There is something that occupies the mind of every entrepreneur at some time in their business journey and that is, "what am I going to do with my organisation in the future?".
Our experience is that in most cases, planning for future succession is not done sufficiently in advance to make the most of the variety of available opportunities.
Of course, destination choices change for many reasons, doors may close and others may open; however, what is important, is to be aware of the different options and to understand the pros and cons of each route.
It’s almost impossible to list every viable route, not least because in a dynamic economy new opportunities will arise but here are several routes to consider depending on your position (at the current time):
A sale / disposal (which in itself is multi-faceted and could be the whole or part of the company):
- to a parallel company
- an international sale/buyer
- to a customer or a supplier
- to a business outside of your sector
- to a private equity investor or venture capitalist
- to your staff - if this is a possible route, there are further options:
Creating a legacy business:
Another option is that you don’t actually sell the business and rather build a legacy business for the next generation, but you need to evaluate is there a competent next generation? And indeed do they want it and if they do, how can you make sure they have the right skills to take over the business? Further, what will your role be and would you really be able to 'let go' - this is a much-underestimated area of planning succession.
The deal:
Finally, of course, is the financial issues, if you want to pass the business over to your existing team then funding may be required depending on which route you take, we can help identify sources and outline how this would work for both parties.
Also, what do you need to extract from the business and have you identified how to manage this in the most tax-effective way? What do you hope to achieve and what are your deal breakers? For all of our clients, we work in their best interest, negotiating the best possible deal. We keep the project on track and get it over the finish line so our clients are able to remain focused on the day job.
What to do next?
If you would like to find out more about planning your succession steps, we run facilitated workshops in-house which will help you understand further the options available.
We delve into the pros and cons of each (unique to your specific situation) and then help you navigate the process. These in-house workshops can be completely private with only the shareholders, or senior management team present if preferred, and can be facilitated on-site or at an alternative location. Get in touch if you would like further information or if you have any questions.