Category: Selling a Business

Key Drivers that Increase the Value of Your Business

Whether you want to raise money for your business, or are thinking about selling it, there are certain key drivers that will significantly increase its value. If raising capital, that means you don’t have to give up as much equity to investors. If selling the business, that means you get to walk away with a…
Sell Your Own Business, Retain a Broker, or Use a Hybrid Approach?

Getting a good offer for your business is the culmination of all you have worked for. When it comes time to sell your business you will be faced with the decision to sell it yourself or retain a broker. Most business owners see this as an either-or choice, but it doesn’t have to be. You…
Selling a Business Is a Lot Like Looking for Love: You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs

I sold several businesses after running them for many years. I now help other business owners find the right buyers for their companies. Finding the right buyer is a daunting process, not unlike finding love. I know a little something about that as well. I found myself single after 25 years of marriage and re-entered…
Why I Can’t (or won’t) Sell Your Business

According to some reports, as many as 500,000 businesses change hands each year. The number is expected to increase as the baby boomers retire and sell their companies. In fact, we are on the cusp of the greatest wealth transfer in history – more than $30 Trillion will be changing hands from one generation to the next. A…
Does a Business Broker Need to “Believe In” Your Business to Sell It?

Last week I had a rather testy exchange with one of my clients. He’s a brilliant technologist and I’ve been trying to sell some software and other intellectual property he developed. It’s an asset sale, he has no revenues or customers. He’s frustrated at the lack of buyer interest – they just aren’t beating a…
I’ll Show You Mine If You’ll Show Me Yours: The Art of Sharing Confidential Information (when it matters)

Since I started to spend the majority of my time on mergers and acquisitions earlier this year, my use of non-disclosure agreements (NDA) has skyrocketed. I sign as many as 20 NDAs every day. The NDA is the bedrock of buying and selling companies. Without a good NDA – and its proper treatment – no…
Getting Ready to Sell Your Business

The last few years have been banner years for M&A. More businesses are expected to be sold in the coming years than any previous period. The trend is global and across most sectors of the economy, even those which are not considered growth industries. This forecast comes on the heels of the biggest year ever…
If You are Buying or Selling a Business, You Need to Know How to Fish

A friend called the other day, very frustrated. He has been looking for a good business to buy for the better part of a year. He concluded there were no good businesses for sale. He just wanted me to validate that, me being in the business of buying and selling businesses and all. I sighed…
Scarcity: The Most Effective Strategy for Selling Your Company, Your Product, or Yourself

In a world of consumerism and sameness, where just about everything is a commodity and plentiful, there is only one sure-fire strategy for selling your company, your product, or yourself: scarcity. It’s an easy strategy to comprehend, but a difficult one to implement. Scarcity is at the root of economics. It creates desire and, subsequently, demand. When…
The Two Most Important Factors in Building a Sustainable Business and Maximizing Valuation at Exit

There is no lack of startup business models. My friend and colleague, Dave Parker, writes about business models and their trade-offs. He taught me most of what I know about choosing the right model. In fact, it wasn’t until I took his course at The Founder Institute (Seattle) that I realized I spent 10-years of my life building…