Setting Sail/Sale! Jake was so excited—an offer had come across his desk, by way of his attorney, that fulfilled most of his wishlist! The investor company said all the right things: they believed in the mission and vision, wanted to keep the employees in place and would keep the business operating from the small town where… [Read More]
Fallout: Protecting the Family Business Through a Divorce
I walked into Dan’s office on a bright spring morning expecting to hear about his recent ‘wins’ with his new hiring strategy. Instead, I found Dan, the CEO of a small family business and a long-term client, sitting in the dark, the shades pulled and his head in his hands. He asked me to shut… [Read More]
Buy-Sell Disagreements
The title of this article doesn’t sound quite right, does it? The purpose of buy-sell agreements is to provide peace-of-mind for shareholders. In theory, these “agreements” should provide relatively easy business transitions from one shareholder to another. Often, however, these well-intentioned documents fail business owners in highly emotional times (death, divorce, disability, retirement, etc.) and… [Read More]
The Six Elements of a Valuation Process Buy-Sell Agreement
A “valuation process” buy-sell agreement is an agreement that stipulates the process for determining a value of the business. This differs from a fixed price agreement, which states the dollar value of the business right in the agreement; a formula agreement, which states a formula for valuing the business (X times annual sales, for example);… [Read More]
