CapEQ | B Corp™

Thousands of founders receive unexpected offers to buy their business every year. Getting your business exit-ready - even when you are not intending to sell - means you can protect value, speed up negotiations, and focus on running your business instead of running around cobbling together info to keep an acquirer in the room. Learn the keys areas of exit planning now so you are always ready to accelerate a sale when the time is right for you. https://hubs.la/Q02NX0Tz0

Hawaiian entrepreneur Emaley McCulloch co-founded Autism Training Solutions in 2010, training tens of thousands of professionals and parents around the world in evidence-based autism interventions. Mark Sapsford helped Emaley ATS to Relias in 2014, and since then Emaley has become a global speaker on autism education issues. What would you do with all you've learnt from running your own business? #lifeplanning #sellmybusiness #coaching

This month, we've teamed up again with fellow #BCorp Ecologi | B Corp™ to back a cool #conservation project to restore one of England's largest commercial timber plantations back to native woodland. 🌳 The early signs are already encouraging, with a wildlife boost in numbers of dormice, red squirrels, spotted woodpeckers, jays....and OTTERS! 🦦 If you haven't been there, the English Lake District is a stunning landscape, and wildly popular as a holiday hotspot every summer. If you can spare some time to help out, the Hardknott Reforestation Project is always keen for more volunteers to accelerate progress in the fight to combat climate change. 🌎 Read more for details of the project and how to help. 👇 https://hubs.la/Q02NzKfl0

Deciding when to sell boils down to these 3 focus areas: > You - working out what 'life after a business sale' looks like > Your business - getting it in peak condition > The market - what buyers want and how much Learn more 👇 https://hubs.la/Q02NlTkl0

Few founders manage to scale their business internationally. For many, expanding beyond home turf provides a natural exit point to sell the business to a larger entity who already has the reach to accelerate sales and cross-sell services. Outsourced HR solutions specialist Brian Walters - who sold his Switzerland-based consultancy to a US acquirer in 2019 - recounts how he launched into Latin America when a timely opportunity came his way. #scaleup 🚀 #growabusiness 🌎 #founderexit ⏭

Setting out a timeline for selling your business helps you get your ducks in a row and takes everyone on the same journey when the time comes. There are three key factors to consider: > You - working out what 'life after a business sale' looks like > Your business - working on your business to get it in peak condition > The market - learning what acquirers want and how much they will pay Read our blog https://hubs.la/Q02N06B_0

Preparing to sell your business often takes longer than a simple sale process. ❓ What do you want life after sale to be for you and your family? 💷 How much do you need to fund whatever you do next? 📈 What can you do now to get your business in shape to sell? 📅 When is the best and worst time to sell? Three business sale experts share tips gleaned from years of helping founders and shareholders exit their company. ▶ Watch full video discussion here: https://hubs.la/Q02MSd_j0

Hiring any advisor is a tricky decision for business leaders. Service levels aren’t always clear, outcomes can be vague, and there’s always that nagging feeling that you may be paying someone to tell you things you already know. The M&A profession is no different. There are thousands of firms to choose from - business brokers, high street accountants, regional boutiques, professional services brands, or investment banks. Few entrepreneurs have previous experience of going through a business sale, so the questions you ask when choosing an advisor are critical. Remember, you’ve decided you want to sell your business. The goal is to actually COMPLETE on a sale – preferably for maximum value. Accreditations, awards, previous sector experience, fees don’t really indicate whether you will get a deal over the line. Skills matter more. To optimise your chances of successfully doing a deal that works for everyone, sellers and acquirers tell us these they value these skillsets most. ARTICULATION – a slick company prospectus presenting key facts and company USPs is more likely to get read than a tedious 90-page dossier ORIGINALITY – a large list of well-matched acquirers is more likely to generate interest from multiple parties, creating auction conditions so sellers can choose the best fit, terms and price TENACITY – acquirers are busy and may miss the opportunity. Contact info may be out of date, they may be in the thick of doing a complex acquisition. Good advisors keep going until we can speak to someone and get them to the table ORGANISATION – busy people means meetings sometimes need re-arranging, follow-up info needs sending, third parties need coordinating (eg lenders, tax specialists, regulators) MOMENTUM – interest dwindles with late follow-up, missing info, or sloppy scheduling. No owner wants to be in a situation where they are about to agree a deal only for a new bidder to pop up too late in the process. Energy and drive are important soft skills to keep timescales aligned DEFENSIBILITY – key financials and forecasts will be interrogated, so owners need to be confident they are accurate and achievable. Acquirers have their boards to satisfy, while owners will want to reduce price-chipping in the final negotiations LEVERAGE – faced with much larger acquirers, owner-directors need advisors to put their business on an equal footing. Competing bidders helps here, but honest advice on when to push and when to concede also matters EMPATHY – M&A is stressful, so both sides need calm heads who can overcome tense moments to get a deal over the line for mutual benefit. After all, consensus and compromise is the key to negotiating. Good advisors will be able to demonstrate most or all of these skills. Hopefully, the above can act as a checklist to help shareholders set the right criteria when choosing an M&A firm to engage. Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments below. 👇

It's a cliché to say it was a pleasure to be part of this transaction, but it really is the best way to express here how our involvement has created such a positive outcome for all. A great home for a great business and a huge opportunity for both to create value together. The Govtech shareholders Andrew Melvin, Nigel Phillips, Andy Williams, and Mark Hanson were a delight to work with, we wish them every success with Netcall. Thanks to Freeths Malin Svanberg Larsson and Sam Salter-Galbraith for the collaboration, and our own crew David Lewis FCA, Vera Littova, Michelle Chandler-Haynes, Mark Sapsford, Linda Walby, Simon Preedy for making the magic happen - Go Team CapEQ | B Corp™ !!

Quick tips from CapEQ's Douglas Edmunds on what business owners can do NOW to get them and their company shipshape for a transition to new ownership. [35 secs] #exitplanning #successionplanning #leadership