The Executive Roundtable for the Indispensable CEO

Why Your Success Has Become Your Prison

With Jen Eckhardt & John Franklin Wiley

If your business can’t run without you, it’s already costing you more than you think.

Research shows:

  • The average CEO of a mid-sized firm works 62.5 hours/week.

  • 47% are pulled into ops daily—despite having a team.

  • 8 out of 10 businesses never sell because they’re too dependent on the owner.

If that’s you, it’s not just a future exit problem.
Owner overdependence is draining your energy, slowing your growth, and limiting your options right now.

The more you do, the more you delay the freedom you built this company for.

Why This Roundtable Exists

Most CEOs think they have to stay in the trenches until the day they sell.

The truth? The longer you remain indispensable, the more you shrink your freedom now and your payday later.

Eliminating owner dependence is the single most powerful move you can make—whether you want more free time, faster growth, or a premium exit down the line.

Jen Eckhardt helps founders break free from The Builder’s Paradox: the trap where success makes you indispensable. Her firm creates owner independence and enterprise value by designing a business that doesn’t depend on you.

John Franklin Wiley is a strategic advisor and private equity veteran who guides owners through the reality that how you run a company is not how you prepare it for sale. His mission is to make your business sellable before it’s too late.

Together, we’re bringing you the rare combination of:

  • Operational liberation – so you can step fully into the role of owner, not operator

  • Exit readiness – so your business is both attractive and transferable when the time comes

Not a networking group. Not a workshop. Not even a panel.

This is NOT a casual networking event.

It’s an application-only roundtable for $3M–$10M+ founders and CEOs who:

  • Want to work fewer hours without slowing growth

  • Refuse to let their business’s value hinge on their presence

  • Are ready to lead as owners—not operators

Every month you remain indispensable, your freedom, profitability, and valuation take a silent hit.

Owner dependence never goes away on its own—it grows.

Seats are limited and curated to ensure every leader in the room belongs there.