Welcome back to another edition of The Wise Exit newsletter. This week, we're covering:

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I Didn't Plan Any of This

I first heard the phrase "accidental entrepreneur" from my friend and fellow Exited Founder, Shannon Wilburn. The moment she said it, I knew exactly what she meant. It's the perfect way to describe how a lot of us actually got here.

I didn't set out to be an entrepreneur.

I studied mechanical engineering, went into consulting, and had every intention of building a career the traditional way. Then I got pulled into a joint venture as employee number 15. That one experience, being close enough to see decisions play out in real time, good or bad, changed how I thought about work entirely. A few years later, that led to co-founding what became my first real startup.

I didn't have a five-year plan. I didn't build with exit in mind from day one. I just kept taking the next step in front of me.

A lot of founders feel like they're supposed to have this all figured out. Like everyone else can see 200 moves ahead on the chessboard, and they're the only one improvising. But building a business is more like climbing a mountain covered in fog. You don't need to see the summit. You just need to see the next few steps, and keep going.

Here's what I've learned since: Not having a grand plan doesn't mean you can't build something valuable. But at some point, you do have to get intentional, even if the beginning was accidental.

That intentionality isn't about predicting the future. It's about a few concrete things: understanding what buyers would likely think about what you have built, having the right people around you, knowing what "enough" looks like for you, and making sure your business doesn't fall apart if you're not the one holding it together every day.

None of that requires you to have planned this from the start. It just requires you to start now.

1️⃣ If someone asked how you got here, would your honest answer sound like a plan, or like a series of decisions that just kept working out?

2️⃣ What's one thing you got right by accident that you've never actually turned into a repeatable process?

3️⃣ If you stepped away for a month, would the business run fine, or would you find out how much still runs through you?

4️⃣ When was the last time someone outside your company challenged how you're thinking about your own business?

5️⃣ Have you ever put a real number on your business, or has it just always felt too early to ask?

☑️ Get a valuation, just to know: You don't need to be selling to want a real number. Curiosity is a good enough reason to find out where you stand today.

☑️ Start building an informal advisory network: It doesn't have to be formal or paid. Identify two or three people who've done something you haven't yet, and start those conversations now.

☑️ Pick one process to reduce founder dependency: Whether it's documenting how you make a certain decision or handing off a task you've been holding onto, start removing yourself from one part of the business this week.

That's all for this week. You don't need to have planned this from the beginning. You just need to start building with intention now.

If you're in London next week, I'll be talking through this exact topic live with Shannon at IDEAS Fest, where you can find me at the Exit tent. And if you want to talk through what building with intention could look like for your business, reply to this email or email me directly at [email protected].

Talk next week,

Brian Dukes, Managing Partner at Exitwise