6 Things to Do Before Selling a Business | Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- #mergers #corporatelaw #sellingabusiness
In his work as a corporate attorney and M&A broker, Brett appreciates the urgency a business owner has to sell their business as quickly as possible and for the highest dollar amount. Oftentimes, there are things that could have been done months (years, even) before they were ready to sell in order to attract more buyers and demand a higher sale price.
The most important takeaway is to look at your business with the scrupulous eye of a potential buyer who may or may not believe everything you are advertising your business to be.
In this video, Brett shares six action items that can make or break your deal and that are completely within your control.
Here's a breakdown in case you want to jump around:
1:21 - #1 - Get your back office in order
3:49 - #2 - Clean up your financials
6:14 - #3 - Eliminate unknowns & resolve open matters
11:12 - #4 - Systematize your business
12:46 - #5 - Establish recurring revenue & growth opportunities
17:19 - #6 - Consider your advisory team
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Have questions? Book a call, and talk to Brett today:
clarity.fm/brettcenkus
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You can reach Brett through:
clarity.fm/brettcenkus
/ brettcenkus
/ bcenkus
www.cenkuslaw.com
braatenwoods.com
merger-resources.com
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Brett A. Cenkus has 20+ years of experience in business law, finance, and entrepreneurship. Through Cenkus Law, PC, he provides advice and services for mergers & acquisitions (M&A), securities offerings, founders’ agreements, and other general business law issues.
Through Braaten Woods, LLC, Brett helps business owners in the lower middle market ($2MM - $25MM) position themselves for sale, find buyers, negotiate, and close M&A deals.
Brett also maintains merger-resources.com, a site packed with free articles, videos, checklists, deal diagrams, template contracts, and other tools to help pass M&A knowledge to others.
Brett regularly consults with entrepreneurs and invests his own capital as an angel investor.
From 2010-2013, Brett served as Chief Legal Counsel of a publicly-traded international oilfield services company. From 2001 to 2006, he and a partner founded and built Paragon Residential Mortgage. Bridge Investments acquired Paragon in 2006.
Brett holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.
Brett lives in Austin with his wife, Cathryn, and two children. He enjoys reading, squash, classic movies, great food and wine, and the New England Patriots. - Навчання та стиль
EXCELLENT ADVICE!!!!!!!
brett, do u have a video on if seller lied to u , and then business insurance comes into play 1 month after closing - which insurance companies do an audit at the time of closing to ensure the buyer?
Thanks Brett for your time as this has helped heaps.
You're welcome!
Just packed with good advice!
thank you for the positive feedback, Gerard
Hi Brett, my first time on your channel and I enjoyed and learnt a lot from this video. Love how you left that “polishing a turd” phrase in there, makes you more genuine and natural. Will be subscribing and coming back for more!
Thank you, Dave! Occasionally the light-editing approach pays nice dividends!
This is great helpful content, given professionally.
Thank you for the feedback!
Thanks, man. Great info, Gents.
you're welcome!
Awesome! Love your enthusiasm in all of your videos. Very informative, dense with value. Would you take a trucking startup on retainer? Maybe in close future once I figure out what I need first :))
Let's talk when you're ready
Very informative. More videos. Thank you.
Thank you. More videos coming!
Great video!
thank you, Jeff!
Great work I appreciated your video
Thank you!
what about when buying a business?
great info!
Great point! I will do a similar video from the buyer's angle -- key things to do when buying a business. Thank you for the suggestion!
Good advice perfect timing thank you
You're welcome, Jacqueline.
Hello I have got a question, what is the difference between corporate and business lawer?
There isn't a difference. I tend to use "business" when describing myself to clients and "corporate" when talking to other lawyers. But, that's just a change to make the explanation simpler for non-lawyers (for whom the word, "corporate," doesn't resonate). Ultimately, I use these words interchangeably and my sense is that so do most other lawyers. Both terms are generally used to distinguish lawyers who write contracts, form companies, merger companies together, help companies raise capital, etc. from litigators who handle disputes and argue in court (business/corporate vs. litigator). You'll see exceptions (e.g., some litigators refer to themselves as corporate litigators), although generally these labels will hold true in the U.S. market.
I was in love with this little convenience store owned by an elder couple. I was so ready to buy it from them until I looked at the financials. The record keeping was non existent. All their financials were kept on a notebook. Also they were running their personal expenses directly from their business account. It was so heartbreaking, the amount of work it required to figure out their financials made the investment not worth it.
That is too bad, especially given how simple it would have been for that couple to run everything through a separate bank account.
How should I go about listing my business?
Jim, it depends on the business, primarily on the size of the business, although the industry may also drive some decision-making here. If the business is valued in the "main street" part of the market, which I consider $2 million and under (purchase price), then you'd look for a business broker to help. You can list it yourself on sites like bizbuysell.com. However, DIYing things may be challenging, and for businesses near the top of main street and beyond, the DIY approach seems particularly challenging because businesses get more complex. Buyers will come with advisors and lawyers, and it just isn't a DIY world as transaction values go up. Still, you could try it, and it doesn't seem nuts to me if you are selling a business worth a couple of hundred thousand dollars. That said, a great business broker will, IMO, more than pay for their fees (assuming their fees or at or near "market"). On the other hand, a subpar broker likely will not. The only way to identify brokers worth your business is to get a recommendation from your extended network. Find people whose opinions you can value. Otherwise, it will be tough to evaluate brokers. If your business will likely sell for amounts beyond main street, at some point, you should talk to investment bankers rather than business brokers. It's tough to say where the cutoff is, and this is where the industry may come into play, although if you have a business worth more than $5 million, I would talk to a couple of local (regional) investment banks to see if they'd take on the engagement. Investment bankers (the ones who do their job right) add a ton of value, and business brokers will be challenged keeping up in that world. Investment bankers and business brokers perform fundamentally similar services, although i-bankers typically run a process to locate buyers vs. listing businesses online. Buyers of $5MM+ businesses don't tend to find them online. The online listing world is a main street thing.
Brett Cenkus Thank you so much. Mine is a small business worth a couple hundred thousand.
@@jimperry4420 You're welcome, Jim.
Hi if anyone sees this message! How would you sale a business that a lot of people want, but you think it's best new owner does it! Not much can be done with only one person doing everything! I'm in a unique situation that I never seen anyone solve! I'm the one they hate, not the business!
: )