Rich Jordan is the Founder & CEO of High Ground, a company focused on helping self-funded operators build stronger, more resilient businesses. Rich has a background spanning business acquisition, operations, and growth — giving him a practitioner's lens on what it actually takes to go from searcher to successful CEO.

At SMBash 2026, Rich delivers a live case study on one of the most underrated challenges in SMB acquisition: what happens to the brand when the founder leaves. Drawing on his direct experience rebranding three acquired businesses, Rich walks through the tactical and psychological process of killing the founder's name — when to do it, how to do it, and how to bring employees and customers along without losing what made the business valuable in the first place.