For Founders
The M&A Process
As a founder, you’ve navigated a lot of unknown territory to get your company to where it is now. But now that the time has come to sell your business, you don’t want to navigate the terrain without a trained guide. The following materials will help demystify the M&A process through our learnings and first-hand perspectives of our clients.
Decide to Sell
Internally we call it the the "Founder's Dilemma" and it's one of the hardest questions to answer. Our commitment is to arm founders with information and provide industry insights as an input to the decision-making process. Deciding it's the right time to explore M&A is often a very personal decision for founders. Regardless of timing, we want to be selling into strength, whether that's now or later.
Hire a Banker
You’ve built a business that’s worth multi-millions of dollars, it’s likely taken 5-10-15+ years of blood, sweat and tears, you want to do this right. You receive a bunch of emails and calls from tons of PE firms and some strategic buyers, but does it make sense to only deal with buyers that have come to you? It's not about getting a transaction done, it's about getting the right transaction done.
Position Your Business
Building leverage starts Day 1 with the first impression. Make sure you speak "Premium Asset" fluently by conveying to the market a story that buyers want to get behind. Know what buyers want to hear and tailor strengths and opportunities to speak their language.
Create Competition Among Buyers
The valuation for your business is highly subjective—do not place an upper bound on valuation. Competition is not a few inbound calls or emails, it's the entire market, maybe hundreds of buyers, competing for your business. High-quality companies are scarce, not capital. When buyers compete, you win.
Conduct Due Diligence
Get to the finish line and be strategic for life after the transaction. Diligence is infinitely more painful if you're unprepared and when done poorly, can lead to the finish line being moved or disappearing completely. The reality of life after the deal depends on today. Make the right decisions now to prepare and set yourself up for optimized tax treatment in the future.
