The most important thing when starting to think about your business exit is education – it is critical that you educate yourself on the many different areas that are involved in an exit plan. Whether you think you will pass the business on to your children or your management team, sell your business to a third party, or put in an ESOP, there is a tremendous amount of planning that must take place both within the business and for you personally.
Below are a few newsletters for you to review to begin that education process and to help you start thinking about your business exit in a holistic fashion.
If you have additional questions or if you would like to speak to a Certified Business Exit Consultant, click here to find an advisor near you or you may call Pinnacle’s office at 781-821-2608.
We hope you enjoy the content.
The Top Ten Reasons Business Owners do not Plan for Their Exit
This newsletter is written for, and to, business owners who may be thinking about planning for their own exit from their privately-held businesses in the next few years. Exit Planning is a complex task that is usually executed with an experienced, objective and collaborative set of advisors. This newsletter has five (5) categories that include ten (10) reasons why owners ordinarily do not plan for their exits. Hopefully, you see yourself within the content of this newsletter and it inspires you to take action towards your individual, personal, and company’s future planning. Read More
Who is a Part of Your Exit Planning Conversations?
Business owners who are thinking about an exit plan struggle on many levels with advancing forward. At its core, exit planning is about making a significant change in ones business and life. Therefore, the very personal aspect of this planning cannot be ignored. However, there is also a ‘company’ perspective to exit planning. This involves how your business will run without you one day. Do you have the people in place for the business to run without you? Are you engaging those people in a conversation about the future of the company, with or without you? Or are you, like many owners, thinking that you’ll construct your exit plan without the input of the people closest to you? This newsletter is written to help you have a better and stronger exit planning conversation with the people that you need supporting you with making this large financial and emotional change. Read More
An Exit from Your Business is Both a Change and a Transition
Business owners who are thinking about, or actually experiencing, an exit from their business are well served to understand the substantial impact that these changes will have on their personal life. This newsletter not only addresses the potential financial change in circumstances that can occur from the sale or exit from a business, but it also addresses the internal transition that an individual goes through as they experience these changes. Therefore, we focus your attention on the important differences between ‘change’ and ‘transition’ in order to better prepared you to achieve a successful exit. Read More
Can I Afford to Exit My Business Today? Five (5) Questions to Begin Planning Your Exit
An exit from a privately-held business is a complex decision. Each exiting owner will have a unique relationship with their company as well as their community, family, employees, managers, vendors, customers, and others who are tied to that successful business. However, there are a common set of factors that every owner will need to answer before successfully exiting their business. Every owner first needs to know whether or not they can afford to exit their business. This newsletter will provide you with five (5) questions that, answered in order, will assist you in addressing this very question and getting your exit planning started today. Read More
Financing Your Exit Transaction
Business owners who are looking to turn their illiquid business into cash will often ask, ‘where will the money come from to fund my buyout?’ This question applies to both internal transfers to managers, employees and family members as well as to external transfers to outside buyers. The owner who is well informed as to the details of the pending exit transaction is well prepared to have meaningful and intelligent conversations about where the cash will come from to fund their exit. After all, as the old saying goes, if you want the answer to a lot of your questions, ‘just follow the money’. So, let’s take a look at the types of capital available and what type of buyer would attract, have and / or deploy that capital to buy your business in the future. Read More
How to Communicate your ‘Exit Plan’ to Your Management Team
It is sometimes difficult to know how much information to share with your management team. From “playing it close to the vest” to “open book” management, different companies have different cultures to address these issues. On top of deciding how much to share, you also need to decide when to share information. The feeling is that employees and managers cannot always put certain information into the proper context – this is particularly true for an owner’s exit from the business. Moreover, the concerns that many owners have about their employees and managers is that they will see the owner’s exit as the end of their career and will begin looking for employment elsewhere. This newsletter is written to give owners who are considering a future exit some thoughts as to how to handle these delicate conversations with your management team. We begin with the idea that nothing good lasts forever. Read More
Some Exit Planning Statistics to Consider
Business owners are well served in understanding the market forces that will likely impact their attempt to successfully exit their business. In 2009, Richard M. Trottier published a groundbreaking book titled Middle Market Strategies. The statistics that are provided in this newsletter are drawn from Richard’s book and are presented here to paint a picture of how dramatically the small business marketplace has changed in the last twenty to thirty years and to help you draw some conclusions on how these changes may impact your plans for a successful exit. Read More
The Five Primary Benefits of an Employee Stock Ownership
Plan Business owners who are considering how and when they will cash in the shares of their privately-held stock are often curious about whether or not an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) can be of assistance in helping them reach their goals. Although there are many details to ESOPs that need to be examined with the assistance of professional resources, the summary is that there is an exchange of unique tax incentives for owners who are willing to share the equity in their business with their employees. The ESOP is an ‘internal’ transaction, providing privacy and control so owners do not have to take on new partners and, for the most part, can keep things running the way they want. This newsletter highlights five (5) areas of primary benefits that an S-corporation ESOP provides to owners to assist you in determining whether or not this unique tool will help you reach your exit goals. Read More