What Changes When You've Sat on the Seller's Side of the Table
Updated: 3 days ago
Everything in this series comes from one sale and 3 previous enquiries that didn't get to an offer for various reasons. Fifteen months, hundreds of questions, one completion, my own managed services business, sold in June 2023. I've only sold a business once, same as most people reading this.
Worth saying plainly, because it's easy to assume experience only flows one way in a sale. Most owners sell a business once, maybe twice, in a lifetime. The buyer's side, and often their own advisers, may have done this many times over. That imbalance can leave a seller at a disadvantage before a single substantive question is even asked, unless they go in already knowing what to expect.
Worth being specific, too, about where an accountant and solicitor's expertise actually sits. They bring genuine mergers and acquisitions knowledge, and that matters enormously. What they don't have, understandably, is detailed knowledge of your specific IT systems, customer relationships and supplier arrangements, which is exactly the ground a buyer's due diligence will cover. Not a criticism of good advisers. Simply outside their remit, and precisely where someone who's run a technology business can help, working alongside them rather than in place of them.
There's a second thing that only becomes obvious once you've sold a business yourself: buyers and their advisers don't need to argue about price if they can point to a gap instead.
A missing contract clause, an unclear number, an unanswered question, each one becomes a reason to ask for more time, or more discount. Knowing that in advance changes how preparation gets approached. It's not only about having answers ready. It's about knowing which gaps a buyer will look for first, and closing them before they become someone else's leverage.
Put those two things together, first-hand knowledge of exactly what a buyer's due diligence team asks for, and an understanding of how they use gaps to negotiate, and the result is more than a faster process. It's a stronger position throughout the sale, because a buyer's confidence in a deal tends to track how quickly and consistently their questions get answered.
That's really the case for this whole series, and for this service. None of the nine areas covered over the last ten posts are individually difficult. What's hard to get from an accountant, a solicitor, or a generic checklist, is the perspective of someone who's already sat where you're sitting, sold what you're selling, and knows exactly what's coming next.
If you're thinking about an exit in the next year or two, I'd be glad to talk through where your business stands today.
If this has you wondering how ready your own business is, the free readiness assessment will show you where to look first, in about three minutes.
Comments