Resources

Upcoming Webinar

We will see you in the new year!
January 6, 2023

Join us on our webinar to find out how to prepare your business for sale to a strategic buyer. Learn about the business sale process, the different kinds of transactions, and how to improve the value of your company upon sale – even if you’re years away from selling.

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Full Agenda & Registration

How to make the most out of the OpnRoad Resources with Founder @ Scott Duke

Coming Soon: Preparing a Property Management Firm for Sale to a Strategic Buyer

Podcasts

Our latest podcast appearances and download resources for listeners.

Why Become an Entrepreneur with Robert Szmigiel

by Scott Duke | Dec 6, 2022 | Podcasts

Scott joins Canada's Podcast host Robert Szmigiel to shine some light on his entrepreneurial journey. Amongst many topics, the two discuss why people become entrepreneurs and how to sell a business for $20 million. Canada’s Podcast was created out of a need to build a...

Avoiding the Owner’s Trap with Chris Goodman

by Scott Duke | Oct 20, 2022 | Podcasts

Scott Duke has founded 11 companies during his entrepreneurial journey; from fleece clothing to a hot-dog stand to a property management firm. All of Scott’s experiences taught him the value of building transferability into a business so that one day, when you’re...

Preparing Your Business for Acquisition with Jason Hunt

by Scott Duke | Oct 3, 2022 | Podcasts

This podcast goes over how to properly prepare your business for sale. We cover what you need to get in order in terms of selling your business. We’ll also discuss how to go about selling your company, and the changing dynamics you need if selling your business for a...

“10X” Exit Plan Summit with Patrick Ennis

by Scott Duke | Sep 28, 2022 | Podcasts

An interview with Scott hosted by a fellow speaker at the 2021 "10X" Exit Planning Summit, Patrick Ennis.youtubespotify

Downloads

FREE DOWNLOAD

Business Owner’s

Saleability Checklist

A complimentary, one-page road map for you to think about when selling your business. Decades of OpnRoad experience and transactions, all in one clear document to help you get started.

LEARN MORE

Business Sale

Accelerator

As a valued podcast listener, we are offering an exclusive discount for our Business Sale Accelerator course (as offered by our subsidiary and learning arm, Gateway Capital).

Quick Reads

Business Sale Process

STEP 1 - Set Objectives

Knowing what a perfect exit looks like for you, your shareholders, your family, and your stakeholders is the first step, and most important step toward a successful exit.

Owners need to have a clear vision of what makes their exit a success and define how the sale drives purpose for their next stage in life.

STEP 2 - Valuation

Know exactly what your business is worth in today’s market, and where the value comes from in the eyes of a buyer.

Only when your business’s value drives are known and understood can they be leveraged during negotiation.

STEP 3 - Risk Analysis (Sellability)

Determine if your business is sellable, and if it will make it through a buyer’s due diligence process.

STEP 4 - Marketing

Create your Blind Profile (teaser), Financial Overview (normalized financial statements), CIM (Confidential Information Memorandum), and Marketing Video.

Confidentially market business to your network, or leverage our marketing system to put your opportunity in front of 10,000+ active buyers.

STEP 5 - Negotiation

Navigate the bidding process, LOIs (Letter Of Intent), and negotiation to maximize the sale price.

STEP 6 - Closing Activities

Navigate legal documents and the transition of all tangible, and intangible assets.

Top 5 Deal Killers

Profitability

If a business’s normalized earnings are under $100,000 it creates challenges for a sale because there is not enough free cash flow to pay an owner’s salary and service the debt from financing a purchase.

Role-Identity Fusion

In many instances, businesses are unsellable because the owner has tied their identity, social well-being, and life’s purpose to the creation and operation of the business.

Subconsciously, they feel if they sell the business a part of them is dying.

The subconscious thought of death prohibits the owner from signing the sale document and they walk away from their own successful sale agreement.

Owner Dependance

If an owner needs to work in a business more than 10 hours per week, it’s an indication of owner dependence.

Some owners can easily resolve this issue by delegating work to a GM. Others have difficulty transferring power and are forced to stay on for 2-3 years post-sale to train a new manager for the buyer.

In some cases, the owner’s skill set is not transferable, making the business unsellable.

Customer Concentration

If a single customer represents more than 15% of revenue, 90% of buyers will not move forward with the purchase as the riskiness of the business is deemed too high.

If a single customer represents more than 30% of revenue, the business is unsellable due to insolvency risk if the single customer were to be lost.

As investment banker Rob Slee states, “the company is one phone call away from oblivion.”

Supplier or Key Person Dependance

If the business is reliant on a single supplier that can’t be replaced, it may be unsellable.

If the business is reliant on a single employee’s knowledge or skillset it may be unsellable.

How to Win in Your Deal

Experienced, practiced, and equipped competitors win at any game.

And in the world of business sales and acquisition the most experienced players have an extremely unfair advantage.

When selling your most valuable asset, to ensure you are prepared to win you must:

Know what your company is worth and why.
Ensure your company will make it though an investor’s discovery and due diligence process.
Prepare your business so it’s set up to be transferable.
Hire an experienced team and tie their compensation to your wealth creation.

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