By davekauppi on March 18, 2009
If you are a business owner considering selling your business, most likely you will interview several business brokers or merger and acquisition advisors. In the process you might hear, “We have lists of qualified buyers.” Some potential business sellers find this phrase almost hypnotic. It congers visions of this group of well funded, anxious buyers [...]
Posted in Entrepreneurship
By davekauppi on March 17, 2009
In our Merger and Acquisition practice we watch as business buyers go through an exhaustive analysis to determine if it is financially prudent to make a particular company acquisition. Some use EBITDA multiples or free cash flow multiples. Others use the classic discounted cash flow approach while another group might look at a payback period [...]
Posted in Entrepreneurship
By davekauppi on March 10, 2009
We were just concluding our first information gathering meeting with a new client who had engaged us to sell her business when she handed us a letter. That letter was from another Merger and Acquisition Advisory or Business Broker firm. The letter began: “Our buyer group has requested that our firm assist them in locating [...]
Posted in Entrepreneurship
By davekauppi on March 9, 2009
If you are a business owner considering selling your business most likely you will interview several business brokers or merger and acquisition advisors. In the process you might hear, “We have lists of qualified buyers.” Some potential business sellers find this phrase almost hypnotic. It congers visions of this group of well funded, anxious buyers [...]
Posted in Entrepreneurship
By davekauppi on December 22, 2008
You started your company 20 years ago “in your garage”, worked many 80 hour weeks, bootstrapped your growth, view your company with the pride of an entrepreneur, and are now considering your exit. The decision to sell is all too often a reactive one rather than a proactive one — the primary reasons are a [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By davekauppi on December 20, 2008
Buying a business is a risky proposition. The buyer is attempting to examine and access all of the risk factors to determine how much to pay, what deal structure to propose, and even whether or not to even make an offer. What if I lose a key customer, employee, or supplier? What if our technology [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By davekauppi on December 20, 2008
The decision to sell is all too often a reactive one rather than a proactive one — the primary reasons are a serious health issue, owner burnout, the death of a principal, general industry decline or the loss of a major customer. The purpose of this article is to discuss the ten key factors that [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By davekauppi on December 18, 2008
Ask any business owner who has sold a business or attempted to sell a business, “What would you do differently?” If he or she attempted to sell it without help, chances are pretty good that the transaction did not succeed. If the transaction were actually completed, chances are that they did not get a good [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By davekauppi on December 15, 2008
Many business owners want to thank their loyal employees that have helped them build their businesses when they exit. It is a noble desire that often leads to the exploration of a management buyout. Who better to buy the business than the management team that is familiar with the procedures, the customers, the suppliers, the [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By davekauppi on December 10, 2008
If this recent market meltdown has taught us anything it is to make sure you are diversified over several investments and asset classes. Would you recommend that a client put 80% or more of their assets into a single investment? Of course not, but a large percentage of your clients actually have that level of [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
