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Suggest who benefitsWhy I Sold 21 Hats
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Suggest questionThis week, in episode 101, the tables are turned, as Loren Feldman announces the sale of 21 Hats and takes questions from Shawn Busse, Karen Clark Cole, and Jay Goltz. The buyer is Toby Scammell, founder of Womply, which provides software services to small businesses and helped more than a million of them obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans. Loren will continue as editor-in-chief, but as he explains, much of what this will mean for 21 Hats has yet to be determined—including, for example, whether the new entity will keep the 21 Hats name. Shawn, Karen, and Jay share their thoughts on that and also talk about how Karen solves problems for her big tech clients—and what smaller businesses can learn from her process. And Jay explains a change he’s making to his 401(k) plan that he believes will make it fairer for all of his employees.
About 21 Hats
The proponents of employee stock ownership plans can make them sound like the greatest thing ever. A business owner can take a big chunk of money off the table—or even all of it—while still getting to run the business. And there are some pretty great tax breaks. Oh, and it will also solve income inequality in America. On the other hand, if ESOPs are so smart, why are there so few of them?
Jim Kalb of Triad Components Group in San Diego and Jeff Taylor of Crafts Technology in Chicago have both implemented ESOPs. Jay Goltz of the Goltz Group in Chicago has reached his 60s without a succession plan, and he’s considering his options. In this 21 Hats Conversation, you get to listen in on a street-smart discussion of the pluses and minuses of ESOPs from the business owner’s point of view.