The Exit Planning Exchange (XPX) Boston wants to help you get out – not just out of the office so that you can go to its Summit 2011 next week, but also out of your company.
An entrepreneur may be in the business of starting businesses, but if you own a small or medium sized company, you’ve inevitably thought about how to leave it. That is, when to sell, to whom, for how much, and what transpires during the process, to name a few of the quandaries.
As Jeffrey Bussgang writes in Mastering the VC Game, “For the entrepreneur, the exit is an emotional roller coaster. They are selling their baby. They may forever change their lifestyle and succeed in providing for their family’s future. Or they may miss out on their small and closing window of opportunity to cash out big.”
On a similar note, if you’re in the business of providing counsel and/or services to entrepreneurs looking to sell their companies, you’re constantly on the prowl for more and better information, a wider network of specialists to tap into, and a reservoir of experience to guide your judgments in order to help entrepreneurs execute well-planned exits.
On March 15, The Exit Planning Exchange (XPX) Boston will be hosting its Summit 2011 at Babson College where the focus will be on the strategies – and even the emotional impact – around a successful exit.
It is a daylong event at which Bainco’s Jeff Mortimer and The Bigelow Company’s Dick Kimball will deliver keynote addresses, and where session highlights will include such topics as: What you need to know to be more successful at exit planning; Breaking through to the Owner; Building Tangible Value; and Protecting Legacy and Financial Well-Being.
Joan Seamster, owner of The Marketing Activist and co-Chair of the XPX Boston Summit 2011, answered a few questions we pitched her way about next week’s event.
What are some of the topics that attendees can expect to learn about?
There are two main exit planning themes in this year’s Summit. The first, and more traditional, deals with the business preparation, tangible and intangible capital valuation and financial strategies of the exit plan. The second, and more often-overlooked, is the psychological and emotional preparation necessary to undergo both the exit planning process and the life stage after the owner’s exit. Often the focus is placed on one aspect or the other – this Summit takes a holistic approach to exiting a business.
What size companies would benefit most from attending?
Exit planning is focused on small and mid-sized (SMEs) privately owned businesses, typically $5 – $50 Mil in revenue, and includes the owner and company’s circle of trusted advisors (such as attorneys, accountants, wealth advisors and marketing professionals). The other target is those privately held companies and their advisory team who are currently thinking about making an ownership transition.
Why – and at what stage of the company – should business owners plan an exit strategy?
Honestly, one of the first things you learn from attending XPX events is that you should start planning your exit as you set up your business. Every step you make in setting up your business directly impacts how and how well you will be able to exit your business. As far as timing, from our last year’s Summit, we’ve learned that the next wave of funding capital will peak around year 2015. This is a great time, in the current financial cycle, to prepare for a business exit.
Is there additional background you can provide on the keynote events?
Our breakfast keynote, Dick Kimball, from The Bigelow Company, will lead a discussion answering specific owner concerns around exiting while putting meaning to all the questions that arise in the exit planning process. This kick off keynote is an interactive discussion, stimulated by a video depicting actual exiting-client case stories.
Jeff Mortimer, from Bainco International Investors, is connecting his public market experience from his role as Chief Investment Officer at Charles Schwab with the private business focus at Bainco. Jeff has been a frequent commentator on CNBC and his insights appear in many top financial publications including Barrons, Fortune Magazine and The Financial Times.
To mirror XPX’s organizational mission, we have a forum on social media that stresses community and collaboration. Three panelists, David Cutler, Tara Goodwin Frier and Todd Van Hoosear, will address the challenges of creating an effective business-building social media program by interacting with the audience to gather the key issues and then solving those issues in follow-on breakout sessions.
