Still We Grow
Still We Grow was founded with a mission to fill a critical gap in the employee ownership landscape.
While the employee ownership business model is growing rapidly in the UK, many businesses transitioning to Employee Ownership Trusts (usually known as EOTs) lack ongoing advisory support beyond the legal and financial transaction. At Still We Grow, we believe there is a better way: combining multidisciplinary consulting with data-driven insights to help employee-owned companies thrive long after the transition is complete.
Employee ownership is one of the most exciting movements in UK business today. The sector has more than doubled in size since 2020 and contributes more than £30 billion to the UK economy1. Multiple studies show employee-owned companies are more resilient, with lower staff turnover and higher productivity than their traditionally owned peers2. By giving employees a direct stake in the companies they work for, employee ownership creates a powerful combination of shared purpose, collective responsibility, and long-term growth potential.
But selling a company to its employees won’t automatically incur these benefits. To succeed in its new iteration, newly EO businesses must navigate new financial, legal, leadership, and performance realities – often without much information.
While traditional legal and financial advisors are well-placed to support EO sales, a post-transition gap exists. It’s where the potential of an EO business can either be made or broken.
Addressing this post-transition gap – where EO businesses lack ongoing specialist advisory on governance, board operations, employee engagement and growth – is why Still We Grow exists.
Why employee ownership needs a different kind of support
The transition to employee ownership isn’t like a typical trade sale or private equity exit. Founders don’t just step away; they often remain in the business while a new leadership team, made up of long-standing employees, suddenly takes on ownership responsibilities.
This creates a unique set of “growing pains”:
- Leadership readiness: New, ‘emergent’ EO leaders may never have held senior roles before. As Still We Grow co-founder and leadership consultant Matt Wilden puts it.
The transition to employee ownership isn’t like a typical trade sale or private equity exit. Founders don’t just step away; they often remain in the business while a new leadership team, made up of long-standing employees, suddenly takes on ownership responsibilities.
This creates a unique set of “growing pains”:
- Leadership readiness: New, ‘emergent’ EO leaders may never have held senior roles before. As Still We Grow co-founder and leadership consultant Matt Wilden puts it.
- Founder shadow: Founders like the idea of preserving their legacy by selling to employees but the urge to stay involved in the business they began can be irresistible. The risk here is that founders fail to step away far or fast enough to let employee-owners step up.
- Cash flow dependency: Because employee-ownership trust (EOT) deals are typically financed through future profits, the founder’s payout depends on sustained performance, making financial resilience critical from day one.
Without the right guidance, these challenges can stall growth or undermine the promise of employee ownership.
A multidisciplinary, data-driven approach to successful employee ownership
Still We Grow combines commercial, financial, leadership, and design expertise to guide businesses through this complex journey. Each co-founder brings a complementary perspective:
- Fran Spence provides governance and financial expertise as well as insights from her role as an independent EOT trustee, ensuring businesses are both commercially sound and financially resilient.
- Matt Wilden focuses on operational excellence, leadership development, employee engagement and performance, helping new leadership teams build the confidence and capability to step up.
- Martin Chadwick uses his product design, UX and UI experience to make information and insights clear and accessible through Still We Grow’s proprietary SaaS platform.
By packaging data, expertise and insights into a dedicated, EO-focused SaaS platform, and offering EO-specific consultancy where needed, Still We Grow helps EO businesses answer their two most pressing questions: How do we grow after the transaction? And how do we do it sustainably?
As Martin explains,
Still growing, together
Employee ownership has been called one of the most impactful ways to align purpose with profit – and the evidence backs it up3. Employee-owned businesses consistently report higher employee engagement and longer-term decision making than their conventionally owned peers. But for companies to realise the full potential of going EO, they need more than a transaction. They need ongoing support to embed new leadership, develop new strategies, empower employees, and chart a sustainable path to growth.
That’s the role Still We Grow plays: a partner committed to making sure employee-owned businesses don’t just transition but flourish.
Ready to start your journey into employee ownership? Already proudly EO and interested in accelerating your growth through data-driven insights, multidisciplinary consulting and deep EO expertise? Contact us today.