to follow a departing professional than those working with a single individual. 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ: 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝐿𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑚, 𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐼𝑡? Sharing expertise, developing colleagues and building broader client relationships can therefore create value on several levels:

🟡 For the investor, it reduces key-person dependency and strengthens business resilience.

🟡 For the founder, it creates a company that can grow beyond the capacity of a few exceptional individuals.

🟡 And for the consultant, it creates room for career progression, new responsibilities and professional growth.

The goal isn't to make talented people less important. It's to make their impact bigger than their individual capacity.