Best Practice Fireside Chats

For an architect hoping to own their own firm one day, there are two paths available. One is the traditional path: starting your own firm from scratch. The other is to buy an existing firm and transition into its new owner. This second option is less talked about, but with the rate of Baby Boomers retiring, it will become more and more important to the future of architecture. Leah Bayer and Kate Conley recently took that path, and created a new partnership at the established firm OJK Architecture.

Show Notes

For an architect hoping to own their own firm one day, there are two paths available. One is the traditional path: starting your own firm from scratch. The other is to buy an existing firm and transition into its new owner. This second option is less talked about, but with the rate of Baby Boomers retiring, it will become more and more important to the future of architecture. Leah Bayer and Kate Conley recently took that path, and created a new partnership at the established firm OJK Architecture.

Interview Takeaways
  • Map out a partnership
  • Balance strengths and weaknesses
  • Get to the important work faster
  • Create a buyout plan that works for both parties
  • Find paths for new owners
  • Shift firm culture
  • Use tech to build a remote culture
  • Welcome asynchronous talent
  • Make more spaces for conversation and collaboration
  • Stay local even when you’re remote
  • Continue relationships with founders
  • Feel legitimate as a fully remote firm
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What is Best Practice Fireside Chats?

Welcome to Best Practice—a fireside chat series dedicated to practice operations in architecture and beyond. From pain points to potential, hear how leaders in the building industry are innovating through new business models and management techniques. Subscribe to listen to weekly conversations with leaders at Olson Kundig, SHoP Architects, and more. Topics include: how to run the business side of architecture, how to foster design culture in the firm, and how to design an architecture firm today.