Leaving to start your own firm
You and your partners have the clients, the staff and the lease. What you don’t have yet is a domain, a tenant, thirty laptops and an answer for the insurer. That’s the part we do, quietly, until you’re ready to announce.
Quiet until the announcement
Departures are sensitive. The plan is built so nothing about it is visible from your current firm.
- Planning happens on personal email and a project name of your choosing. Nothing goes through your current firm’s systems.
- The new domain, tenant and devices are registered to the new entity, not to an individual.
- Mailboxes are built and tested in advance, but nothing sends from the new domain until you say so.
- Staff accounts are prepared but credentials are only handed out on day one.
- We keep the circle small on our side too. Only the people doing the work know who you are.
Email live on the new domain, before clients need it
The announcement email is the most important message your new firm sends. It should come from the new domain, arrive in the inbox, and every reply should land.
We register the domain early, publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC weeks before the announcement so the domain has a clean history, and test delivery to the mail systems your clients actually use. On announcement day, every mailbox is already live.
Timing the client message is your call. We make sure the technology isn’t the reason it slips, and that replies sent to the new addresses at 9:01 are received at 9:01.
Data you’re entitled to, moved properly
What leaves with you is a legal and professional question before it’s a technical one.
Your partnership agreement, your professional body and each client’s authorization decide what you can take. Get that settled with your lawyer first. Then we move exactly that: client files, correspondence and contacts that have been authorized, with a written record of what moved, when and from where.
We don’t copy anything out of your current firm’s systems on our own initiative, and we won’t help anyone take what they aren’t entitled to. It protects you as much as anyone.
What regulators and insurers will ask
A new firm is a new entity, which usually means a new cyber insurance policy and new questions from your professional body.
- Multi-factor authentication enforced for every account, from the first login
- Backup of email and files, stored in Canada, with restores tested
- Managed endpoint protection and patching on every device
- Written policies for acceptable use, MFA, backup and incident response
- Records of who has access to what, including us
Already have a policy quote? KDTS offers a free Cyber Insurance Policy Review of the wording. Email insurance@kdts.ca.
Who this is for
Established professionals, not first-time founders.
Typically two to six partners leaving an accounting, law, wealth management or engineering firm, with somewhere between five and fifty people on day one. You have clients waiting, a lease or a sublet, and a date. You want the technology to look like a firm that has been running for years from the first email.
If that’s you, the whole kit applies, and the timeline is the plan.
Questions partners ask
Can you start before we’ve told our current firm?
Yes, and most partners do. Early work happens on your personal email and in accounts registered to the new entity. Nothing is sent from, or touches, your current firm’s systems. We use a working name for the project if you prefer.
What client data can we bring with us?
That depends on your partnership agreement, your professional body’s rules and what each client authorizes, so it’s a question for your lawyer first. Once it’s settled, we move exactly what you’re entitled to, keep a record of what moved, and leave the rest alone.
How do we stop client email going to the old firm?
You can’t control the old firm’s mail system, so plan for it. The new domain is live and tested before the announcement, the announcement gives the new addresses, and we help you ask the old firm for an auto-reply or forwarding arrangement as part of the transition.
Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?
Either. Most professional firms choose Microsoft 365 because their practice software expects Outlook and Word. Some prefer Google Workspace. We support both properly, and we’ll tell you plainly if your software makes the choice for you.
How much notice do you need?
Thirty days is comfortable. Business internet is usually the longest lead time, so if you have an office signed, tell us early. We have done it in less, with fewer choices along the way.
Talk to us before you tell anyone else.
Write from a personal address if you prefer. We reply within two business days and keep it between us.