You just sold your business. The wire hit your account. Now what? If you are like most founders your instincts are screaming at you to do something. Move the money. Make investments. Buy that thing you have been putting off for years. The adrenaline from the deal is still pumping and sitting still feels like wasting time but it’s not. Doing nothing strategic for the first two weeks might be the smartest financial decision you’ll ever make.
The Pause: Weeks 1-2
The psychological shift from operator to owner catches most founders off guard. For years every decision had consequences. Speed mattered. Now for the first time in possibly decades there is no urgent fire to put out. That disorientation leads to terrible choices.
The first order of business has nothing to do with investment strategy. It has everything to do with security and taking a breath.
Start with passwords. Every single one. If a founder has been running a business for years there is a trail of digital access scattered across email accounts cloud storage financial platforms and crypto wallets. A liquidity event puts a target on that digital footprint. The first week should include a complete audit and update of every password associated with any financial account with two-factor authentication enabled everywhere it is available.
Park the cash somewhere boring. Short-term treasuries or money market accounts work fine. The goal is not growth during this phase. The goal is protection. Making no investment decisions for the first sixty days is perfectly reasonable. Actually it is more than reasonable. It is wise.
The pressure to immediately deploy capital into the next opportunity is real but that pressure almost never leads anywhere good when combined with the emotional exhaustion of closing a deal.
The Inventory: Month 1
By week three it is time to create what amounts to a personal data room. When founders sold their companies they handed over organized documentation to buyers. Financial statements contracts cap tables intellectual property schedules. The due diligence process demanded it.
Now that same rigor needs to apply to personal finances. The family office world calls this a statement of net worth but really it is simpler than that. What do you own? What do you owe? Where is everything located? And critically who has access to what?
Digital assets add complexity that did not exist a generation ago. Crypto wallets whether hardware or software need to be documented with access credentials stored securely. If a founder holds digital assets and something happens to them can their spouse or beneficiaries actually access those holdings? The answer shockingly often is no.
The inventory process forces uncomfortable questions. Is everything properly titled? Are beneficiaries updated on retirement accounts? Does the estate plan from 2019 still reflect current wishes? Most founders have not touched these documents since the company started gaining traction. Now is the time.
For digital assets specifically the documentation needs to include wallet addresses not just the cold wallet device or serial number. The wallet address identifies where assets actually reside on the network. This is what matters for legal clarity.
The Team: Month 2
Here is where founders often make their first major mistake. They hire permanent advisors too quickly.
The impulse makes sense. The complexity feels overwhelming so bringing in experts seems logical. But the wrong permanent hire at this stage creates friction that lasts years.
The better approach during month two is building an interim team. A project manager or interim CFO whose job is simply to organize the chaos. Not someone making investment decisions. Not someone restructuring the estate. Just someone creating order from disorder.
Sudden money without a solid team is how lottery winners go broke. If a founder expects serious gains from digital assets or any other concentrated position the time to find experts is before not after. But the operative word is find not hire permanently.
The full team eventually includes a CPA who understands digital assets an estate planning attorney and likely a wealth advisor. But hiring all three in month two before understanding what the actual needs are locks founders into relationships that may not fit.
Interview people. Have consultations. Understand fee structures. But wait on permanent engagements until month three at the earliest.
One specific consideration: anyone holding digital assets needs advisors who actually understand digital assets. A traditional CPA who has never dealt with crypto reporting is going to create problems not solve them. The same applies to estate planners.
The Governance Framework: Month 3
Governance sounds bureaucratic. For founders who just escaped corporate structures the idea of creating more paperwork feels absurd.
But governance at this stage is not about bureaucracy. It is about answering two simple questions: who can sign checks and who makes decisions?
The Minimum Viable Governance document can literally fit on one page. It establishes basic authority structures for the transition period. Not permanent family office bylaws. Not a comprehensive investment policy statement. Just enough structure that no single point of failure exists.
For founders holding digital assets in an LLC the operating agreement should already address some of this. Who are the managing members? Is the entity member-managed or manager-managed? Does a spouse have signatory authority? If multisig is required for transactions above a certain threshold who holds those keys?
These questions matter because courts and tax authorities require proper documentation. Clean records protect everything if legal issues arise. The notarization of when assets transferred into an entity board resolutions for major purchases meeting minutes from quarterly reviews. All of this demonstrates proper corporate structure.
Building the Foundation
The first 100 days establish infrastructure. They do not generate returns. They do not build legacy. They simply create the foundation that makes everything else possible.
Certain business structures may provide privacy and asset protection for digital holdings. Institutional custody can add crime insurance bankruptcy remoteness and beneficiary designations that pass assets seamlessly. Trust structures when appropriate may move appreciating assets out of taxable estates before growth compounds issues.
None of this happens overnight. And trying to implement all of it during the emotional comedown from a liquidity event creates mistakes.
The founder who waits until month four to seriously discuss investment strategy after security is locked down the inventory is complete the interim team is functioning and basic governance exists makes better decisions than the founder who starts deploying capital in week two.
The first 100 days after selling a company set the trajectory for everything that follows. Getting them right means building systems that transform sudden wealth into lasting wealth.
If this checklist has you thinking about next steps the team at Digital Ascension Group can help you work through the details. They specialize in the exact infrastructure discussed here from entity formation to secure communication channels to digital vaults. Reach out to start a conversation.
The Operating System Mindset
The transition from running a company to managing wealth is not unlike the transition from startup to scale. In the early days of a business founders wear every hat. They make decisions quickly because they have to. Speed is survival.
But companies that scale successfully learn to slow down in specific areas. They build processes. They hire specialists. They create governance structures that distribute decision-making authority.
Digital Ascension Group works with founders who often describe the same realization. The skills that built the company relentless drive quick decisions personal involvement in everything are exactly the wrong skills for managing the proceeds from selling it. One founder recently put it this way after going through this 100-day process: the hardest part was not the checklist. The hardest part was giving himself permission to not be busy. To trust the system rather than doing everything personally.
That permission paired with the right structure is what separates founders who keep their wealth from founders who watch it disappear. During those critical first 100 days Digital Ascension Group becomes the operating system that handles secure communications digital asset management and entity structuring while founders focus on the most important task: learning to slow down.
