Protecting What You Built: Six Assumptions That Can Derail a Business Exit

The useful part

Register for an account your email your username A password will be e-mailed to you. The harder part is making sure the business – and the family behind it – survives the transition, planned or not. Anne Salick, CEPA, CPFA, Senior Director of Personal Planning and Business Strategies at Sandene Strategies, for the third session in our Exit Planning Series.

How it works

• Continuity, Not Paperwork A current valuation matters because it anchors the buy-sell agreement, the funding behind that agreement, and the owner's estate plan.
• TAB members also utilize strategic tools and frameworks enabled by AI that are designed to help align leadership teams, execute priorities, and build more transferable, valuable businesses over time.
• In the open discussion that followed, three connected vulnerabilities stood out: an outdated valuation and buy-sell agreement when partners are involved, an uncoordinated succession and estate plan, and too...
• Questions raised included how many had investments outside the company, how many had built income streams independent of their business, and how many had run a retirement projection that did not assume a...
• · "That'll never happen to me." · "There's plenty of time for that." · "My business is my retirement." · "You can't beat Uncle Sam.".

What to take from it

Owners should establish a formula valuation and refresh it regularly, because that single number drives three separate things: the buy-sell agreement if applicable, the funding behind that buy-sell agreement, and the estate plan.. Disability buy-out coverage and business overhead expense coverage address that gap. A buy-sell agreement reviewed once at formation describes a company that no longer exists.

Example or evidence

• Attending business owners and supporting advisors used a weighted self-assessment covering 32 actions across these six areas to reveal where their greatest exposure lies.
• Underneath all three was the same dangerous assumption: there is still plenty of time.
• When the valuation drifts and those documents do not move with it, all three are wrong at the same moment.
• If a partner dies and the agreement obligates the company to purchase that interest, the obligation is real whether or not the cash exists.

Details worth keeping

On September 16, The Alternative Board Fort Worth & West hosted Ms. Worth" Most owners carry a number in their head. The key takeaway was that valuation is not a one-time exercise.

Related coverage

• Entrepreneur: A successful exit depends on measuring a personal plan by clear progress. Here's how to gauge it.
• Inc: Review ownership, key-person dependencies, legacy systems, security testing, and scalability a full 12 to 24 months before a potential transaction.
• Natlawreview: Don't Rush to Cash Out — Preparation Before Perspiration: The Business Owner's Checklist Before Selling the Company
• Landscapemanagement: Business owners should plan exits early to protect their legacy and spare loved ones unnecessary burden.
• Rooferscoffeeshop: build-a-stronger-path-to-your-roofing-business-exit