Insights
Straight answers, page 38
Buying a business
What Business-Sale Market Reports Tell a Buyer — and What They Don'tHow a buyer should use national business-sale market reports, which takeaways last, and why each deal rests on its own numbers.
Exit planning
What You Need to Know About Selling a Family Business With Several OwnersWhy family companies with several owners stall in a sale, and how to agree on price, terms and one voice before buyers arrive.
Valuation
Justifying Your EBITDAHow to prove every EBITDA adjustment before a buyer's accountants ask, and how cash, debt and working capital fit into the number.
Valuation
The Complexities of Valuations: Why Two Professionals DisagreeWhy qualified professionals reach different values for the same company, where the judgment lies, and how to question a valuation.
Selling a business
What Do Buyers Really Want?The two things behind every buyer question, earnings that last and information that holds up, and how to supply both up front.
Selling a business
No Replacement for Experience: Mistakes Owners Make Selling Without an AdvisorThe costly mistakes owners make when they sell alone or with a friend's help, and how to judge an advisor's experience.
Valuation
An Overview of Goodwill in Business DealsWhat goodwill is in a business sale, why personal goodwill is harder to sell, and how to make more of your company's goodwill transferable.
Exit planning
How to Get Ready to Sell Your BusinessThe five decisions to make before you sell: your goals, your role in the sale, steady operations, confidentiality and partner agreement.
Selling a business
The Importance of Employee HappinessWhy a settled, fairly treated team raises what buyers will pay, and what to fix in the years before a sale.
Selling a business
Leases: Key Considerations That Can Make or Break a BusinessWhat happens to a lease when a business is sold, and the clauses buyers, landlords and lenders check before closing.
Selling a business
What Should You Expect from Term Sheets?What a term sheet is, how it differs from a letter of intent, what it usually covers and how to respond before you sign anything.
Buying a business
Is Your Deal Really Done? What Can Still Change After the LOIWhat still has to happen between a signed letter of intent and closing, and how a buyer keeps the deal from unraveling.