Your ExitMap Blog gathers contributions from top exit planning professionals across the country that are indexed into four categories. They include select strategies for planning your exit, ideas for building your company’s value, transfer options you can choose from, or preparing to enjoy your post-exit lifestyle. This page shows the most recent posts from Your ExitMap Blog. If you are seeking a qualified exit planning professional, you can view a map of specialists here.

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Most Recent Your ExitMap Blog Articles

Most Recent Blog Articles

Is Your Business in the "Neutral Zone?" As Baby Boomers business owners approach retirement (the youngest of them turned 50 this year) they face a unique challenge. The market for small businesses is increasingly a buyer’s smorgasbord A shrinking middle-aged population, corporate competition for talent and less interest in the long hours associated with many traditional small businesses combine to make selling many Boomer enterprises a more difficult proposition. The best-of-class companies on both the smaller and larger end of the spectrum will still stand out as appealing propositions to buyers. On the main street side (companies selling for less than $3 million or so) there are still plenty of aspiring entrepreneurs who ... Read more Boomers and the Lost Generation Those who read this column regularly are well aware of the huge shifts underway as a result of the Baby Boomers’ coming exodus from the workplace. Those who aren’t familiar with the issue are invited to download my free, 45-page eBook Beating the Boomer Bust. Almost four years ago I mused about the chances of Generation X, smaller in numbers and less accustomed to competition than the generations immediately before (Boomers) or following (Millennials) becoming another Lost Generation, much like that of the F. Scott Fitzgerald era. Now, I’m seeing and hearing more evidence that such may be the case. A friend who works closely ... Read more Owners Live in Two Different Worlds Business owners live in two different worlds. If you are a Baby Boomer, the title of this column might bring memories of any one of the many covers of the song by the same name. (Everyone from Nat King Cole to Roger Williams, and from Jerry Vale to Englebert Humperdinck recorded it.) My application of it in business refers to the chasm between those owners who plan to sell a business valued at less than $3 million, and those who have companies valued at more than that. In M&A parlance; “main street” and “mid-market” businesses. Some background is in order. I spent the week at two conferences. At the Business ... Read more Ageing Boomer Entrepreneurs: Fearful or Smart? Do we become more cautious with age? Startups are usually associated with younger entrepreneurs. By the time they reach their 50s or 60s business owners tend to tackle fewer big new ideas. Those that do tend to be successful enough that they can segregate the risk in a way that won’t threaten their core livelihood. Are they smarter, or just more fearful of failure? There are any number of business axioms about the value of experience. “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” or “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.” Does the caution that accompanies age come from experience, ... Read more Selling Your Business in a Buyer's Market For almost ten years I’ve been writing and speaking about the issues facing Baby Boomer business owners as they begin a flood of small business sales. This recent article was syndicated in 16 trade and professional magazines. I reprint it here so readers of “Awake” can share it with their over-50 owner colleagues. More than 50% of US business owners are over 50 years old, and many of them are looking toward retirement and the process of attracting and vetting potential buyers to take the reins. The differences in yesterday’s and today’s business landscapes are stark—as Boomers were raised in a highly competitive environment, many ... Read more Money is Only Money Last week I discussed the general parameters of the private equity market for small and midsized businesses. A rational look at the number of “funds” active in the market, measured against the number of legitimate candidates for investment or acquisition, paints a clear view of why so many small companies are receiving calls from interested investors. There simply aren’t enough profitable, growing companies to buy. I put “funds” in quotes because not all Private Equity Groups are funds. There is a big difference between “We have money” and “We can get money.” Your first questions to any purported acquirer should be about the source and condition of their ... Read more Investing in Your Own Business: Will It Pay Off? A few months ago a business owner asked me to evaluate an acquisition offer for his small business. It was from a larger company headquartered in a different region of the country. They had a branch operation in his city, and wanted to expand their presence by combining it with his. For an opening offer, the deal seemed very reasonable to me. The purchase price was about four times EBITDA, with half in cash and half with interest over the next three years, and without any conditions attached. (note: That doesn’t mean conditions wouldn’t have come later.) He would receive a three-year employment agreement at a higher salary than he currently paid himself, ... Read more Key Man Policies May Not Cover a Buy/Sell Agreement Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations with clients about key man insurance. Let me say at the outset that I don’t sell insurance, and have no financial stake in whether any client has coverage or not. The use of such policies, however, may not always fit their intended purpose, especially in smaller companies. The most common intended purpose of a key man policy is to fund a buy/sell agreement. The benefit payment goes to the company, which in turn uses the proceeds to purchase ownership from the family or estate of the deceased. If it works that way, it’s an ... Read more Where Will All the Small Businesses Go? What would the small business landscape look like if over one million small businesses disappeared? Get ready, it’s about to happen. I write and speak frequently about the passing of the entrepreneurial generation. Driven by competitive pressures to succeed, the Boomers became small business owners in unprecedented numbers not seen since. They now account for about 2/3 of all the small employers (under 500 workers) in the United States. The two generations that follow, the Xers and Millennials, don’t have the capital, the material ambitions, or the need to chase the Boomers into small business. For a free download of my ten-article series on this transition, go ... Read more What is Your Company Worth? II Last week we discussed how business owners frequently use hearsay or incomplete information to estimate the value of their companies. They give the number to their financial planner, or include it on a personal financial statement for their banker, neither of whom bat an eyelash at the estimate. Having the amount “accepted” by financial experts, the owner starts to treat it as fact. How do you know whether it is realistic or achievable? Valuation of a small business is a combination of art and science. No two small companies are alike. A multiple of profits or cash flow is only the starting point. Take two small companies, ... Read more « Newer EntriesOlder Entries »