Building a Business Worth Selling (Even If You Never Want To)
You've built your business. What's next as an owner?
Disclaimer: I’m not a business owner - I’m writing this from years of working alongside business owners and I genuinely have a huge amount of respect for what they do. Mid-market and growth-stage businesses are the real engine room of the economy in NZ, driving employment, innovation, and long-term business growth and most of them are founder led.
Do people start a business with the pure focus of selling it in the future?
I would say some do, but mostly not.
You build something with your heart and soul. You have spent more time working in it in from 8am-6pm (and the rest!) 5 days a week and then working on it the rest of the time. It would never be far from the front of your thoughts. You build a family at work with people you rely on and trust. Every single day for decades.
And at some stage the thought of what is next starts to creep in:
What's next for me as an owner?
What is next for the business?
Planning for the future can be daunting. For owners and founders it becomes a question of:
Will I be a part of it?
Can it run as well as it does without me?
What will I do if I did get out?
I'm in an fortunate position that I've worked with many businesses owners in my career and helped them face these questions. Because the future can't be disregarded or deliberately ignored like the proverbial elephant.
As an owner you have to ask yourself these questions - even if it's uncomfortable. Once you know and you have a vision for your future in the business, then you can plan.
This reality is why setting a business up to sell should always be a focus, even if you never want to sell.
How you prepare to sell your business
If a business looks attractive to a buyer from the outside, it is run well on the inside. When we help businesses with planning for the future, it is different every time but the fundamentals are the same.
Hiring for the future, and not rushing into hires
Investing in the organisational structure
Building clarity and a clear path forward towards their vision
This groundwork now means that they as an owner are not needed in the day to day. So if it's time to leave, you can.
