The process of selling a company is not just a business transaction but a deeply personal and challenging phase in the life of an entrepreneur. It’s a constant juggling act, where you must keep the business growing during the day, and at night, you’re consumed by the M&A process. The culmination of this journey is marked by a celebratory event after the deal is closed. The entrepreneur might continue to work for the acquirer for a few years before parting ways. And then, the inevitable question arises: what’s next?

Stepping into the post-sale phase is like stepping out of the limelight. Suddenly, your calendar is blank, and your days lack structure. There are no more employees to lead, suppliers to negotiate with, or customers to win over. You find yourself in a void, and navigating through it can be daunting. You enter a liminal space, the ambiance of which artistic photography captures well when it depicts spaces that don’t fulfill their primary task, such as an airport hall at night. It is an eerie space between what was and what comes next. After selling his business, one entrepreneur asked me, “What should I put on my business card now?”

Another challenge is dealing with the fact that suddenly, people need to manage wealth and transition from entrepreneur to investor. You also need a bigger letterbox. Suddenly, many people will want to become friends with you.

Nobody likes airports at night when they are empty. Most successful founders I interviewed fill the vacuum with reading, traveling, and meeting friends and family, but that is just the outside manifestation … How can people become introspective to deal with this transitory period?

They should try to endure and embrace this inner emptiness. Think about the last time you took a holiday after an intense period at work. After a few days, you might have felt unsurmountable fatigue or even become sick. That is when you start regenerating. Selling a company you have built with an incredibly intense effort can also be likened to a mourning period. It takes time. How long it takes varies from person to person. And maybe it’s a good idea to retreat to a mountain hut and leave the money-plastered streets of Zurich behind for a while…

Slowing down offers the opportunity to discover new perspectives. It can mark a shift from the imperative of wealth maximization to an ethical approach such as that suggested by the concept of purpose economy. Taking the time to ask which values are vital for you can yield exciting results. Take the example of the German entrepreneur Michael Hetzer. He transformed his second-generation family business into a foundation-owned company and became a role model for entrepreneurs who want to orient economic activity toward the common good.

How does one go about this self-finding mission on a practical and concrete level? Do you just sit down with pen and paper?

Giving yourself a moment of silence and contemplation is not a bad idea. It makes it easier to listen to yourself and find answers. “New work needs inner work,” as the slogan goes. In his theory of resonance, the sociologist Hartmut Rosa captured how we can decelerate to find a more meaningful connection with the world around us. When we organize workshops for people who want to see and define their vision, values, and purpose, we mix intense physical activity with meditation. Of course, we also sit down with pen and paper. We experience time and again how much potential there is in the interplay between doing and being.

Many successful tech founders become investors that support the next generation of entrepreneurs…

… which is brilliant because they have a wealth of money and experience, and a large network. Having spent sleepless nights poring over their business, they can also teach resilience to the next generation of entrepreneurs or act as mentors in other ways. Ideally, they find a way to align different levels in what they do. First, on an individual level, what they see as their higher purpose. Second, on the collective level, how to work on important topics together; third, how to do so in an entrepreneurial or investment context; fourth, how to advance what matters to society; and fifth, doing so within the limits of the planet and nature.

Let’s talk about money. Successful entrepreneurs need to park that somewhere. Private banks, by and large, all offer similar services. How do you choose a bank or multi-family office when you’re suddenly wealthy?

Choosing a multi-family office or private bank is difficult because the market is incredibly intransparent. Again, I suggest you take ample time to clarify your stance. Do you want to delegate all you can, participate in decisions or always have the last say? For one family, we organized a beauty contest. We asked 19 providers to draw up an asset allocation, identified five of them we wanted to get to know better, and finally, the family decided on one.

What did the winner do differently than the others?

The team of three people who worked together was very qualified in impact investing. They went to great lengths to identify the client’s core concerns. They listened, and they understood what the client meant by social impact. Their offer was much more individualized than their competition’s. They also didn’t just tell the client what they thought they wanted to hear.

So far, we have talked about entrepreneurs who have sold a venture-backed startup. In this context, the common goal is to achieve an exit via selling the company or taking it public in a few years. What about selling a family business that has been around for generations?

Contrary to the startup founder who seeks to maximize enterprise value over a short time, family company owners see themselves as stewards and want to assure multi-generational prosperity and ownership. We talk about completely different time frames here and different forms of attachment. I know of an example where one brother took over the family business and the other brother founded a startup so these models can be quite close.

My father sold our family business when he was 42. It was a decision that stemmed from his personal biography. The reason to sell and end a tradition can be positive, such as giving your life a new perspective, or negative, such as when the business is struggling.

In any case, I liken the sale of the family business to an aggregate change from ice to water. Wealth that was bound up is now free to flow, and decisions need to be made and structures built to guide this more liquid wealth in the right direction. Again, as we discussed before, you need to define an asset strategy and find your role as an investor.

Bill Gates once said that the higher up on the rich list you are, the bigger the obligation to contribute your fortune and your skills to tackle the world’s biggest problems. What role can philanthropy play in reinventing oneself?

Philanthropic engagement is a fundamental aspect of happiness, and it is changing. We see initiatives such as “tax me now” from activist wealth owners. Platforms for giving, such as betterplace.org, can serve as an inspiration. A new breed of philanthropic advisors has risen and does a good job, such as Phineo from Berlin. They connect wealth owners with social startups. (Article in Brand Eins, in German). And there are new, entrepreneurial ways of giving pursued by people who want to identify and support pressing issues. Hans Schöpflin’s foundation, for example, donates 10 million Euros annually to support journalism and democratic values.

Successful founders often don’t take long to start a new venture. It seems they need the thrill of entrepreneurship.

We should be thankful that they carry this entrepreneurial spirit and inspire others. We need a new narrative about entrepreneurship in Europe. If you watch the crime series Tatort on German TV, like I do, the bad guy is always a greedy company owner, a negative portrayal that a study about the image of entrepreneurs in Germany confirmed. Politically, they are suspect. We need to correct this view. Entrepreneurs shape our future and can be a force for good. Think about new business models centered around the circular economy. Luckily, different actors have found ways to promote entrepreneurship in this regard. The non-profit Protopia is a good example, and the recent Fintopia exhibition in Zurich was also excellent.

One of the best schools for learning about entrepreneurship is growing up in an entrepreneurial family. Kids are exposed to business topics at the dinner table and work in the firm during their holidays.

I am very interested in seeing how entrepreneurial families evolve. In the past, family life was organized around work; today, work is organized around family life. Culture has changed; it needed to change. An older generation that prioritized work so much that it destroyed their family ties and is now trying to reestablish harmony too late in life isn’t a role model. As a society, we still struggle to establish a framework that enables a symbiotic relationship between work and family. And if you think about it, many people also sacrifice their health for their careers. What good is that? Longevity has become an investment topic, but I still don’t know a single family office that puts the health of all family members at the center of its considerations.

Again, we need to think about inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs who put profit, people, and the planet at the center of their thinking. One initiative that I co-founded is “Kreatives Unternehmertum” (creative entrepreneurship). Supported by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, its goals are raising awareness and promoting entrepreneurial education. Entrepreneurship is the most exciting career path and the ideal way to develop your potential.