Selling my business - Part I: Are these the right reasons to sell my business?

Wed, 23 May

ANJANA VIVEK, 04 Feb 2010

Selling my business - Part I: Are these the right reasons to sell my business?

Getset and Go were getting tired of running their business. Theirs was a 5 year old company, started with enthusiasm and a high level of energy. But ... 2009 had been a bad year. Orders had come in... at a very slow pace; money had come in... at an even slower pace.

Things, however, now seemed to be looking up. The market was slowly improving. In fact they even had an offer from the Zing Group, who wanted to invest in their company, perhaps even buy them out over a period of time. It was now decision making time for Getset and Go. Should they consider this offer from Zing?

They both decided to speak with Gyan, the well-known advisor to companies in Bengaluru, to get some of his inputs on this matter.

Here are some of the questions that Gyan asked them to trigger thinking:

Why do you want to sell the business? Not surface reasons... but really..Why?
What do you dislike about running your business? What are the negatives you want to get rid off?
What worries you?
What do you think can be offloaded by you to another?
What do you think an investor can bring to the table
- In financial terms
- In non-financial terms
What do you already have in your business that you cherish such as
- Freedom to run the business the way you want to
- Organizational culture
- Ownership of your business
What do you think can change with the investor who comes in
Do you think you can deal with this change?
What changes can you be
- Happy with
- Tolerate
- Dislike

Then Gyan summed up the discussion with the following: "after you have some answers to the above questions, again do go back to the first question.. i.e. Why do you want to sell the business? Really.. Why..? And maybe this time around, you may have some answers which will help you take the next steps.

Watch out for the next in the series Selling my business - Part II: Yes, I have decided to sell, what could be my next steps....

⊕

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7 Comments

[06 PM, 04 Feb 2010] S.C.Sharada

Hi Anjana

Nice article written in an easy-to-read and understand lucid style. Very relevant questions raised. Look forward to Part II.

[07 PM, 04 Feb 2010] Gopal Rao

Looks very interesting. Before you jump to any conclusions, we are not considering selling our business :-)

Shall await the series.

Some case studies that has answers to these questions, the analysis and decisions made thereof, and the results analyzed after a period of time, would be great. Not that it should become a template for decision making; but it would perhaps give some direction and perspective to the thought process of businesses considering the option.

[08 PM, 04 Feb 2010] Anjana Vivek

Thanks Sharada, Gopal. I am glad you like this. I am planning a series on this… more like a serial story ... There are many persons in Bengaluru who have been talking of selling their business or wanting to sell a stake in their companies, in the last few months. They say they want to take advantage of what they see as the changing business environment and want to be a part of the next wave of growth companies expected. Will try to cover some of this by and by.

[10 PM, 04 Feb 2010] Usha

Very well written case, put across in a simple manner. I found it interesting, in fact was looking at it from the other angle too. What would one look at if one were to buy a business. Needless to say, I am curious and looking forward to read the next secion.

[12 PM, 05 Feb 2010] Liril Gupta

Interesting write up..packaged in simple, easy to understand style...these questions would also be relevant for the buyer to answer to know what they are getting into...Will be keen to read Part II

Liril

[02 PM, 05 Feb 2010] janarthanan

Selling one's business can happen in the following situations:- 1) One likes the business and wants to grow(strategic call) 2)One's loses interest in business due to internal and external factors 3) "Commoditisation" view of business. (like agri produce or FMCG product)

[10 PM, 06 Feb 2010] Ramesh Murthy

Nice article and Captures in simple terms, some of the serious issues confronts business at times

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