In this episode of Founder Diaries, Nitin Sharma sits down with Joel Dalton, exited founder of Clone, strategic advisor, and NED, to unpack what really happens after you scale a business — and what founders rarely prepare for.

Joel shares the unfiltered story of building Clone into a £7m marketing services business, navigating Covid, founder burnout, financial blind spots, and ultimately choosing an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) as his exit path. This is a candid conversation about founder reliance, designing a business that can survive without you, and reclaiming time, energy, and purpose post-exit.

Together, Nitin and Joel dive into why so many founders accidentally build “well-paid jobs”, the warning signs of burnout, and how to create a business that gives you optionality — whether that’s scaling, stepping back, or exiting entirely.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why founder reliance kills exit value (and how to fix it)
• What an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) actually is — and why it’s misunderstood
• How Covid forced a hard rethink on resilience and value creation
• The financial blind spots most founders ignore until it’s too late
• Scaling pains: hiring too fast, protecting culture, and bad hires
• Why most founders don’t really have a “lifestyle business”
• The emotional reality of stepping away from a company you built
• Burnout, pressure, and unlearning hustle culture
• How Joel now helps founders escape the owner-operator trap
• Why having a “fractional co-founder” mindset can change everything

This episode is honest, reflective, and packed with lived experience — especially for founders questioning whether the business they built is still serving the life they want.

Who this episode is for:

• Founders thinking about an exit (now or someday)
• Business owners feeling stuck or overly relied upon
• Entrepreneurs approaching burnout
• Leaders scaling past the owner-operator stage
• Anyone curious about alternative exit routes like EOTs
• Founders who want freedom without burning everything down

🔗 Connect with the guest

Joel Dalton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-dalton-02191421/

Clone: https://clone-media.co.uk/

🔗 Connect with the host

Nitin Sharma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-rectools/

Discover recruitment tools and services: https://www.rectools.io/

New episodes of RecTalk, including Founder Diaries and Talking Talent, drop every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Look out for new episodes of The Mixed Grill — the official podcast of the Recruitment Curry Club — dropping on Thursdays.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-recruitment-curry-club/

Listen on another platform: https://rectalk.co.uk/

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