Laurie Barkman is a “business transition sherpa.” With her firm, SmallDotBig, she advises owners on having more valuable, sellable businesses. And as a Partner with Stony Hill Advisors, a mergers and acquisitions firm, she guides them through the complex process of letting it go.
She joins host Nana Bonsu on Build Value by Choice to give you advice on preparing your business for transition.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- 80% of business owners want to stop working in their business in the next 5-10 years, but most have not planned for that transition. Many need to improve the business first.
- If your business has a lot of risks, it makes it a less attractive prospect and will be harder to transition.
- The earlier you make the decision to work towards transitioning the business, the more time you have. Having more time means you have more options. More options means you can find more value. And value doesn’t have to be the highest offer, the right offer for you might not be the highest one.
- You can create different exit options depending on your goals. For example the paths of passing your business down the family line is very different to a management buyout.
- Financial buyers are long-term investors interested in the return that they can get by buying a well-managed company and looking to generate cash flow by boosting revenue, cutting costs, or creating economies of scale by buying similar companies. Strategic buyers are often bigger companies that are well capitalized, able to spend more, and less focused on whether a company can generate quick cash flow. The strategic buyers tend to pay more than financial buyers.
BEST MOMENTS
‘When you have time on your side, you ultimately have more options’
‘I was selling my business but I was also selling myself’
‘You only get one change to land a plane on the Hudson’
‘3/4s of owners have regrets 1 year after their exit’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Get more resources on infhorizons.com/podcast
www.meetlauriebarkman.com https://thebusinesstransitionsherpa.com/ www.linkedin.com/lauriebarkman/
www.twitter.com//LaurieBarkman/
www.facebook.com/SmallDotBig/
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