It depends on the work, not on ownership or title. L classification requires a qualifying relationship between the businesses, qualifying employment abroad, and a proposed position that is primarily managerial or executive. Continuing hands-on delivery is not automatically fatal, but it has to be assessed factually by counsel.
Test the proportion, not the label
The useful question is what share of the proposed role consists of directing an organization, a department or an essential function, and what share is producing the service yourself. Owning the business does not answer it. Bring the time inventory and the delegation map so the assessment rests on described weeks rather than aspirations.
If the balance is currently wrong, counsel can say what would have to change and by when. Two structural points belong in the same conversation. Managerial capacity can rest on directing an essential function rather than on supervising a headcount, so a small organization is not automatically excluded, but the function must be identifiable and the authority over it real.
Separately, L-1A stay is capped at seven years in total, which makes the founder's longer-term plan a present question rather than a later one. Hypothetical example: the owner of a veterinary practice group still performs surgery four days a week, and the review records that the proposed role has to be described by proportion of time and reporting authority, not by the size of the shareholding, before any date is fixed.