Is there ever a right time to sell your business?

There’s plenty of advice out there about starting your own company, but how do you know when to walk away? One business owner shares her story

A few years after joining a small creative agency, I was sitting in our weekly management meeting when the MD (and one of the owners of the business) asked each of us whether we wanted to buy the company.

Without hesitation both myself and one of my fellow account directors said “yes”. To be honest, I’m not sure I really knew what I was signing up for – but it’s not a question you get asked every day. It was a case of “have regrets for things you have done, rather than things you haven’t”.

Getting the opportunity to lead a management buyout and run the business we had been part of creating was an amazing gift. A year later, we found ourselves in a meeting with 13 lawyers (some for the vendors, some for the bank, some for the venture capitalists, some for us) and my 10-day-old baby girl (just to add interest). With a flourish of pens the deal was signed. One day we were account directors and the next day we were managing directors and owners of the business. And while you may have the badge and the responsibilities, you don’t wake up with the experience and skills; these are gained over time. We made mistakes along the way, and when the going was tough, we kept going and endeavoured to maintain a sense of humour at all times.

Over the course of the next ten years, we took the business on to a global stage. This led to one of the most difficult decisions any business owner has to make: is now the right time to sell the business you’ve worked so hard to build?

The decision to sell was, for us, a conscious one. We decided the best strategy was to come together with like-minded colleagues who already had a presence in the countries that we didn’t. The need for an overarching strategy which could be delivered from our UK offices had to be balanced with local knowledge in the clients’ key geographies.

Once we made the decision, our view of the business changed. There was an energy and momentum to the “what’s next?” question. It was scary, but brilliant. As we began to discuss the possibilities for taking the business to a new scale it was clear that the toothpaste was out of the tube. And once it’s out, it’s difficult to get back in.

Choosing to sell can be a huge decision, professionally, emotionally and practically. Here are a few things I learned during the process.

I had thought I wouldn’t feel the same about the business once we had handed over the keys, but that was far from the truth. The new group buzzed with energy and ultimately we wanted it to be bigger, better and more successful, even though we knew that one day it would be time to say “au revoir” and do something different.

There isn’t a right time to buy or sell or stay or go but as long as you are working with good people and you love what you do, then anything is possible.

• Picking the right time may seem difficult, but an objective view of the facts can really help. In our case, it was a combination of market maturity, the changing state of our industry and the opportunities presented by growth. Selling doesn’t need to be a negative decision – it can be a hugely positive one for everyone concerned.

• You can’t control everything. I found it difficult that we didn’t have any control over the specific timings of the agreement. It took steely determination and focus to stay on track.

• The process of selling is challenging and will test your values. We kissed a lot of frogs before we found our prince – and some of those frogs would have meant a financially better deal for us as owners. In the end, we stuck by our guiding principle: we believed that any deal needed to be a partnership that was good for our people and good for our clients.

• Managing effective mergers of culture, knowledge and people is a crucial consideration. It’s often overlooked, but something we focused on while we found the right partner, not as an afterthought when the deal was struck.

I had thought I wouldn’t feel the same about the business once we had handed over the keys, but that was far from the truth. The new group buzzed with energy and ultimately we wanted it to be bigger, better and more successful, even though we knew that one day it would be time to say “au revoir” and do something different.

There isn’t a right time to buy or sell or stay or go but as long as you are working with good people and you love what you do, then anything is possible.

Coined From The Guardian