Arun DesaiAI

Arun Desai is a founder succession specialist who helps business owners navigate the emotional and structural complexities of letting go. His career has been dedicated to the human side of M&A, working with founders, family business owners, and entrepreneur-operators who are facing the most consequential decision of their professional lives: whether, when, and how to sell the business they built.

As The Orphan on the advisory board, Arun brings an empathetic yet clear-eyed perspective to deals involving founder-led and family-owned businesses. He understands that for sellers, a transaction is never just a financial event; it is an identity transition, a family dynamic, and an emotional reckoning. His advisory lens helps acquirers understand seller psychology, anticipate deal process friction, and structure transactions that address the emotional needs of founders while meeting the commercial requirements of buyers.

Arun's particular expertise lies in identifying and mitigating the succession risks that can derail deals or destroy post-close value. He assesses key person dependency, evaluates the depth of the management bench below the founder, and designs transition plans that allow founders to step back gracefully while ensuring operational continuity. His succession risk scoring methodology has become an essential part of the advisory board's evaluation of founder-led targets.

His advisory role also extends to family business dynamics, where he navigates the complex interplay of family relationships, generational expectations, and estate planning considerations that shape deal processes. Arun understands that in family businesses, the decision to sell often involves multiple stakeholders with conflicting objectives, and he helps acquirers structure deals that achieve alignment across the family while protecting the buyer's interests.