Articles & Case Studies

\”Professionals have coaches; amateurs don\’t.\” I heard this at a conference recently, and the idea stuck with me. We know that professional athletes continue to work with coaches throughout their careers, and not just their head coach, but targeted coaches for their specialty. Michael Jordan had a shooting coach even though he was one of […]

The lower middle market is seeing a growing trend toward pre-due diligence. Traditionally, when you take your company to market, you work with interested buyers, negotiate to a signed letter of intent, and then work with the buyer’s team through due diligence. At that point the buyer is looking for potential liabilities and risks and

For many business owners, selling their business is a highly emotional separation. Recently, I heard one business owner likened the experience to getting a divorce. She was the original founder of her company, building it from ground up to a small, multimillion dollar operation. But by year 10, she felt burned out. She was tired

A sudden death or disability is a tragedy we hope never to face. But planning for those tragedies is a necessary part of life. If we don’t, we leave behind a legacy of stress and confusion for those we care about most. If you own a business, a contingency plan is critical for the sake

It’s not easy to have the tough conversations. But as business owners, we need the courage to confront problems, particularly when we see something that goes against our core values. Failing to address issue areas can lead to dysfunction, toxic work environments, and weakened business value. In the world of mergers and acquisitions, tough conversations

In today’s marketplace, if you’re not growing, you’re going backwards. According to a new Ernst & Young report, a whopping 69 percent of U.S. CEOs plan to grow through acquisition this year. Driving the trend are increased confidence in economic growth and the availability of capital. The news these days often includes some announcement of

In The E-Myth Revisited, author Michael Gerber suggests that each business owner has three personalities: entrepreneur, manager, and technician. For many, the technician is the dominant type. These owners are skilled tradespeople, scientists, and service professionals, and they excel at the hands-on work of their company. Imagine John, an expert electrician who started his own

Love is blind, so the saying goes. I’m certainly not going to suggest I’ve ever seen friends make questionable choices in their love life, but I have seen business buyers so enamored with an opportunity that they either ignored certain warning signs or willfully chose not to look. Yes, as a business buyer you have

A year ago, I predicted 2017 would see a robust M&A marketplace with climbing business confidence. It’s fair to say we’re there. Although we didn’t reach the record-breaking activity we saw in 2015, deal values and volumes remained strong. Admittedly, I also predicted we’d have a new tax plan on the books long before now.