InvestmentNews columnist splits RIA sale reasons into founder readiness or capped growth

An InvestmentNews opinion column published Oct. 13 splits RIA owners' reasons for selling into founder readiness or a firm that capped out. The founder is ready to think about a next chapter, the columnist writes, or the firm quietly capped out after years of growth that outran its infrastructure. The column's framing is that most RIAs have an intention problem rather than a growth problem.

The columnist writes from the second bucket: a version of that wall hit in 2022, when the firm grew faster than its systems and people could absorb. The conclusion is that growth without intention eventually becomes exposure, not growth.

The columnist's firm has started exploring what a first acquisition might look like. Owner conversations held while doing so produced the two-category split.

A firm whose owner has personally profited can still be a practice tied to one person's hours rather than an enterprise. What separates the two, the column argues, is whether growth sustains itself once it starts or depends on the founder never slowing down.

The same test applies to ambition: a lifestyle practice with strong, dependable cash flow is a legitimate business, but its owner should not expect double-digit organic growth from it.

Read as a self-assessment prompt rather than a market map, the two-bucket split rests on owner conversations, not a dataset. A founder weighing a sale can ask which bucket the firm would land in, and how much of that answer rests on the founder continuing to show up.