Martin’s IT franchise business has gone from strength to strength in the past decade. Many of his franchisees are providing support to some of the Garden Route’s largest companies and manufacturers. Martin has set his sights on a new business venture and feels that now is as good a time as any to allow his support team to take the IT company to the next stage. How should he approach the ‘exit’ phase of the business lifecycle?    

Having navigated the expansion stage of the business lifecycle successfully, your company should now be seeing stable profits year-on-year. Many entrepreneurs are suddenly faced with two choices; either work toward more expansion, or exit the business. Many at this stage look at moving on through a partial or full sale.

At this stage it is important to run your business as though there’s no sale process happening in parallel. This will demonstrate to the potential purchaser that they’re buying into a growing venture and ultimately helps strengthen your negotiating position.

Be sure you follow best practices in doing your due diligence. Seek out an expert advisor for your business valuation and exit strategy. It is important for any company to have the right kind of advisor with them, to take them through the journey – from start-up to possible exit – who can hold your hand through all aspects of setting up, running the business in a profitable manner, and carrying out due diligence and valuations in the event of a sale.

If you need more information about financial management solutions as part of expanding or exiting your operation, you can book a call or appointment so that we can talk, obligation free, about your business needs, or send us an e-mail.