Intelligence for the exit conversation

Exette

Normalizing the culture and conversation around women exiting their businesses.

69%

Growth in women-owned businesses since 2019³

Of women business owners will ever exit, sell, or transfer

$3.3T

Revenue generated by U.S. women-owned businesses

The exit conversation

The fastest-growing segment in business ownership carries a barrier that financial services has yet to fully address.

The problem isn't the deal structure. It isn't valuation. It's the conversation that has to happen first — and most advisors haven't been trained to have it.

The Exit, Made Feminine Intelligence · Training · Research Women Founder Intelligence Exette · 2025 The Exit, Made Feminine Intelligence · Training · Research Women Founder Intelligence Exette · 2025 The Exit, Made Feminine Intelligence · Training · Research Women Founder Intelligence Exette · 2025 The Exit, Made Feminine Intelligence · Training · Research Women Founder Intelligence Exette · 2025

— The Signal

Women-owned businesses
are the fastest-growing segment
in U.S. entrepreneurship

Among women CEOs actively considering an exit, emotional ties to the business are the only barrier increasing year over year.

Every other barrier — process unfamiliarity, market timing, valuation anxiety — is trending down as women become more sophisticated business owners. The emotional barrier is the only one moving in the wrong direction.

She isn't avoiding the exit because she lacks information. She's avoiding it because it doesn't feel right — and she doesn't have the language to say why.

Women-owned businesses generate $3.3 trillion in U.S. revenue.² The liquidity events attached to that number represent one of the most significant wealth transfer opportunities of the coming decade.

68%

Of women CEOs cite emotional ties as their #1 exit concern. It is the only barrier that increased year over year.¹

Capstone Partners · Women Entrepreneurs Report · 2025

What this looks like in practice

She stalls on a deal that looks excellent on paper

She stops returning calls after initial interest

She walks away from a conversation that should have converted

She delays the most consequential financial transition of her life — indefinitely

— The Intelligence

What advisors need to understand about how women exit.

Each dimension tied directly to the behaviors that cost firms relationships at the close. Hover to explore.

01 Identity Fusion The exit that feels like self-erasure

02 Cultural Permission Gap Why she doesn't initiate — even when she's ready

03 Conversation Frameworks The dialogue that builds trust, not resistance

04 Marketing Intelligence How to attract women who are ready to be found

Inquire to learn more about how each dimension is delivered.

— The Founder

Alisha Pennington

Founder, Exette

Exited founder — 12-year sports medicine staffing company
Forbes Business Council
Inc. 5000
Built from and for the women founder community
Author, Power of the Pivot

"Nobody around me encouraged my exit. Everyone told me to keep the company. And I almost didn't listen to myself."

Nobody in her financial life helped her see it was time to go. A spiritual coach — not a financial advisor — was the one who gave her the framework to name what she was feeling.

That gap is not a financial problem. It is a human one. And it is one that most of us are currently unprepared to address.

Exette is built from that experience and from the community of women founders she remains actively embedded in. The intelligence is current because the proximity is real.

— The Research Mission

The first structured data on how women actually exit.

No published research tracks the psychological and emotional dimensions of women's exits at scale. Exette is building that dataset — 100 structured exit interviews designed to produce both narrative and categorizable data. This means early access to intelligence that will shape how we serve women at the exit inflection point.

100

Structured Exit Interviews

Women founders across industries, exit types, and readiness stages

Proprietary Archetypes

Behavioral exit profiles with distinct needs and conversion paths

1st

Published Report

The first data-backed picture of how women exit — or don't

— Be Part of This

This conversation is already happening. The question is whether you're in it.

Exette is building the intelligence layer that financial services doesn't have yet. A limited group of firms and advisors are coming in early — helping shape the research, accessing the frameworks first, and positioning their practice inside a conversation that is only going to get louder.

Start the Conversation →

— The Framework

Every founder has a relationship with her exit. Most just don't have a name for it.

The Exette archetype framework gives advisors a non-threatening entry point into the most important conversation they're not having.

🐎

The Horse

"If I stop, it stops."

🐊

The Croc

"If I don't control it, it won't be right."

🦊

The Fox

"I'm smart enough to figure this out."

🦢

The Swan

"The business works — but it's no longer mine."

Find out which archetype you are.

Take the Quiz →

In Development

Enterprise

Advisory Workshop Program

Structured training for wealth management teams covering all four dimensions — delivered live or as a certification cohort.

Now Available

Platform

Optionality Diagnostic

An AI-powered assessment producing a personalized exit readiness report — licensable as a client-facing tool for advisory firms.

In Design

Research

The Exit Intelligence Report

The first published data on how women exit their businesses — built from 100 structured interviews, designed to become the cited source in financial services.

Collecting Now

Citations

¹ Capstone Partners, Women Entrepreneurs Report, 2025. Emotional ties to the company were cited by 68% of women CEOs as a top exit concern — the only concern category that increased year over year. ² NWBC, By the Numbers, 2024 / Wells Fargo, Impact of Women-Owned Businesses Report, 2025. Women-owned businesses represent 39.2% of U.S. firms and generate $3.3 trillion in revenue. ³ Gusto, New Business Formation Report, 2025. Women launched 49% of all new businesses in 2024, up from 29% in 2019 — a 69% increase over five years.