Selling Your Startup: Crafting the Perfect Exit, Selling Your Business, and Everything Else Entrepreneurs Need to Know
Alejandro Cremades
Wiley
Though it’s not something most entrepreneurs think about when they’re starting a business, it’s a good idea to have an exit plan in mind from the very beginning.
And if that exit plan involves selling your company (or even if it doesn’t), you should read Alejandro Cremades’ book, Selling Your Startup: Crafting the Perfect Exit, Selling Your Business, and Everything Else Entrepreneurs Need to Know.
If you’ve ever wanted to know the truth of the process behind glittering headlines about some started-on-a-shoestring operation that sold for millions or even billions of dollars, Cremades walks you through it. It’s not as simple as the press releases make it sound, but Cremades shows you how to join that impressive club.
Even if you aren’t planning to ever sell your company, Cremades explains why you should build it in a way that sets it up as an attractive acquisition. In doing that, he writes, you’ll be building a strong, well-run company with long-term potential. If an unexpected buyer does happen to come along, you’ll be ideally positioned to do a great deal. Or, if at some point in the future you change your mind and decide to sell, you’ll be ready to search for the right buyer—and Cremades tells you how to do that.
Cremades points out some truths many entrepreneurs may find challenging to accept. For example, as the company’s founder, it’s important to make yourself expendable. If your business can’t run without you, it’s not likely to have a strong appeal to a buyer.
Here’s another hard truth Cremades reveals: Some apparent potential buyers may never have intended to make a purchase—they may just want to find out how you operate. Or the buyer may just want to remove you as a competitor, buying your company and shutting it down. That’s probably not what you want for the business you worked hard to build.
Cremades tackles complicated financial issues in clear, easy-to-understand language. He points out details you may not have thought about and warns of pitfalls you may not see until it’s too late. He even addresses the emotional issues that are likely to accompany the process of selling the company you founded and invested so much of yourself in. And he has a great sense of humor that pops up regularly.
Wherever you are in the business cycle, you’ll find plenty of high-level wisdom and down-in-the-weeds practical advice in Selling Your Startup.
Jacquelyn's latest book is Christian Business Almanac, scheduled for release in summer 2024.
She is the author of the novel Choices (A Joyful Cup Story) as well as the nonfiction books The Simple Facts About Self-Publishing, Words to Work By: 31 devotions for the workplace based on the Book of Proverbs and Finding Joy in the Morning: You can make it through the night. With her husband, she is the co-creator of several coloring books for adults.
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