If you're a founder or deal professional involved in a buyout or recap transaction, there will be a point in marking up documents and exchanging information where it might seem like your buyer is your enemy. Take a step back, check in with your WHY and the judgement of your advisors, and appreciate the nuance of negotiating versus battling.

EBITDA (pronounced E-BIT-DUH)… Here's a quick primer on understanding why this arcane accounting terms captures the transferrable economics of a business.

If you're a founder in the process of selling your successful company and you also have a close peer group of fellow entrepreneurs like Vistage Worldwide, Inc. or YPO, take advantage of the groups' expertise AND be sure to hire the right advisor(s). The combination, in our experience, is a great formula for a terrific outcome. Here's a quick summary..

Why don't more businesses sell to employees? For founders of some businesses, it might be the best path to answering the WHY in selling all or part of their company to their most valued stakeholders, and there may even be tax advantages. Here's a quick overview of why it doesn't happen more often, and why founders might want to give it more consideration.

This is much more than semantics or terms of art – some are necessary, and others are completely optional or altogether wrong for your plans.

Ever heard of Retrade?

Many founders, whether other transactional advisors are involved or not, rely on their generalist corporate counsel to represent them in the sale of their business. Here's a few reason that familiarity and cost savings in the short run may cost millions of $ in the long run.

Many founders, whether other transactional advisors are involved or not, rely on their generalist corporate counsel to represent them in the sale of their business. Here's a few reason that familiarity and cost savings in the short run may cost millions of $ in the long run.

If you're a founder contemplating the sale of your business, or you just want to better understand the process, the term "Adjusted EBITDA" will come up. A lot. And while the trip from Net Income to EBITDA is basic accounting arithmetic, get to that "Adjusted" number is a bit more art than science...here's a few tips.

One of our other takeaways from @SXSW is that small, committed groups of people and organizations make all the difference in social change, technology, entertainment, business, and more broadly in the World. If you're a founder and a much larger acquirer is using high-priced and arrogant advisors to steamroll you from LOI through diligence, remember that greatly rarely comes from large organizations - know your value and lean on your team to get full value and protect your legacy.

Buyers of business like yours pay more for specific things, including profit margin, consistency, and growth, but there's more to it than just nailing those points. Here's a few tips that will be worth a lot of $$ when it's time for you to sell your company.

If you're selling your business and your prospective buyer is asking for more information than they need to provide you with an LOI and a sense of valuation, they may be signalling what it's like to work with them longer term.

If you're a founder selling your business, and your buyer wants to have a Quality of Earnings analysis performed on your financials, strap in and prepare yourself for an invasive and potentially frustrating process. To navigate it well and keep your deal on track, here's a few key tips.

If you're a founder and you’re receiving an increased number of calls and emails about selling your business, that may not mean that your business is suddenly worth more or that buyers are paying up urgently. It might be something else entirely...

If you're founder in the process of selling your company and balancing the cash and structure of your deal with all of the reps, warranties, indemnities, and other dependencies, you might lose focus. Worse yet, you might let your fears drive things to your buyer's advantage by focusing on the lesser issues. Here's our best advice on the topic.

Who's going to buy your business when it's time to retire or move on? Should you sell to a private equity firm? What's a "strategic buyer"? How about these "family offices" that buy companies? Search funds? SPACS? We break it down for you here.

The best advisors, whether pure management consulting, professional services like legal and tax, and especially in transaction advisory work, the most successful outcomes happen with advisors who play three key roles for founders: guru, guide, and gladiator.

We're taking an increasing number of weekly calls from founders who's businesses may not yet be at an optimal value point for a sale, but the fear of missing out on this M&A boom has them eager to explore a capital event. We suggest most of them should wait for the next wave and keep building value.

If you're a founder thinking about selling your business in the near term or even in a few years, you need to see and hear this...might save your transaction or even make or save you $Millions in proceeds and deal costs.

If you're a founder contemplating a sale or in process of selling your company, you might wonder how long your deal should take to close...the answer is more complicated than you might think, and speed (or lack of it) can have implications for buyers and sellers.