Valuations are at levels we haven’t seen since 2007 and concerns are rising about the sustainability of the market and the amount of leverage the middle market is taking on. We asked six senior bankers how this was changing the advice they gave potential sell-side clients as they think about an exit.
Once you’ve begun to create your exit planning strategy by determining your business’s value, it’s time to consider your next steps: looking at your finances and mental readiness to determine your outcomes and acquisition goals.
If you’ve begun to seriously think about retirement or selling your business for other reasons, you need to start thinking about exit planning strategies. You must have an exit plan in order to make selling your business as easy as possible. To avoid a rough transition, start with a valuation, followed by topics like Distance to Goal, Prospective Buyers and a Professional Team.
Eric is a Managing Partner at Venture Advocates. He is one of the leading experts in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Payne started, grew, and eventually sold Nationwide Valuations, one of the nation’s largest business valuation companies. He is a serial entrepreneur, having owned and sold companies in many industries. Eric Payne is also a skilled franchise consultant and has many years of experience with startup and exit planning.
Colorado is full of great companies. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and community to support them.
Join a room full of angel investors and capital leaders from across the state to discuss the state of Colorado's capital ecosystem, as well as how to move it forward. We will cover:
How do I get started investing in local startups?
What are the common mistakes for new investors?
How can we improve our current Colorado capital ecosystem for entrepreneurs?
PLUS - A play-by-play review of a recent local funding.
Real businesses make products and sell them for a profit. They focus on customers, revenue and profitability not investors, valuations and the next fundable milestone. Real businesses prioritize their customer’s needs over their customer’s eyeballs. They have a functioning business model, not a believable financial model. Real businesses want to stay in business, not run for the exit. They create their own source of funding and don’t have to ask anyone for permission to exist. We believe real businesses make really great investments. We believe that companies with a focus on making a product customers love and selling it at a profit from the very beginning have a distinct long term advantage over those who don't. .........
It’s likely that few people, if any, have ever told you, “You need to make yourself less important,” regarding your business. But sophisticated buyers look for businesses that can operate without their owners. Unless your goal is to sell or transfer your business, and then stay with the business as a subordinate to assure a smooth transition, you’ll need to train a management staff that can run the business without you. This is the most important Value Driver you’ll install, and for many owners, it’s the hardest, because they aren’t prepared to expend the emotional and mental energy required to remove themselves from their businesses................
In the popular imagination, venture capitalists are all sharp-suited "greed is good" spouting Gordon Gekko-types, buying distressed businesses or household brands before stripping them bare and slashing employees to turn a quick buck.
But all this antipathy towards private equity however distracts from its rather sober, utilitarian aims: to turn a flagging enterprise into a flagship of success. Private equity is meant to inject working capital into a promising business and refine products, operations or management, while keeping shareholders suitably compensated for their risk taking.............
Whether you’re looking to exit your business in 10 months, 10 years, or never, one fact governs them all: All business owners—even the hardest working, most dedicated workaholics—will exit their businesses someday. Whether by choice, death, or otherwise, you need to be able to answer the question, “What will happen to me, my business, and my family upon my business exit?” .........
Impact increasingly has a place across all asset classes and investor types. Founders, leaders, practitioners and provocateurs convene to look back and look forward, strengthening the foundation of investing for impact while also developing new mindsets and models to invigorate the future of impact investing...........
