Founder succession checklist
The Fourth Turning Leader
https://thefourthturningleader.com/blog/founder-succession-planning-checklist

Decision authority:

Interim coverage:

Role requirements:

Candidate evidence:

Critical relationships:

Decision inventory:

Transfer of authority:

Practice handover:

Communications:

Review and exceptions:


WORKED EXAMPLE (FICTIONAL)
A founder preparing a planned handover

Decision authority: Board chair confirms who may appoint the successor and interim leader.

Interim coverage: Name an interim operator and document which decisions require board approval.

Role requirements: Board agrees the next leader's responsibilities before assessing candidates.

Candidate evidence: Evaluate examples of judgment, delivery and team leadership against the same role requirements.

Critical relationships: Founder and successor prepare joint introductions to key customers, lenders and team leaders.

Decision inventory: Record three consequential past decisions, their rationale and the conditions that would change them.

Transfer of authority: Specify the handover date and the decisions the founder will cease to approve.

Practice handover: Successor leads a rehearsal of a customer-loss scenario while the founder observes.

Communications: Board chair owns the sequence of employee, customer and partner announcements.

Review and exceptions: Schedule a post-handover review; record exceptions to the agreed authority rather than making private side agreements.