When The Ready's founder stepped away, the leadership team paused to reflect. The company was already running on distributed authority, transparent decision-making, and shared stewardship. What they needed was an ownership structure that reflected how they already worked.
The challenge: Formalizing the structure they'd already built
From its earliest days, The Ready operated as a self-managing, purpose-driven organization built around autonomy, transparency, and shared responsibility rather than hierarchy.
By 2023, founder Aaron Dignan had stepped back completely, leaving an elected team of stewards to lead the company.
The culture and systems were clear - but the legal structure was not.
Two priorities shaped the next step:
- Protect independence. The ownership model needed to preserve how the company was already operating.
- Make ownership inclusive. As a public-benefit corporation, The Ready wanted every employee to share in value creation without unnecessary complexity.
The process: Exploring ownership options
Partner Rodney Evans and CFO Ashley Reid evaluated several succession paths.
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
An ESOP offered tax benefits and a familiar framework, but the compliance overhead, valuation requirements, and repurchase obligations felt too heavy for their size and structure.
Direct employee ownership
Expanding the cap table to individual employee owners would have introduced equity administration and tax complexity that did not align with The Ready's model.
Third-party sale
An outside sale could have provided liquidity but risked culture drift and loss of independence.
After months of exploration, the team concluded that traditional options did not fit.
The solution: A custom Employee Ownership Trust (EOT)
Working with Common Trust, The Ready designed an EOT structure that formalized stewardship without adding unnecessary burden.
Our legal structure - how we looked on paper - was no longer representative of how we were actually operating. The EOT makes it our legal structure, and embodies the culture of collective stewardship we'd already been practicing. - Ashley Reid, CFO, The Ready
Why the EOT worked:
- Cultural fit: It translated existing governance and shared-authority practices into legal form.
- Flexible design: It launched with a minimum viable design and left room for refinement.
- Inclusive participation: Every employee could share in outcomes; no buy-in required.
- Built-in checks and balances: Governance and trust stewardship created long-term accountability.
Financing approach
The Ready funded the transition with a mix of cash reserves and a seller note, avoiding external financing and preserving flexibility for early profit-sharing.
The design: Make it real, then refine
The team treated implementation like a design sprint: test assumptions, involve stakeholders, and iterate intentionally.
Sprint-based collaboration
The Ready ran an internal cross-functional process to define trust roles, governance norms, and decision rights.
Minimum viable design
At close, they defined what was legally required, then refined details through stewardship after launch.
Transparent participation
Leadership shared updates regularly and invited questions throughout the process.
After the transition: Seamless ownership, stronger stewardship
By early 2025, The Ready became employee-owned through its EOT. Day-to-day operations remained steady, but ownership was now formally embedded in the company's governance.
It barely feels like a change - and that's the point. The decision's made, the work's done, and everyone can focus on doing their best work. - Rodney Evans, Partner, The Ready
Lessons for leaders exploring employee ownership
- Start with alignment: Clarify goals across exiting and continuing leaders.
- Include employees early: Transparency builds trust and shared understanding.
- Design for adaptability: Leave room for future leaders to evolve the model.
- Keep it practical: Choose an ownership structure your team can sustain.