Knowing how future acquirers will value your company
If a potential acquirer knocked on your door today and intrigued you enough to open a dialog about a possible sale of your business to them, do you know what the top 10 most important areas of your business that they will do the deepest dive in for determing the value of your business? If yes, well done as this would indicate you've done your homework in years prior and know that you have your strategic priorities right for building company worth. But if you're not comfortable with your answer to this question, then resolve for yourself today that it will become an important priority for you in the new year ahead.
Knowing how to excite future acquirers to want to look at your business for possible acquisition and then also retain their excitement through due diligence (or the proctology exam as I fondly refer to it) is your most important job in building and ultimately delivering an optimal exit valuation for you and your shareholders. You don't want to work on your business for years, only to one day want to exit and present your business to potential acquirers only to then find out what is going to excite them to pay you a premium. If this occurs, it's too late generally to fix the situation and you'll be filled with unncessary regret.
Knowing where future acquirers will place the greatest value on your business will help you set your strategic priorities to ultimately help you exit for a premium. Check out this brief article and sample template (Article) to help you know how to begin to tackle this critical business need for building company worth.
