The Complete Guide to Selling a Business: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Selling a business

Selling a business is a long and complex process. You may be ready to sell this year or just curious into what it will take to sell – this series will help. The business sale process can be broken down into core stages – from who you need to hire, to what questions you should be prepared to answer, to how to hand off your company once you’ve signed on the dotted line.

In this post, you will learn how to build an effective team to support the sale, because when it’s time to sell your business, don’t go it alone.

Step 4: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Another important consideration you should ask yourself is whether you want to stay on with the business after the sale is complete or move on completely from it. This will help determine what buyers you look for and how you evaluate them.

Every CEO should think about what they’re trying to accomplish with a sale.

“Where do they want to be in five years? What role do they want to have post-transaction? Are you looking to pull the ripcord and leave now? Or, are you looking or a partner to realize further financial or operational goals?”

The answers to these questions can have a big bearing on how you position the company to the marketplace.

Owners need to determine their course of action. Private equity firms will typically require a management ream to stay on board; if the management team wants to leave, then it’s time to look for strategic buyers.

“A strategic buyer will likely tolerate a weaker, more uncertain management team, because they’ll have the ability to insert their own people,” said Bill Nack from The Forbes M&A Group.

Portions of this blog were taken from Axial Forum