Frequently Asked Questions
If you really want to maximize the eventual sale of your business, start today! By having a target date and a target value top of mind, you can make better decisions every day for your business. The impact of this will be short term growth and improvement while also enhancing value for the long term.
Business valuation is complex. There is no simple answer. Your business is unique. Competitors of the same size in the same industry could be worth significantly more or significantly less than your business. Someone telling you, "in your industry, your business is worth X times Revenue or EBITDA", is dangerous! Let's talk about your specific business and what it could bring out in the marketplace.
It takes time, sometimes more than you'd like, which is why business owner should start planning today. Once we engage with a client to sell, it can easily be nine months or a year or more.
Be prepared! Keep your accounting as clean as possible, keep your reporting as clean as possible, have written procedures wherever you can. Keep things organized and have a repository for all your contracts. Make sure that your employee files and compliance obligations are up to speed. And so much more! Get some help on this - it can take your eye off the ball in continuing to grow the value of your business.
The short answer is this: in good times or bad, a well-run business will sell. The negotiations may be a little more complicated when there are downturns in the economy but a good company with good cash flow is always very attractive.
The best way to get started is to get informed.
Get clear on the current value and sale-readiness of your business, how the value-building and sale process works, key mistakes to avoid, and how to do it the right way.