Berry Bros & Rudd, a 328-year-old wine and spirits merchant, announced in May that chief executive Emma Fox would step down this summer. Instead of seeking a single replacement, the company appointed chief financial officer Emily Rae and UK managing director Rob Symington as co-CEOs. This move marks the latest mainstream business to embrace a dual-leadership structure, challenging the traditional image of a solitary corner office.
Why Scaleups Are Choosing Co-CEOs
As high-growth businesses face increasingly volatile markets and multifaceted challenges, a growing number of founder-led scaleups are opting for co-CEOs. Rather than causing division, splitting the top job can be an effective way to de-risk a business and accelerate growth, according to Marta Sjögren, co-CEO of climate-tech scaleup Paebbl. Paebbl transforms captured CO₂ into carbon-negative building materials and deliberately chose the shared model from the start.
Sjögren explained that the co-CEOs have very different strengths: her background in investment focuses on capital and partnerships, while Andreas Saari, her co-CEO, concentrates on organisational development and engineering. This division allows each to dive deeper into their respective domains than a lone executive could. Sjögren highlighted the balance: “Whilst he ensures that we don’t run out of time, I try to ensure that we don’t run out of capital.”
Investor Skepticism and Growing Trend
Sjögren admitted that some investors strongly opposed their approach, and Paebbl, backed by Amazon, had to wrangle with potential backers. However, she predicts this trend will reverse. Co-CEOship is on the rise: global corporates including designer Dolce & Gabbana and Swiss sportswear brand OnCloud recently announced co-CEO appointments. When Jeff Bezos returned to an operating role last November, it was as co-CEO of AI startup Prometheus, alongside former Google executive Vik Bajaj. Netflix has run on a co-CEO model since 2023, with Greg Peters joining Ted Sarandos at the top; SAP did the same with Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe back in 2010.
Resilience and Constructive Friction
The dual-leadership structure builds resilience into a scaleup's management, making leadership continuity easier. Sjögren noted, “Most companies panic when a CEO goes on parental leave. In a co-CEO model, business keeps moving. My co-CEO, Andreas, is currently on parental leave enjoying time with his family while the business continues without disruption.” Shared leadership also encourages a culture of constructive friction. “We do actively encourage disagreement and debate – having someone to challenge your thinking leads to better decisions and helps expose blind spots much earlier,” she added. Their overall verdict: two heads at the top are more resilient than one.
Legal Pitfalls for Scaling Businesses
Rapid business growth is exciting, but it can also expose cracks in companies, according to James Howell, managing director of corporate law firm Rubric. He advises scaleups on getting legals right from the start. “In the early days, founders run on trust, speed and instinct. Decisions are made quickly, contracts are light and people are hired because the business needs them now. That can work when the company is small and everyone is close to the detail. The problem comes when the business scales, but the legal foundations do not.”
The most common mistake Howell sees in scaling firms is founders assuming they can “tidy things up later.” In reality, “later” usually arrives when there is already pressure on the business—a shareholder dispute, an investor asking difficult questions, a buyer carrying out due diligence, or a senior employee leaving with knowledge, customers, or expectations around equity.
Key Legal Risk Areas
Howell advises entrepreneurs to scale with structure. When making the first senior hire, landing a large customer, or securing the first external investor, “customers, employees, investors and buyers expect proper governance.” The biggest risk areas are usually shareholders, contracts, IP, and people. Many founder-led businesses still operate without a proper shareholders’ agreement or clear decision-making structure, which creates problems if a founder wants to leave, roles change, contributions become unequal, or there is disagreement about funding, dividends, or exit. Founder disputes rarely come out of nowhere but from conversations that were never properly had at the start.
Contracts
Growing businesses often rely on old templates, verbal arrangements, or terms that no longer reflect the size of the company. Weak payment terms, unclear scopes of work, poor termination rights, and inadequate limits on liability can all create avoidable risk. On a sale, badly drafted or non-transferable customer contracts can also affect value.
IP Ownership
Founders often assume the company owns everything created for it, but that is not always true. If contractors, developers, designers, or agencies have helped build the product, platform, brand, or content, ownership needs to be clearly documented.
Employment Risk
Fast hiring can lead to inconsistent contracts, blurred contractor relationships, informal equity promises, weak restrictive covenants, and poor HR processes. Culture issues that were manageable in a team of five can become legal issues in a team of fifty.
Impact on Investment and Sale
During investment or sale due diligence, investors and buyers will look closely at ownership, contracts, employment arrangements, disputes, compliance, and company records. If those areas are messy, it can delay a deal, reduce confidence, and give the other side leverage on price. Howell warned, “I’ve seen strong businesses lose momentum because basic legal housekeeping had not kept pace with growth. In one case, unclear contractor and IP arrangements gave the buyer a reason to apply pressure. In another, informal customer arrangements made recurring revenue look less secure than the headline numbers suggested.”
Advice for Scaling
Howell advises not to over-lawyer every decision but to document the important ones. “Know who owns the IP, how shareholder decisions are made, what has been promised to senior people and whether key contracts will stand up to scrutiny.” His advice to founders is simple: “Fix the foundations before they are tested. It is much easier to agree on structure when everyone is aligned and growing than when there is a dispute, an investor deadline or a buyer questioning the value of the business. Growth magnifies weakness. The businesses that scale best are the ones that deal with the basics before the cracks start to show.”
