One interesting mechanism is to exit out to employee ownership. E.g. ref: https://www.nceo.org https://www.nceo.org As a founder, you can exit gradually, sell

One interesting mechanism is to exit out to employee ownership. E.g. ref: https://www.nceo.org https://www.nceo.org As a founder, you can exit gradually, selling your shares to the company, so that a. your exit is financed by the company's profit and b. the shares you sell back go into employee ownership. So you get an exit without selling your employees out. Quite the opposite in fact.