Vigilante
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A few points from my journeys down similar paths.
Expand distribution channels. Do as I say, not as I do. Your business can reach scale faster, and be more viable and stable (and demonstrate more value) if you have multiple channels of distribution. Use the Paint Brush Cover as an example from within the forum. The business had value before Lori Grenier invested in it, because it was proprietary, solved a need, and he had grass roots support in multiple channels of distribution.
If you have an item business, you have an ASSET to sell. You have accounts, branding, social media, URL's, customer data, sales history, sales projections, eCommerce traffic, etc...... all of which can be included in an ASSET sale. You don't have to worry (at all!) about selling your "company." If your product is strong, proprietary, and has a demonstrated market share position (it doesn't even have to be #1 market share... it just has to be a player in the sector in which you operate) then you have an ASSET someone would want. Don't think about the traditional "I sold my company for 16 million..." as you can empty the company of it's ASSETs and sell the assets to someone who would want them. This is the path that ultimately will cash out my current business (and my last business). What I have can add value to someone else's bigger picture. I don't care. Money is money.
Embracing different ways to sell what you developed are how you'll get a deal done. You don't need to only think linear about someone buying your "company." You don't even need to sell a "company" at all. You just have to have something that someone else wants to buy. Maybe they don't want to buy your people, your office, your debt, or anything else. Maybe they just want to buy the cool new fishing pole reel you developed. So sell them that, and the domain name that goes along with it. That opens the door to discussions with a variety of new prospective buyers... not just someone that wants to run your "company" as your old "company."
When you are sitting on the beach in a beachchair made out of stacks, you're not going to care how you got the deal done. (And, as a sidebar, nobody else will care either. It's a passing, two sentence discussion. Once you sell, it's done. It's the reason MJ no longer talks about Limos.com. That was last decades news for him. WHAT he sold is no longer important, and HOW he did it is the only relevant factor, and only now for teaching purposes. Nobody really cares about your history.)
My current "business" (is it a business if the value is primarily in the intellectual property? I'd argue it's an asset, not really a "business" to be sold) hasn't been sold not because of lack of interest in it, but because I wasn't happy with the multiples on the table. How do I fix that? I make the assets worth more. How do I do that? I expand the reach/scale, and make the asset base stronger. Meanwhile, I am not in a hurry. It doesn't have to be sold.
Expand distribution channels. Do as I say, not as I do. Your business can reach scale faster, and be more viable and stable (and demonstrate more value) if you have multiple channels of distribution. Use the Paint Brush Cover as an example from within the forum. The business had value before Lori Grenier invested in it, because it was proprietary, solved a need, and he had grass roots support in multiple channels of distribution.
If you have an item business, you have an ASSET to sell. You have accounts, branding, social media, URL's, customer data, sales history, sales projections, eCommerce traffic, etc...... all of which can be included in an ASSET sale. You don't have to worry (at all!) about selling your "company." If your product is strong, proprietary, and has a demonstrated market share position (it doesn't even have to be #1 market share... it just has to be a player in the sector in which you operate) then you have an ASSET someone would want. Don't think about the traditional "I sold my company for 16 million..." as you can empty the company of it's ASSETs and sell the assets to someone who would want them. This is the path that ultimately will cash out my current business (and my last business). What I have can add value to someone else's bigger picture. I don't care. Money is money.
Embracing different ways to sell what you developed are how you'll get a deal done. You don't need to only think linear about someone buying your "company." You don't even need to sell a "company" at all. You just have to have something that someone else wants to buy. Maybe they don't want to buy your people, your office, your debt, or anything else. Maybe they just want to buy the cool new fishing pole reel you developed. So sell them that, and the domain name that goes along with it. That opens the door to discussions with a variety of new prospective buyers... not just someone that wants to run your "company" as your old "company."
When you are sitting on the beach in a beachchair made out of stacks, you're not going to care how you got the deal done. (And, as a sidebar, nobody else will care either. It's a passing, two sentence discussion. Once you sell, it's done. It's the reason MJ no longer talks about Limos.com. That was last decades news for him. WHAT he sold is no longer important, and HOW he did it is the only relevant factor, and only now for teaching purposes. Nobody really cares about your history.)
My current "business" (is it a business if the value is primarily in the intellectual property? I'd argue it's an asset, not really a "business" to be sold) hasn't been sold not because of lack of interest in it, but because I wasn't happy with the multiples on the table. How do I fix that? I make the assets worth more. How do I do that? I expand the reach/scale, and make the asset base stronger. Meanwhile, I am not in a hurry. It doesn't have to be sold.
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