Shane Williams Technology Advisory

Shane Williams Technology Advisory Technology Advisor to Family Business Boards & Family Offices | Founder-Era Technical Debt → Valuation & Transition Risk | Manufacturing & Industrial

She knew every client's name, knew which systems were patched together and which ones actually worked. When the conversa...
16/06/2026

She knew every client's name, knew which systems were patched together and which ones actually worked. When the conversation turned to succession, it seemed straightforward. She wanted it, he was ready, the family was aligned.

What nobody talked about was that she wanted the business but didn't want to run it the way he had.

Different systems, different culture, different ideas about what the next ten years should look like.

That tension between inheriting something and wanting to shape it is one of the most common things in family business transitions, and one of the least discussed.

My Shout will find those conversations. If you're in the middle of one, or you've been through it, I want to hear from you.

Subscribe at myshoutpodcast.com

There's no shortage of content about the technicalities of exiting a family business. Think tax structures, valuation mu...
14/06/2026

There's no shortage of content about the technicalities of exiting a family business. Think tax structures, valuation multiples, deal terms, succession frameworks, etc, etc.

What's harder to find is what it actually feels like when the succession plan hits the family Christmas lunch, what a next-gen leader does when they inherit a business they didn't choose, or what a buyer discovers six months in that the information memorandum didn't cover.

In my new podcast "My Shout" I am going to talk about all this stuff with real people involved at the coal face.

I want to know what else isn't being said. What you wish someone would talk about when it comes to succession, sale or scale?

And I'm looking for people involved to find the answers.

DM me here or drop a note at myshoutpodcast.com

Subscribe while you're there, first episode lands soon.

Follow for more.

Private equity doesn’t just buy a family business for fun.They're not there just to run it. They want to grow it, stabil...
11/06/2026

Private equity doesn’t just buy a family business for fun.

They're not there just to run it. They want to grow it, stabilise it, and eventually sell it.

But most pitch decks don’t account for what actually matters: the founder's role. The relationships are the founder's. The institutional knowledge lives in one person's head.

So, when a PE firm buys a family business, what actually happens? What does a firm see when it looks under the hood, and what's the version of the deal they didn't expect? What do they know after the fact that they didn't know going in? That's the conversation I want to have on My Shout.

If you work in private equity or family offices, or you've been on the buy side of a family business acquisition, I want to hear your story.

DM me directly, or reach out through myshoutpodcast.com

Subscribe if you haven't yet.

There's a moment every founder has when they realise they don't have anywhere to be tomorrow morning.That's not in the i...
09/06/2026

There's a moment every founder has when they realise they don't have anywhere to be tomorrow morning.

That's not in the information memorandum.
It's not covered in the advisors' fees.
It's not what anyone prepares for.

My Shout wants to talk to founders who've been through it.

Not for advice or strategy, just for the honest version of what it's actually like.

How do you manage the day after the day it all ends?

If that sounds like you, or someone you know, DM me or reach out through myshoutpodcast.com

PS: Give the Subscribe button a hit while you're there.

Most of those transitions will be planned, priced, structured, and advised. And a meaningful number of them will still g...
08/06/2026

Most of those transitions will be planned, priced, structured, and advised. And a meaningful number of them will still go badly.

Not because the deal was wrong. Because nobody talked about the things that don't show up in the due diligence.

❓What changes the day the founder walks out?
❓What the next generation actually wants versus what they've agreed to?
❓What a buyer sees when they look at a business that runs entirely on one person's relationships.

These aren't edge cases ... they're the rule.

My Shout is a podcast about those transitions. I'm going to find the people who've been through them and ask them what they know now that they wish they'd known before.

Subscribe at https://myshoutpodcast.com and come along for the conversation.

Fancy a beer tonight? One question keeps coming back to me as I build my new podcast, My Shout."What is a founder actual...
04/06/2026

Fancy a beer tonight?

One question keeps coming back to me as I build my new podcast, My Shout.

"What is a founder actually worth to their own business?"

Not in a sentimental way, but as a valuation. Because when you strip out the relationships, the institutional knowledge, the way things get done because of who they are, what's actually left?

And what happens to that value when they walk?

If you've been through a sale as the founder, the buyer, or the advisor in the room, I want to talk to you. Real stories, no script, recorded over a drink (my shout, remember!)

DM me or head to myshoutpodcast.com to claim your spot at the bar.

You build a business over thirty years.Good team, loyal customers, strong margins.Every year the accountant says the sam...
02/06/2026

You build a business over thirty years.

Good team, loyal customers, strong margins.

Every year the accountant says the same thing: "You should think about your exit."

And every year, the answer is not yet.

Then one morning you signed the paperwork, and by that afternoon you're not sure what to do with yourself.

The lawyers had done their job. The advisors had done their job. The financial transition went exactly as planned.

Nobody warned you about the personal change. Not one person thought to mention that.

That's the kind of conversation My Shout wants to have. Not the strategy, but the experience.

What it actually feels like to be the founder who signed, the buyer who walked in, the next generation who inherited something they didn't ask for. The things that only come out once the deal is done and the room is quiet enough to be honest.

If you're somewhere in that equation, or you know someone who is, I'd genuinely like to hear from you.

Subscribe at myshoutpodcast.com or DM me directly.

For decades, Australian manufacturing reinvested in equipment.It rarely reinvested in the systems that would make the bu...
28/05/2026

For decades, Australian manufacturing reinvested in equipment.

It rarely reinvested in the systems that would make the business run without the founder.

The result is a sector heading into its biggest ownership transition in 50 years — with the lowest systems investment of any comparable sector.

This is not a criticism of the people who built it.
It is a structural pattern.
And it is about to become visible.

What a manufacturing business looks like from the outside.What it looks like from the inside.These are not always the sa...
26/05/2026

What a manufacturing business looks like from the outside.

What it looks like from the inside.

These are not always the same business.

Most sectors have one or two succession risk variables to manage.Manufacturing has four... and they always arrive toget...
21/05/2026

Most sectors have one or two succession risk variables to manage.

Manufacturing has four... and they always arrive together.

If this looks familiar, it probably should.

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