Exit on Your Terms. Reward Your People. Preserve Your Legacy. Maximize your Proceeds.

You’ve spent decades building something worth protecting. An ESOP lets you step away without selling out — keeping your culture, rewarding your team, and creating a tax-efficient exit.

Most ESOP discussions start with numbers and charts. We start with your story — protecting your life’s work, the people who helped build it, and the future you want to see. From there, we guide you through evaluation, the transaction, and the years ahead.

If you’ve wondered whether employee ownership could work for your business, here’s the easiest way to find out.

The Complete ESOP Learning Hub

Nine short videos give you a clear view from every angle: how ESOPs work, the tax advantages, cultural impact, flow of funds, and where things can go wrong. Selling to an ESOP sets the course for your company’s next chapter, financially and culturally. In each video, we break down what works, what fails, and the lessons that matter most when it’s your turn to decide.

Prefer a guided path?

The ESOP Executive Briefing Series delivers each video with key takeaways and context, showing how every piece fits into a successful transition to becoming an employee-owned company.

You’ll learn:

  • The most common ESOP traps and how to avoid them
  • Whether your leadership team is truly ready
  • Tax strategies that protect and grow your wealth
  • Ways to preserve culture through ownership change

These resources are designed for owners, but they’re also easy for trusted advisors to share with clients who are exploring an ESOP.

What ESOP Success Looks Like

ESOPs can be complex. Done right, they protect what you’ve built, reward your team, and secure your future. WealthPoint guides you from the first conversation through a successful, lasting transition, and stays with you every step of the way.

The Founder’s Guide to ESOPs

Considering an ESOP? This guide takes you inside the process, from how ESOPs are structured to what makes them succeed for the long haul.

Inside, you’ll find:

  • How ESOPs really work
  • Key factors that drive success
  • Pros, cons, and blind spots to watch for
  • A full case study walking through the process

Meet the ESOP Experts Founders Trust

Owners choose us because we’ve helped them exit on their terms, guiding transitions worth hundreds of millions while protecting the values that built their companies. Our team brings more than 100 years of combined ESOP-specific experience, with credentials across CPA, JD, LLM, and business valuation disciplines – along with expertise of successfully monetizing business ventures.

We’ve successfully structured ESOPs for companies in construction, manufacturing, distribution, professional services, and many other industries, each designed to fit the owner’s goals and culture.

Michael KennethPresidentWith his calm nature and old soul, Michael (MK) has the analytical knowledge to explain and present complex, technical solutions in both a concise and comprehendible manner.

Clarity on the ESOP Process in 90 Minutes

In this on-demand session, Michael Kenneth (WealthPoint) and Drew Schaefer (SCJ Fiduciary Services) walk you through the ESOP process start to finish, highlighting what works, where deals go wrong, and how to avoid costly mistakes.

You’ll learn:

  • How ESOPs compare to third-party sales
  • The tax and financial advantages unique to ESOP structures
  • Deal terms, oversight, and cultural impacts
  • Pitfalls most founders never hear about until it’s too late
  • Understand what an ESOP Trustee does and their perspective on ESOP transactions

Attendees tell us it’s “the clarity I needed to move forward with confidence.”

ESOP Insights for Founders

Articles, analysis, and market perspectives to help you plan a transition and make confident decisions.

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Watch

WP90X Recap – ESOPs: A Different Way of Selling to a Third Party

July 25, 2025
An innovative strategy to help you better serve clients facing income and estate tax challenges
Read

Why Most Phantom Equity Plans Miss the Mark (and How to Get It Right)

June 11, 2025
We design phantom equity strategies that mimic true ownership and connect to the real drivers…
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WP90X Recap — Phantom Stock Plans: Designing Effective Incentive Strategies for Private Companies

May 30, 2025
Our latest WP90X session featured WealthPoint’s own Ryan Barradas and Michael Kenneth along with David…
Read

Whitepaper – ESOP Presentation & Overview

May 25, 2022
Description: This presentation and case study provides an overview of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs),…
Watch

Video – ESOP Presentation

May 25, 2022
Description: In this presentation, Frank Caputo and Michael Kenneth, CPA, from WealthPoint will discuss how…
Read

Selling Your Business on Your Terms ESOP – An Alternative Exit Strategy

April 1, 2022
ESOP - An Alternative Exit Strategy By Frank Caputo When faced with the decision to…

Talk to an ESOP Specialist

Whether you’re just exploring or ready to act, our team will help you understand your options and what’s at stake. Every conversation is confidential and focused entirely on your goals.