We’ve talked about preparing your Financial Statements as an important step toward getting the best price when you sell a business. Now let’s talk about some other aspects of your business that, with a little preparation, can make your business more saleable. In this article we will discuss your company’s Read more…
A set of organized, accurate and believable financial statements will have more influence on a buyer than anything you say, do or promise. If you don’t already have a system in place for tracking your company’s finances, begin now to set one up. Many small businesses (and most single proprietorships) Read more…
You founded your business with 2 financial objectives in mind – to make enough money so that you and your family could lead a decent lifestyle, and to build something of value that you could eventually sell. Depending on where you are on your career path when you exit Read more…
Bob began his career working for a large telephone company. After several years Bob tired of corporate life and started his own company installing and maintaining telephone systems. He did well and built his company to just over $5 million in revenue. In his early sixties Bob started having health Read more…
A surprising number of businesses just don’t sell. It’s been estimated that only about 1 in 4 small businesses actually sell. Why is that? Well, first of all, 1 of the 4 would probably never sell for a variety of reasons (paltry revenues, losing money, no or little demand for Read more…
If you increase the value of your business you’ll increase the probability that your company will be one of the 25% of companies that go to market that actually sells. This is a huge deal because if you go from not selling to selling your company, that could mean going Read more…
The Choice There were 3 decent offers each presenting a different scenario with different money and structures. Jim, with Rob’s help, considered each offer carefully. Since Jim was only 52, he had a lot of productive years left and he wanted to use the experience that he had garnered building Read more…
In PART 1 Jim’s M&A Adviser (Rob) developed and implemented a marketing plan for Jim’s business. In PART 2 you’ll see the results of Rob’s marketing plan. The Offers There were 47 total prospective buyers that received the Confidential Memorandum and 19 of those buyers followed up with questions. After Read more…
Jim MacDonald (not his real name) had worked for a large consulting company for several years and he had become a senior member of the company’s computer networking department. In his eleventh year with the firm it made the decision to divest its computer networking operation and focus on software. Read more…
When I was growing up my parents were in the hotel business. In fact, at one point, they owned 3 hotels. My dad died when I was quite young and my mother continued operating the hotels. She did well but she soon realized that the 3 hotels were too much Read more…