Posts Categorized: Exit Planning

Selling Your Business, Taxes & Tax Structures

It is never too early to start thinking about what tax structure you should use when it comes time to sell your business.  A simple, but undeniable, rule of life is that taxes matter and they can’t be overlooked.  Author Tim Fries at The Tokenist has written an excellent and quite detailed overview article on… Read more »

The True Value Of Sticky Customers

  Can you exit your business if you’re in a declining industry? The answers – according to CJ Whelan, who co-founded Adigo, a teleconferencing business, is yes — on one condition: you must have sticky customers. In the absence of an innovative product, acquirers may still buy your business if you can prove you have… Read more »

WP Curve Get Acquired By Go Daddy

In 2013, Alex McClafferty co-founded WP Curve, a company that provided IT support for people with a WordPress site. McClafferty and his partner stitched together a network of contract support professionals in developing countries and quickly grew the company. They hired a few managers, and by the beginning of 2016, McClafferty was already looking for… Read more »

The Backstory Behind E&J Gallo’s Acquisition of Barefoot Cellars

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey built Barefoot Cellars to sales of more than 600,000 cases of wine per year when they got the attention of E&J Gallo, America’s largest winemaker. Gallo was impressed with how quickly a $7 bottle of Barefoot moved off retailers’ shelves and were intrigued by Barefoot’s use of grassroots sponsorship to… Read more »

Avoiding The Commoditization Rat Race To The Bottom

Jean-Eric Plamondon was in the scrap metal business where the stereotypical operator is a shady character buying metal by the ton with a blow torch in one hand and a wad of cash in the other. Plamondon decided he wanted to do scrap metal differently and discovered farmers were keen to clean up their land…. Read more »

The Snag Of Selling To Private Equity

Sherry Deutschmann got the money to start LetterLogic Inc. – a company that printed and mailed patient statements for hospitals – by having a yard sale. She made her first desk out of an old door. From these humble beginnings Deutschmann built LetterLogic into a $40 million juggernaut which she recently sold for more than… Read more »

When Disaster Strikes A Founder

Tom Pisello built Alinean, a consulting company which offered a set of tools to help salespeople express the value of picking their solution. The business was cruising with about half of its revenue coming from recurring licensing fees and the other half from consulting when disaster struck the Pisello’s family. Pisello’s wife succumbed to a… Read more »

Understanding M&A Purchasing Agreements

M&A purchasing agreements can have a lot of moving parts.  A recent article from Meghan Daniels entitled, “The Makings of the M&A Purchase Agreement” serves to outline a range of facts including that every M&A deal is different.  The article, which serves as a general overview, raises a range of good points. Components of the… Read more »

The Hidden Secret That Made This Company Worth A Ton

Ian Silverberg wanted to get into the health club business and approached a former employer about buying his gym. As Silverberg did his due diligence, he realized the club was sitting on a real estate goldmine that would all but guarantee his exit would be lucrative. Silverberg went on to separate the health club from… Read more »

Key Mistakes that Could Impact Your Sale

The old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” most definitely applies to any business owner that believes he or she will someday want to sell his or her business.  The bottom line is that every business owner has to transition out of ownership at some point.  In a recent Inc…. Read more »