Building Value Now For A Successful Exit Later

Since the majority receiving this email own a business or advise those that do, we’ve focused our newsletters to reflect strategies for creating more value within a business throughout 2017.

I hope you find the information relevant and thank you for the opportunity to provide solutions for challenging capital needs.


Cheers to a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous 2017!
Shannon Shular

 

Make Decisions Based On ‘There and Later’: When making day-to-day decisions, owners need to focus on the long-term ramifications. Don’t be driven by today’s needs and priorities without determining potential effects on your future and your ultimate exit.
Invest Time in Planning the Exit: Spend 20 minutes a day thinking about the exit. This time will produce more monetary value in the end and make earnings from anything else you would do with this time pale in comparison.
What should you think about? Look from the outside in. Determine who should eventually own your company and why. Take a buyer’s view of what will make the business more attractive from a strategic standpoint.
Perhaps you should devote more resources to developing proprietary and unique products or methods. Can you develop a brand? Branded companies are often sold as a multiple of sales, rather than a multiple of earnings.
Document and protect your technology: Corner a particular market or niche and become a price leader.
Become recognized: Do you have a good media and public relations strategy?
Are your contracts and agreements written so they would provide value to a purchaser of your company? Often, language in contracts can be problematic for buyers and investors.
Understanding Due Diligence Deal-Breakers: These include too much revenue from one customer, too much risk from a sole supplier or too much dependence on technology controlled by outsiders.