Why He Said No to Private Equity and Sold to His Staff | Chris Burke (#115)

Exit Algorithms · Oct 29, 2026 · 22m · transcript

Private equity circled his firm with lucrative offers, until he read the fine print: five-to-seven-year tie-ins and clawbacks that wiped out everything if he was not there at final exit. So Chris Burke sold Brickendon to his own employees instead, through a UK Employee Ownership Trust, and paid no capital gains tax.

Chris started Brickendon in 2010 with a mortgage advance, a laptop, and no clients, and grew it to more than 300 professionals and over $250 million in revenue with no outside funding. He founded HybridHero in 2018, now in 40+ countries, and runs Aduvo, an operator-led advisory…