The Business Exit

In an ideal world, an owner would sell their company when the timing was “just right.” All the stars would align perfectly — it is a seller’s market; the value would be higher than the owner could ever imagine; the non-financial terms would favor the seller; the buyer would have the knowledge, motivation, and resources…

With the New Year upon us, everyone is making personal resolutions: to exercise more, to eat healthier, or perhaps to improve personal finances. While you are at it, why not consider making some New Year’s resolutions for running your company?   Here are six ideas to help kick start your goal-setting for the year ahead:  Resolution…

In this two-part series, we will highlight five more mistakes and how owners can avoid them. As mentioned last time, owners typically make these mistakes because selling their business involves different responsibilities than running their company. With some knowledge and expert guidance, however, owners can avoid making these mistakes and complete a successful transaction (with…

Owners are great at running their business.  When they are ready to sell their business though, owners are prone to common mistakes since selling their company is often new, uncharted territory, and certainly not what they do every day. These mistakes can be costly, waste both the owner’s and buyer’s time and money, and potentially…

When the owner contemplates selling their company, one of the important aspects is communicating the news to the management team. When should the owner tell them about the deal? Who should the owner bring into their confidence? How should they be incentivized to work with the owner to complete the transaction? It is a lot…

Owners always ask the following question when considering the sale of their company: “When do I inform my employees?” It is an interesting conundrum. After all, the owner cannot complete the transaction without valuable input from their management team including the Chief Financial Officer or controller, sales and marketing executive, and the Chief Operating Officer. …

Succession planning in the context of transitioning day-to-day control of a company to a non-family President while retaining ownership of the company. Regardless of the reason that the owner is retiring, it is important that the operational successor has the vision and capability to lead the company during the next phase of its life cycle.…

There comes a time in every business owner’s life when it is time to make the tough decision regarding succession. The owner may be ready for retirement or need to stop working for personal reasons. While the sale of the company is one option, in this article, we will focus on the owner retaining the…

When preparing for the sale of a business, there is something called the “two-step process” for private equity group partnerships — an approach in which the owner sells a minority interest in their company to a professional investor such as a private equity group (“PEG”). Often, an owner will partner with a private equity group…

For business owners that are seeking liquidity but are not quite ready to sell control of their company and retire, one option is to sell a minority interest in the company to a professional investor such as a private equity group (“PEG”). The sale of the entire company can then be pursued three to five…