Kevin Mulvaney on the Current State of Exit Strategies

At a recent XPX event, Kevin Mulvaney, a faculty member at Babson College’s Olin Graduate School of business, spoke on the topic of “Exit Strategies . . . what business owners are saying across the country!” Professor Mulvaney is a leading expert in mergers & acquisitions and in preparing a company for sale. For the… Continue reading Kevin Mulvaney on the Current State of Exit Strategies

Hot Businesses for Sale – August 2014

Here’s a list of the top 10 types of businesses for sale in August 2014 – both traditional purchase and sale and M&A transactions, courtesy of Business For Sale.  Note that this list is based on hits on the Business For Sale website, not on actual sales.  Food and drink are as popular (interesting?) as ever, making up… Continue reading Hot Businesses for Sale – August 2014

You Need to Protect Your Trade Secrets from Independent Contractors

A case recently decided by the Massachusetts Superior Court held that a company has no recourse against an independent contractor who made off with the company’s trade secrets, as the company did not have the contractor sign a confidentiality agreement.  The case is C.R.T.R., Inc. vs. Jimmy Lao, et. al. and can be found here.… Continue reading You Need to Protect Your Trade Secrets from Independent Contractors

Prepare in Advance for Your Business Succession and Win Twice

A recent blog post by Marc Gudema at Baystate Business Brokers provides a great example of how preparing in advance for a business sale can help the value of your business.  Marc focuses on the need for established companies to update their marketing by creating or updating their web sites and using social media.  We call… Continue reading Prepare in Advance for Your Business Succession and Win Twice

Hot Business “For Sale” List – March 2014

Here’s a list of the top 10 types of businesses for sale in March 2014 – both traditional purchase and sale transactions and M&A transactions, courtesy of Business For Sale.  Food and drink make up 8 of the top 10 for traditional P&S transactions, after dropping down to just 3 out of the top 10 in February.  The… Continue reading Hot Business “For Sale” List – March 2014

Avoid Burnout as Your Business Succession Driver

The International Business Brokers Association, M&A Source and Pepperdine University just released their MarketPulse Q4 2013 survey report.  The survey findings most interesting to me are that for business sales under $500,000, burnout was the most commonly cited reason for owners to sell, and for business sales in the $500,000 to $5 million range, burnout… Continue reading Avoid Burnout as Your Business Succession Driver

Due Diligence for a Business Purchase

If  you are thinking about buying a business, you need to know what you are buying.  This means knowing what the assets of the business are, what it’s liabilities are (most of which you don’t want to purchase), what the business is all about (revenues, customers, finances).  In short, you don’t want to buy into… Continue reading Due Diligence for a Business Purchase

Hot Business List – November 2013

Here’s a list of the top 10 types of businesses for sale in November 2013 – both traditional purchase and sale transactions and M&A transactions, courtesy of Business For Sale.  Food and drink make up 6 of the top 10 for traditional P&S transactions, and 2 of the top 10 in M&A.  Perhaps it’s the… Continue reading Hot Business List – November 2013