Getting Ready to Sell

Abstract

If you don’t plan to sell your business, you should. If it’s a “lifestyle business,” it’s really a job and everyone should plan to retire from their job someday. And why not plan to maximize your retirement benefits by building something of value? All business owners should have an exit strategy from the beginning. Even if you don’t presently want to sell your business, the strategic consideration of selling will ensure that you focus on maximizing the performance and value of the business and decreasing its dependence on you, the business owner. Whether you’re a sole founder and owner, a primary shareholder, or a partner in a business, this chapter is designed to help you consider and plan for your inevitable exit and maximize the business’s valuation and therefore the gains you’ll derive from selling your stake.

“Every one lives by selling something, whatever be his right to it.”

Robert Louis Stevenson (c. 1880)