December 13, 2023

You’ve made it in your design career and are ready to start developing your exit strategy. Now what? In our latest From the Tap podcast, we speak with Lloyd Princeton, founder of Design Management Company in Dallas about succession planning. The preeminent recruiter and consultant to the luxury design trade, for over two decades he has led a successful national recruiting practice that sources positions for interior designers and architects, the construction industry and the home furnishings and hospitality procurement business. Lloyd’s clientele is a who’s who of some of the biggest names in design.

In preparation for your next stage of life, so many questions come into play. Have you been investing the earnings from your interior design business into other income-producing assets? Are you in the position to simply close your doors and call it a day? Or… do you intend to sell? If so, to whom? And how do you even determine what your business is worth? Lloyd Princeton answers these questions and more.

In our discussion about how designers can define their exit strategies and develop their succession plan, we touch on both big-picture topics – like understanding the purpose of a succession plan, determining if a succession plan is an appropriate strategy for all sizes of businesses and what kind of legal groundwork should be in place before owners consider succession – as well as drill down to important details of succession planning. These include understanding what goes into putting a value on a business, strategies for choosing a successor and was to effectively evaluate candidates.

To hear more about Princeton’s succession planning strategy for designers, listen to the podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pandora and other outlets.

—By Leslie Clagett, KBB managing editor

Photo credit: Fred Licht