That seems to have worked for the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis), which Aleister Crowley did not found but did make over in his own image. At the time Crowley died, the OTO was in decline, and Crowley's formal successor for the remnant bodies in the US (Karl Germer) did not initiate new members, but after Germer died, Grady McMurtry formed an active Grand Lodge and the organization has been a going concern in the several decades since.