The ongoing transfer of wealth, deemed the greatest in history, signifies a remarkable shift of assets from one generation to the next. This transfer from baby boomers to the younger demographics of Generation Z and millennials (often referred to as Zennials) is estimated at $100 trillion.
It's worth contextualizing the magnitude of this wealth transfer to understand its potential impact. It dwarfs the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for 2023, which is estimated at around $26.24 trillion. Investment banker and philanthropist Ken Costa anticipates seismic effects resulting from this transfer of wealth, given that future generations inheriting these riches have different viewpoints from their boomer predecessors.
This historic transition has multiple implications across various facets of society. Markets are bound to witness significant shifts in investment trends and asset allocation. Meanwhile, financial institutions must quickly adapt to the changing landscape. Real estate markets may experience fluctuations, and the labor force could undergo transformations as younger generations gain greater financial autonomy.
The business sector is arguably the one to be most affected by the impending wealth transition. Both boomers and millennials face challenges—the former with formulating robust succession plans and realigning their business values with the expectations of the next generation and the latter with leveraging their newfound wealth to positively impact the economic environment.
Harish Chauhan, the owner and founder of Exit Richer, an educational technology company based in Toronto, Canada, aims to help owners and owning families grow their businesses to meet their exit and generational wealth goals. He has spoken at prestigious conferences and authored influential publications, positioning himself as a leading figure in the business prosperity field.
Chauhan leverages decades of experience in delivering value to organizations and individuals to assist entrepreneurs in building valuable, sellable companies with tax-effective solutions to maximize their wealth upon exit – hence Exit Richer. Developed by Chauhan in collaboration with seasoned entrepreneurs and subject matter experts, Exit Richer is an educational technology platform offering various courses covering every step of the growing and exiting process.
One such entrepreneur, Chauhan's former client, is an excellent example of exiting richer, having sold his company for a 13x multiple, amassing generational wealth. His success story informs the platform's content, which educates users on a six-step process designed to optimize business exits.
The six-step process outlined by Exit Richer begins with "Endgame." It emphasizes the importance of setting clear goals for the desired outcome of the business exit. "Prosperity Creation" focuses on building value and engaging employees through profit-sharing and people-performance incentives. Meanwhile, "Scaling" involves leveraging intangible assets for sustainable growth. Here, Chauhan emphasizes that 84% of a business's assets are intangible.
The founder champions a proprietary strategic methodology called a Unifying Philosophy (UPh®) to address the challenge of managing, maximizing, and monetizing those intangible assets. He describes a UPh as the "'DNA' of a company constructed in six words or less." Chauhan's UPh is different from the typical mission and vision statements. UPh has been proven to achieve stakeholder alignment, brand implementation, and business succession and help with the value creation of both intangible and tangible assets.
Chauhan's UPh predates and reinforces Jim Collins's "Hedgehog Concept," a similar idea outlined in the latter's book titled Good to Great. Both concepts focus on identifying the key principles for business success. However, Chauhan's methodology isn't only a theoretical framework. He has developed a detailed process for creating and implementing a UPh, citing real-world examples of its effectiveness, such as the successful sale of a client's company. A renowned professor at San Francisco State University also validated Chauhan's methodology based on his Grounded Theory approach.
Besides the UPh, Chauhan also employs the Three Whys framework to provide a roadmap for understanding individual motivations. This concept also predates similar ideas by American author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek and leverages the wisdom of late management guru Peter Drucker. It encompasses three 'whys', personal impact, industry impact, and global impact.
Following "Scaling" are steps four to six—"Staging the Company," "Moment of Truth," and "Pride"—guide users through the preparation, negotiation, and post-exit phases. With these, Exit Richer helps individuals smoothly transition and fulfill their personal and professional goals.
To ensure the platform delivers comprehensive technical expertise, Chauhan is collaborating with and seeking industry professionals from every facet of the growth and exiting process.
"We want to give younger entrepreneurs, particularly millennials, the knowledge, tools, skills, and access to experts required to build businesses that satisfy one of their three 'whys'," says Chauhan.
Exit Richer intends to offer a pre-sign option that's free of charge. It'll also provide a pre-sale option at a reduced cost compared to the lifetime membership fee.
Consequently, Chauhan plans to launch a global sweepstakes campaign with the mission of helping every entrepreneur exit richer. "We'll be providing six free licenses to our platform to every single country," he says. Participants will be categorized based on their startup stage or revenue to ensure fair representation across all levels of entrepreneurship. Chauhan's primary objective with this campaign is to give six promising companies in each country the chance to exit richer. "We're currently in the process of looking for subject matter experts in every country to serve this global audience, to assist entrepreneurs between zero and $1bn in annual revenue to maximize the after-tax proceeds upon exit," Chauhan says.
