What Henry Kaestner Told Me About Partners (I Regret to Inform You… Most Founders Miss This)
- Harry T. Jones
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
This is part of an ongoing series exploring the metaphorical “letters” every leader eventually receives—the hard truths about succession planning that can either derail us or redirect us toward finishing well.
I’ve known Henry Kaestner for ten years now.
If you’re not familiar with him, Henry co-founded multiple public companies and is the driving force behind Faith Driven Entrepreneur and Faith Driven Investor—movements that have shaped how thousands of believers approach business and investing.
This spring, I reached out to Henry with a question that’s been weighing on my mind as I work with founders navigating succession:
“Some say you should only take on partners with a gun to your head. How did you make three 50-50 partnerships work?”
His response was characteristically simple and profound:
“You pray that God sends you great partners and you thank Him when He does.”
One sentence. But it carries the weight of decades of experience, faith, and intentionality—and it reveals something most founders never learn until it’s too late.
I regret to inform you… if you don’t learn this lesson, you may never finish well.
The Story Behind the Struggle
Recently, I attended a conference where I sat next to a 79-year-old founder. Over coffee, he told me his succession story—how he’d sold his company to his son. From his telling, everything sounded rosy.
But during the break, I struck up a conversation with the person on the other side of our table—a competitor of this founder.
He told me the real story.
The son had left the business twice over 16 years because his father wouldn’t let go. The father couldn’t move from the known to the unknown. He couldn’t trust his son to carry the business forward.
Finally, in an act of desperation after the second departure, the father sold the business to his son—at a fair price, yes, but one that rolled back the value to what it was before the son came in and added value over 16 years.
It was an honorable gesture in the end, a Hail Mary to bring his son back.
But it came at the cost of years of tension, two departures, and a relationship strained by a grip held too tight for too long.
I regret to inform you… this is what happens when you hold the baton too long.
The Baton Drop
This is what I call dropping the baton.
Not because you fumble it in the handoff, but because you hold onto it so long that the runner behind you has to stop, turn around, and leave the track (in this case, twice).
I regret to inform you… succession isn’t just about when you let go. It’s about how you let go, and whether you’ve prepared the next leader to run their race.
It was Ken DeWitt, another seasoned entrepreneur, who told me: “Only take on partners if you have a gun to your head. Be as careful in selecting partners in business as you are in marriage.”
It’s wise counsel.
But here’s the tension: if you’re that careful, how do you ever let go?
How do you move from the known—your control, your vision, your way—to the unknown of trusting someone else?
What Most Founders Miss
Henry Kaestner’s one-sentence response cuts through the complexity:
You pray. You trust God to send the right people. And you thank Him when He does.
That’s not passivity.
This is active faith combined with intentional preparation.
I regret to inform you… most founders never learn this.
They hold on out of fear, not wisdom.
They tolerate successors instead of preparing them.
They white-knuckle control instead of praying for the right partners.
Henry succeeded in partnership because he prayed for trust and acted on it.
The 79-year-old founder held on too long because he couldn’t.
The difference? Henry understood that selecting partners—whether co-founders or successors—requires the same care, prayer, and intentionality as choosing a spouse.
The Lesson
I regret to inform you… if you don’t let go well, you may drop the baton entirely.
Your legacy isn’t just what you build. It’s what you pass on—and how.
If you’re facing this crossroads, ask yourself:
Am I holding on out of wisdom, or out of fear?
Have I prepared my successor, or just tolerated them?
Am I praying for the right partners, or white-knuckling control?
Don’t wait for the metaphorical “letter” to arrive. Don’t wait until your successor leaves twice. Don’t wait until desperation forces your hand.
Learn what Henry Kaestner knows: Pray. Trust. Thank God. And let go.
We have two spots available in our Finishing Well Breakthrough Groups. If you’re ready to move from the known to the unknown with faith and intentionality, reach out today to claim your place.
Because finishing well isn’t just about crossing the finish line—it’s about making sure the baton gets there too.
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