Teddy Teece’s path to founding Succession.Inc was anything but predictable. Fresh out of Yale undergrad (and the realization that his aspirations to become a journalist would be hamstrung by an industry searching for a business model), he launched his first venture in 2015: Localeyz, a marketplace for unique experiences. To help the business have a better shot at carving out a niche while keeping costs down, he moved to his father’s home country of New Zealand and worked out of the IceHouse incubator, learning by osmosis, self-study, and the generosity of mentors like Andy Hamilton, who allowed him and his dog Patch to work there in the first place. When Airbnb launched a similar product nine months into that journey, he realized a good idea is “90% of nothing,” cut his losses and went hunting for something higher margin. He learned that executing on a sound (but loosely held) business plan, combined with data-driven pivots, grit, timing and team, could yield a better outcome than an exciting (but unoriginal) idea pursued with reckless abandon. Bruised but not broken, he founded his second venture - Expert Capital Partners - in the US a year later. He and his co-founders saw an opportunity to bring efficiency and competitive market dynamics to the wild-west of litigation finance, which was a nascent industry in 2016. Once again, he worked out of an incubator/accelerator thanks to the generosity of its amazing founder, Caroline Winnett.

Bootstrapping the company for nearly a year, him as his two (more senior) co-founders celebrated their first six-figure salaries by Christmas. But something was missing. Life itself felt hallow; “all work and no play was making (Ted) a dull boy.” Moreover, the work wasn’t aligned with his values. Thanks to a mentor’s introduction, he found an executive coach and began to align his path with his vision, mission, values, and talents. He completed multiple coach trainings and certifications. With finances he saved from ECP (a risk-tolerant local banker, and the backing of a guarantor), he put a downpayment on a 40-acre property in Colorado at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Despite development funding drying up due to COVID, he pursued his dream of hosting groups for transformative experiences nonetheless, making do with the resources at hand. But that wasn’t enough to pay the bills entirely. He got a consulting gig with a global consulting firm working alongside senior executive coaches. That’s the moment the lightbulb switched on: he saw a path he could commit to for the long haul. Before long, he was in a position to spin out the firm’s UHNW family business consulting arm: The Legacy Academy (TLA). He saw the unique challenges that families face when transitioning extraordinary wealth and responsibility between generations and realized what a tragedy it would be if the 100T great wealth transfer (GWT) wound up in the wrong hands, instead of the right ones.

With Succession.Inc - a revamped, rebranded and re-oriented version of TLA - Teddy has distilled a decade of hard-earned lessons into accelerator programs that guide participants through the challenges of personal growth, leadership, entrepreneurship, and much more. He’s teamed up with other entrepreneurial next-gens and renowned advisors from the professional services, executive coaching, and family business consulting worlds in order to deliver a super curriculum at a scale that will ultimately drive societal impact by supporting the stewards of the GWT in realizing their ultimate potential and aspirations.

The next cohort sets sail Spring 2025, and we’re excited to have you on board!