Section one
The journey
Nine stages, in the order they happen. The stages are not equal in length: the first can take a year, the fourth a fortnight, and the last one always runs longer than planned.
- 01Deciding to sell
Almost nobody decides to sell a company in a single moment. The thought arrives, gets pushed away, and returns during a bad week.
- 02Getting the company ready
Preparation is unglamorous and it is where most of the outcome is decided. The work takes months, and every week of it removes a discount later.
- 03What the company is worth
The figure an owner has in mind usually comes from somewhere other than the accounts: a competitor's rumoured sale, a figure from a forum, or the amount that would make the years feel worthwhile.
- 04Going to market
Going to market is the first moment the decision becomes visible to anyone outside the kitchen table, and it is the stage owners worry about most.
- 05Meeting the buyers
First meetings are mutual interviews. The candidate is assessing a company; the owner is assessing whether this is someone they want to hand it to.
- 06The offer
An offer is rarely a single number. It is a structure, and the structure decides what actually arrives and when.
- 07The investigation
Due diligence is the part sellers describe as the hardest. It is weeks of being asked to prove things that have simply always worked.
- 08Signing
By the time documents are signed, most of the decisions have already been taken. The signing itself is administrative, which is why it often feels anticlimactic.
- 09The handover
The handover is where the sale becomes real. It is also the stage most often underestimated, by both sides.