Each year, thousands of businesses are sold. Unfortunately, due to lack of proper preparation, many would-be sellers end up remaining owners. Studies suggest that between 20 and 30% of companies offered for sale actually sell. Adherence to our suggestions should increase the likelihood of a timely and successful sale. Begin preparing now. Are you considering selling [...]

To ensure an M&A process runs smoothly, business owners should confirm the investment bankers who represent them know how to properly qualify buyers. Otherwise, sellers may be stuck in a time-consuming process that goes nowhere and the chance their confidential data will be sent to a competitor will go up. Here are some areas to [...]

An earn-out provision in a sale agreement provides business owners future payments based upon company performance after the sale. Often when an owner believes his business is poised for exceptional growth and thus worth more than average market values, earn-out provisions can bridge the gap between the buyer’s valuation and the seller’s expectations. Here are [...]

When considering the sale of your company an important consideration is : “Which type of buyer will be right for me”? To achieve the best possible outcome, an owner must select the buyer or investor most complementary for his personal goals and his company. Buyer types are best classified into three basic types of buyers/investors: [...]

The two most common types of buyers are strategic buyers and financial buyers - such as private equity groups. To help understand which is the best fit for them, sellers should familiarize themselves with the differences. Strategic Buyers: Strategic buyers are typically larger companies looking to expand their product or service offering, technology, market share, [...]

The short answer to the above question is this: in general, business owners need to begin developing relationships at least five years before they intend to phase out of their business. Owners not ready to retire often believe it is too early to consider an exit strategy. For this reason, many business owners miss out [...]

There is no easy way to sell a company, at least not properly. Yet surprisingly, many sellers put less planning into selling their company than planning their company picnic.  If after considering your options, you decide to sell with IndustryPro, below is our typical process: Step One: Strategic Planning & Preparation of Materials Timing 3-4 [...]

In the lower middle and middle market, some private equity groups may prefer to structure the purchase of a company as a recapitalization, or “recap”.  This is most common when a company is large enough to be a private equity group’s platform company and the owner would like to stay with the company as a [...]

The simple answer to this question is this: your business is worth what someone will pay for it. That said, the method by which a buyer values your company can involve complex financial modeling. Because buyers have different motivations and use a variety of valuation methods, we try to give you a few simple rules. [...]