Selling Your Business with David King

In this episode, I'm joined by Kirk Michie, founder of Candor Advisors to discuss the unfolding saga of Elon Musk’s failed takeover of Twitter. From April through July 2022: 

• Musk disclosed his ownership of 9.2% of Twitter shares.
• Twitter’s board offered Musk a seat on the board so long as he would not buy more than 14.9% of its shares (a “stand-still agreement”).
• Musk declined to accept the Twitter board seat.
• Musk made an unsolicited offer to Twitter’s board to buy 100% of its stock for $54.20 (or $44 billion).
• Musk tweeted “Love me tender” hinting that he may commence a tender offer to buy shares directly from shareholders. 
• Twitter’s board adopted a “poison pill” rights plan, a mechanism to materially alter a company’s capital structure upon certain events (Musk crossing a threshold of ownership).
• Musk secured debt commitments and equity commitments to fund his acquisition.
• Twitter and Musk executed a merger agreement to cash out the current shareholders at $54.20 and give him 100% ownership.
• Musk and Twitter engaged in due diligence.
• Musk announced the deal was terminated due to Twitter’s failure to deliver data responsive to his due diligence requests, Twitter misrepresented facts (giving him the right to rescind the deal), Twitter is experiencing a “material adverse effect” on its business (allowing him to walk), and Twitter has failed to conduct business in the same fashion to preserve its organization.
• Twitter has promised it will sue to enforce the merger agreement.  
With such a high amount in controversy and a number of “factual” disputes, it seems likely that litigation will persist for a while.

For more than 30 years, Kirk has worked with closely held business owners on their strategic planning, liquidity, and legacy objectives. Kirk advises businesses and owners in the middle-market, those with revenue between $10 million and $500 million.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

We are joined by M&A Advisor Lamar Rutherford of Excellens Solutions, where brokers transactions and advises owners on planning to sell or exit from their businesses.  She has worked with over 100 businesses in a broad range of industries, including medical, manufacturing, e-commerce, fitness, construction, etc.  She formerly taught Entrepreneurship for UCSD's Rady School of Management. She founded, operated, and sold three businesses of her own. She has also done brand management marketing for Nestle, Disney and others, has been on the management teams for three Internet start-ups, and helped launch a B2B project management software company.  She earned her CPA working for Arthur Andersen, and then earning an MBA at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College.  For fun, she plays polo, practices yoga, enjoys theater, tango, traveling, and more.  She also wrote and published a fiction novel, CodeY.

SHOW LESS

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

We're joined by Herb Morgan, the founder of a Registered Investment Advisory firm that was acquired by a major Wall Street Invesment Bank. Herb is the Sr. Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Efficient Market Advisor and one of the financial industry’s recognized experts in the area of exchange-traded funds. Herb shares how he founded his firm in 2004 built the business organically and through acquisitions, how he attracted interest on Wall Street and engaged in a 16-month negotiation, due diligence, and complex sale transaction.  Herb is an ace in his financial services and money management, and he followed sound practices to close a great sale with a sophisticated strategic and financial buyer. Prior to founding EMA, Herb was Senior Vice President at Linsco/Private Ledger Financial Services, and as a Senior Vice President with Dreyfus and ING Funds group. Herb is involved with philanthropy in education, including serving as Chair of the Investment Committee of The Foundation Chapter of Theta Chi Fraternity.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

In this episode we are joined by Exit Planner and financial advisor Aaron Putroff to discuss Exit Planning, the holistic approach to designing a business-exit strategy that provides the owner maximum value for their life’s work. It encompasses setting Exit Objectives: When do you want to leave? How much money do you need from your business exit? To whom will you sell the business? Then, building an Advisor Team comprised of trusted, professional advisors (CPA, attorney, financial advisor, valuation expert), and planning each aspect of the transition sequence. 
Many business owners delay exiting the business because they’re concerned whether they’ll be able to maintain their lifestyle, whether they’ll have enough after-tax income from the proceeds of selling the business. It’s critical that the plan coordinates the owner’s personal finances with her or her business finances. While they are legally separate and distinct, from a planning perspective they are absolutely integrated. Decisions in one affect the other, and vice versa. Therefore, it’s necessary to devise a plan that succeeds in both domains. 
Aaron served in the US Marine Corps for 10 years, and provides the same level of protection and loyalty for his clients today.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

Hosting Kirk Michie, founder of Candor Advisors who has more than 30 years’ experience working with entrepreneurs, closely held business owners, and high net worth families strategic planning to achieve their legacy objectives. In this episode we discuss Fear of Missing Out and how the Imposter Syndrome impacts founders in the M&A process. We also discuss the foundational elements to prepping for sale or navigating the sale process and Keeping the Four Agreements when selling. In strategic and senior management roles, Michie has raised and deployed more than $1 billion of capital, been involved with evaluating more than 2,000 direct investments, participated as principal or advisor on the purchase of 21 businesses, and the sale or recapitalization of more than 30 companies. Kirk’s areas of expertise include transaction advisory services, M&A for founder-owned businesses, family office governance, capital raising, private equity, corporate strategy, and succession planning. His combination of investment and business experience inform his ability to help entrepreneurs navigate complex entity and legacy decisions.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

Today we are joined by M&A investment banker Stuart Moss, a managing director with Keystone Capital Markets in San Diego.  Keystone is a team of M&A professionals dedicated to providing high level investment banking and strategic advisory services to middle market companies (with revenue typically between $10 million to $200 million). Stuart has over 30 years of transaction experience as a member of company management, a private equity investor, and an investment banker in industries including consumer products, manufacturing, business services, wholesale distribution, healthcare services, and technology. He provides insight about the successful ways to prepare a business for sale, market it to the right buyers, and structure the best transaction.

SHOW LESS

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

The M&A market is hot in 2021, with strong deal volume and high valuations.  Kirk Michie, founder of Candor Advisors, explains the major difference in transactions with strategic buyers and financial buyers--including private equity firms, family offices, structured equity and SPACS. Kirk also describes situations which are ideal for employee stock ownership plans. 

For more than 30 years, Kirk has worked with entrepreneurs, closely held business owners, and high net worth families. He has raised and deployed more than $1 billion of capital, been involved with evaluating more than 2,000 direct investments, and participated as principal or advisor on the purchase of 21 businesses, and the  sale or recapitalization of more than 30 companies.  His combination of investment and business experience inform his ability to help entrepreneurs navigate complex entity, family, and legacy decisions.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

In this episode, we are joined by Susie Japs to discuss human capital and talent management in the M&A arena. Susie Japs is the Managing Director of Wejungo, a consulting firm specializing in talent management & recruiting strategies. For almost a decade Susie has been training small to mid-size businesses on how to hire smart rather than manage tough by connecting their business strategy to their talent needs. Wejungo is one of California's leading consulting firms, specializing in talent strategy and human capital management solutions, partnering with small to mid-size businesses to redefine success and set new standards for a better way to hire and retain great employees. Susie is an expert at guiding small to mid-size companies during unsettling economic times to create strategic people plans in the event they are forced to change the way they do business.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

In this episode I am joined by John Ovrom, founder of Exit Consulting, which provides consulting and brokerage services for businesses and owners to prepare for and execute a sale or similar change in ownership. John is a specialist in creating roadmaps for business owners anticipating a transition. John shares from his experience helping parents transfer ownership to the next generation, owners sell to key employees, businesses establish an Employee Stock Option Plan, partners buy in or sell out, orchestrate outside sales transactions, and sellers create long-term exit plans. John partners with business owners to define success, develop specific goals, and establish a plan of action to achieve them.  He shares his experience creating lasting value for clients with solutions to business challenges and his deep understanding of the complexities, unknowns, and pressures of selling a business. A serial entrepreneur, John understands the day-to-day challenges of running a business. He’s founded and owned large and small companies with 1-50 employees.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.

Today, I'm joined by Kirk Michie, founder of Candor Advisors. For more than 30 years, Kirk has worked with entrepreneurs, closely held business owners, and high net worth families to achieve their strategic planning, liquidity, investment, and legacy objectives. In strategic and senior management roles, Michie has raised and deployed more than $1 billion of capital, been involved with evaluating more than 2,000 direct investments, and participated as principal or advisor on the purchase of 21 businesses, and the  sale or recapitalization of more than 30 companies.  Kirk’s areas of expertise include transaction advisory services, M&A with emphasis on founder-owned businesses, corporate and family office governance, capital raising, private equity, corporate strategy, and succession planning. His combination of investment and business experience inform his ability to help entrepreneurs navigate complex entity, family, and legacy decisions.

Selling a business is the American dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the reward for years of hard work. Successful entrepreneurs make countless sacrifices in hopes that they would someday reap the benefits of their labor and live a new life of vacations, recreation, and prosperity.

You only exit your business once, so you should feel confident passing this milestone. A successful business exit reflects the preparation done beforehand. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

The owner of a privately held company has several alternatives on how to exit their business. In the absence of an exit strategy, events will inexorably dictate the final exit plan. A costly involuntary exit may be caused by death, disability, divorce, disagreement, or distress.

Selling Your Business with David King will help you take control of the sale process and make it positive one.