Podcasts

Scale your Business and Prepare your Business for Exit

Darryl Bates-Brownsword is on a mission to build the ‘exit industry’ in the UK. Originating from Australia Darryl has been in the UK since 2005 helping business owners grow the value of their business. He realised that many business owners who wanted to sell their businesses (prior to working with Succession Plus) went through an […]

He realised that many business owners who wanted to sell their businesses (prior to working with Succession Plus) went through an earn out period that often never came to fruition. This lead DBB to found Succession Plus in the UK based on the model developed by his colleague, Craig West, in Australia. Darryl’s key message is for business owners to ‘LEAVE on their terms’ and this is key to the story… you can spend 3 years working for someone in an earn out or you can spend 3 years preparing your business prior to sale so you can get the ‘most from your life’s work’. There are lots of elements that potentially derail and devalue your business so it’s worth looking at how to increase value ahead of the time you want to sell. If you sell and then end up on an earn out you are effectively working to someone else’s rules. It’s a choice!

Key Points in the Show:

Succession Plus started in Australia 2009
Planning for an exit helps ensure business owners can leave ‘on their terms’
Often business owners have ‘all their eggs in one basket’ and are therefore reliant on the financial success of the sale…
… but what if you could plan and structure better so that you de risked your future?
Working on the business not in it – we all know that but… don’t need that you need to prepare the business exit in advance so owners can ‘exit on their terms’
Building a business is a mix of culture AND commercial
Part of the journey is about creating the ‘culture within the business’ – the energy, mood, tone and pulse of the organisation is set by the leadership… are you a bricklayer or a cathedral builder?
The key to value is systemising the business and building a culture with value.
It’s the secret sauce in any business that makes it really valuable – and that’s often the intangible things such as supplier lists, contracts, staff systems, training plans, processes etc
How do you measure the impact of culture… consider how it reduces staff turnover… what’s that worth?
Culture is lead from the top… it’s both the minimum standards and the way we ‘do things round here’
Purpose + Passion = Profit
Selling based on proposition IP vs product IP…
“How do you like your steak” and how will you feel when you get the ‘sizzle’
Structure and systems reduce variability which reduces vulnerability
There’s a gap in the market today for exit planning and that’s where succession plus fits in
10-40% of businesses prepared for sale never actually get sold… so this is about maximising your chances of success
Most businesses that sell impose an ‘earn out’ on the previous owner (of 3 years) so why not spend 3 years ‘up front’ structuring the business so you can sell on your terms!
Finding the missing link you need to increase your chance of exit success
Darryl offers 3 tips for business exit success… and they revolve around planning!