Most Have Studied It. Stephen Has Lived It.
Most people who advise family businesses on succession have studied it. Stephen Shortt has lived it - from the inside, as the NextGENtrepreneur sitting across the table from his own parents.
He grew up working in the businesses his parents built - ETC Consult and Alpha College. He came back from interning in New York, started at the bottom, and worked his way up. Along the way he hit every wall a NextGENtrepreneur leader hits: the "we've always done it this way," the being undermined in front of staff, the question of whether he'd ever actually be trusted to lead. He nearly walked away entirely.
He didn't. He bought both businesses from his parents, ran them, and eventually sold one. Today he lives in a three-generation home in Dublin with his wife, his two daughters, and his parents - who are still involved in the business from a steering perspective. The house was the original company office. That's not a metaphor for how he approaches family business succession. It's the actual, ongoing, lived reality.
That experience became Successful Succession - a coaching and consulting practice focused on the part of succession that most often goes wrong: not the legal or financial planning (there's plenty of professional help for that already), but the human and relational dynamics between the generations.
"I help entrepreneurs build a killer family business without killing their family. I've lived it, nearly walked away, and figured out how to make it work."
What Makes Stephen Different
Four things you won't find in a textbook consultant.
Scars, Not Just Frameworks
Most family business consultants come at this from the outside - an academic background, a professional services career, a general management lens. Stephen came at it from the inside, as the NextGENtrepreneur sitting across the table from his own parents, trying to be trusted with what they built.
A Framework Built From What Actually Worked
His process for navigating his own succession became the 5 Ps of Successful Succession: Purpose, Pick, Prepare, Promote, and Patience - the human map for handing over the baton without dropping it.
He Works Both Sides of the Table
He understands the NextGENtrepreneur who feels ready but isn't trusted, and the founder who built something significant and doesn't know how - or whether - to let go. Most advisors are hired by one side and instinctively see the problem from that side only.
A Psychometric Personality Profile Practitioner
Creator of the Leadership Profile - a tool used to build self-awareness in NextGENtrepreneur leaders and inform who's ready to lead next - bringing rigour to the 'readiness' question that most succession conversations never get past gut feel on.
Who This Is For
Two people, sitting on opposite sides of the same table.
The NextGENtrepreneur Leader
Already working in the family business. Competent, committed, and stuck. Trying to modernise the business and hitting a wall that isn't really about the business at all - it's about being trusted by people who are also their family.
The Founder or Current-Generation Leader
Has built something real, is starting to think about what comes next, and isn't sure whether their NextGENtrepreneur is ready, whether they're ready to let go, or how to have the conversation at all without it feeling like giving up.
Track Record
A global stage, a lived story.
Delivered keynotes, workshops, and facilitated strategy conversations in 58 countries
Former Global Chair, GSEA (Entrepreneurs' Organization)
Hosted the EO Global Leadership Conference in Dublin - 2,200 entrepreneurs from 60+ countries
Bought two businesses from his own parents; built, ran, and exited one
Author of Build a Killer Family Business, Without Killing Your Family (in progress)
Runs the Family Deep Dive, Successful Succession coaching, and NextGENtrepreneur Academy
Frequently Asked
The questions families ask first.
Who is Stephen Shortt?
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Stephen Shortt is an Irish entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and family business consultant, and founder of Successful Succession - a coaching and consulting practice for family businesses navigating leadership transitions. He grew up in two family businesses, bought both from his parents, and now teaches what he actually did to make succession work.
What does Successful Succession do?
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Successful Succession focuses on the human and relational side of family business succession - leadership transition, intergenerational conflict, and NextGENtrepreneur readiness - as opposed to the legal or financial planning side, which other professionals already cover well. Services range from a free Readiness Assessment and a diagnostic Family Deep Dive, through facilitated workshops and 1:1 coaching, to bespoke advisory for families in active crisis or conflict.
Why work with Stephen instead of a traditional consultant or accountant?
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Because he has actually done it. He isn't an outside advisor applying a generic framework. He lived the succession conflict as a NextGENtrepreneur family member, nearly walked away, and worked out how to resolve it. Families recognise their own situation in his story, which is why his talk and his consulting practice convert so directly into engagements.
Who should contact Stephen?
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Two groups, most often: a NextGENtrepreneur family member who is working in the business, wants to be trusted to lead, and is hitting resistance from the current generation; and a founder or current-generation leader who has built something significant and is starting to think seriously about succession but hasn't yet had the real conversation about it.
What is the 5 Ps framework?
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Stephen's framework for successful family business succession: Purpose (define the family's shared mission), Pick (identify the right NextGENtrepreneur leader), Prepare (develop them properly), Promote (hand over the baton with real clarity and public support), and Patience (accept that the transition won't go perfectly, and that's normal).
Ready to Talk
Bring your family business to the table.
A confidential, no-obligation conversation is the best place to start - whether you're the NextGENtrepreneur or the current-generation leader.