Do the Work

Successful Entrepreneurs Can be the Doer and the Dealmaker

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Where do you sit on the doer vs. dealmaker continuum? On one hand, you have business owners who are really good operators. They have a plan, know their numbers and work that plan. They look for small improvements every day and hesitate to entertain…
stacks of money

One Tweak That Can (Instantly) Add Millions To The Value Of Your Business

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If you’re trying to figure out what your business might be worth, it’s helpful to consider what acquirers are paying for companies like yours these days. A little internet research will probably reveal that a business like yours trades…
Love to learn

Learning From Acquisitions That Fall Apart

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John McCann sold The Bolt Supply House to Lawson Products (NASDAQ: LAWS) at the end of 2017. McCann’s strategy involved learning from the acquirers who knocked on his door. He invited would-be buyers into The Bolt Supply House and listened…
facebook

How to Lure A Giant Like Facebook Into Buying Your Company

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A great business is bought, not sold, so, if you look too eager to sell your business, you’ll be negotiating on the back foot and look desperate—a recipe for a bad exit. But, what if you really want to sell? Maybe you’ve got a new…
Disapointed

How To Avoid Disappointment When It’s Time To Cash Out

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How do you avoid not being disappointed with the money you make from the sale of your company? Perhaps you’ve heard that companies like yours trade using an industry rule of thumb or that companies of your size sell within a specific range,…
Tree

Growing Fast? Here’s What’s Likely To Kill Your Company

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If your goal is to grow your business fast, you need a positive cash flow cycle or the ability to raise money at a feverish pace. Anything less and you will quickly grow yourself out of business. A positive cash flow cycle simply means you…
40

Exiting Tips From One Of The Top 40 Under 40

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Wind Mobile founder Anthony Lacavera has started 12 businesses, six of which he has exited. His exits have ranged in value from the $6 million he got for one of his recent start-ups to $1.3 billion when he sold Wind Mobile. He did it by following…
sticky bun

Creating Sticky Customers

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Repeat customers are the lifeblood of your business, but customers can be fickle. Here's how to make them sticky. In a traditional business, the customer buys your product or service once, and it is up to you to try to convince them to buy…
Increase

Will This be the Year You Seriously Drive up the Value of Your Company?

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If you have resolved to make your company more valuable in 2017, you may want to think hard about how your customers pay. If you have a transaction business model where customers pay once for what they buy, expect your company’s value…
gears

Why Startups Stall

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Have you ever wondered why startup companies stop growing? Sometimes they run out of potential customers to sell to or their product starts losing market share to a competitor, but there is often a more fundamental reason: the founder(s) lose…