The first step before selling your business is to determine why you want to sell and what you will do the day after the sale. If this is not decided, it can lead to remorse or worse, calling off a deal the week before it is to close.  

To prepare the business for sale, we anticipate and correct anything that is likely to cause a problem during due diligence.  If a company is not prepared, the best price they will ever get for the company from a prospective buyer is in the letter of intent (LOI).  Without preparation, value (and a buyer’s interest) will fall in the due diligence stage.  All financial, operational, or personnel records need to be in top shape before the company is put up for sale.  As a small business expert, Barry prepares helps you determine an appropriate price range.  He assists in finding the buyer, and represents the seller in due diligence along with your attorney where numbers are power. Barry is there to help you through the stressful process of selling your company. There are many stakeholders with different agendas. When a lot of money is involved, it can bring out the best and worst in people.  This type of support is critical if you want to sell your business.

Here are the typical steps in the sales process:

If a company is without significant revenue (>$5M), we need to discover what the secret sauce is. Why would a company buy you, rather than build it themselves? Which buyer will find the most value in acquiring your company?

We help assemble all the materials for the data room. This includes to help position the company with each set of strategic buyers and PE firms. 

We help create the “approach” email. This is a teaser email that gets the first meeting with the buyer. 

We help develop the presentation for the first 30 minute meeting with each buyer. This is not to sell the company, but to hook their interest. 

We assist in assembling a list of financial and organizational documents that are needed for the data room and further due diligence

We review your NDA for prospective buyers.

We help develop a list with you of strategic and financial buyers/ contacts to target. All of this is tracked on a shared document. 

We contact the targeted list and set up an initial 30 min meetings in a 3 week timeframe for you to obtain an IOI (Indication of Interest). 

At each meeting, we assess the rational for each buyer’s interest and we send an NDA plus access to the data room as the next steps. We monitor each buyer’s interest and set up future meetings with your teams. 

We handle all the negotiations at your direction once IOIs come in to make it competitive. 

We help you decide which IOIs to consider and which LOI to sign after buyers submit their best and final offer.

We work with you on your post sale involvement and exit from the company. 

Barry helps work with “entrepreneur to entrepreneur” support since this process can be an difficult and emotional one.

Buying a Business

For companies with the leverage and resources, acquisition is often an effective way to expand the product line, acquire customers, or disable the competition.  Based on client goals and needs, Barry researches and identify potential companies, the likelihood of them being available for purchase, an estimated market value and a target price.  

We then analyze a potential candidate to understand the company’s business strategy, product line (current and projected), and financials.  As a small business expert, Barry represents the buyer in due diligence, engaging outside expertise as required and agreed to by the client. 

Raising Capital for Company

While Barry is not a licensed investment banker, he can assist you in raising a new round of capital for your business. It starts with preparing strong financial statements and projections for your company. Next, it’s about crafting a vision the company, investors and customers can believe in. Finally, it’s about locating the best investor for your company in the long term that will support its growth.