Hill, Barth and King LLC - Working Together Sets Us Apart

For those of you who have been fortunate enough to build something of lasting value, what is the plan for monetizing that value?  Many have spent a lifetime building and growing their business and we all, at some point, need to ask ourselves, “What’s next?”  The transitioning of a business to a new set of leaders or the next generation of family or preparing it for sale creates a unique set of challenges and the best way to avoid failure is to plan appropriately.

I'm known for asking the question, "Where do you want to be in five or ten years?"  Although I get a myriad of responses, I usually follow up with, "What have you done to begin putting the pieces in place to make that happen?”.  Most entrepreneurs are so focused on today, this quarter or this year they have not taken much time to consider an “exit strategy”.

I advise clients to begin this process early and bring in key individuals, family members, attorneys and advisors to develop a plan that can be executed.  The intent is to maximize the opportunity to capture and retain the value that took a lifetime to build.  Regardless of the specifics of your individual goals, engaging all the right individuals early allows them the opportunity to provide much needed feedback on where they see the future of the organization and how that plays into your vision of the future.  This process often uncovers differing viewpoints and allows time to make decisions that will help ensure that your “tomorrow” will be everything you had hoped it would be.

The development of an exit strategy is an important part of business planning that is often overlooked until it's too late.  If you haven't considered how you'll transition your business, please consider it soon.

Respectfully,

Christopher M. Allegretti, CPA