Early on in my career, I remember asking the owner of the business I worked for what his long-term plan was.
Would he ever sell the business?
His response was immediate.
"My exit plan is my coffin."
He genuinely meant it.
The conversation shut down there and then, but I remember thinking at the time how strange that mindset felt. Even back then, it seemed crazy to spend your life building something without ever thinking about how you eventually leave it.
Ironically, around fifteen years later, he did end up selling the business before he died.
Which probably tells you something in itself.
Over the years, I have realised there are generally two types of business owners.
The first actively think about exit. They build the business with that outcome somewhere in mind.
The second never really think about it at all.
But whether you think about it or not, eventually every owner exits their business in one of four ways.
You sell it.
You shut it down and walk away.
It gets taken away from you.
Or you die.
That is it.
And if we are being honest, only one of those outcomes is particularly attractive.
There used to be an argument from a tax perspective that you could simply pass the business down through your estate. Even then, I always thought that was a poor reason to avoid proper exit planning.
And with inheritance tax changes, even that logic is becoming less compelling.
The reality is that most founders should at least think about creating something sellable.
That does not mean you have to sell. It means building a business that somebody would actually want to buy.
Because many businesses are not.
A lot of owners assume that if they ever want to sell, a buyer will naturally appear. That is not how it works.
Many businesses get listed for sale and never transact.
Eventually the owner burns out, winds down or simply walks away from something they spent years building.
Selling a business is a lot like selling a house.
You cannot leave it until the week before and expect a great outcome. You have to prepare it properly over time.
Not by papering over cracks or artificially dressing it up. But by genuinely making the business stronger and more attractive.
Clean financials.
Strong systems.
A management team that can operate without the owner.
Healthy margins.
A sensible client spread.
If one client represents more than twenty percent of your revenue, most buyers will immediately see risk.
If the business only works because you are there every day, that is a problem too.
Part of my role is helping founders think about these things earlier.
What could the outcome look like?
Who would realistically buy the business?
What would they want to see?
And what decisions do we need to make now to increase those options later?
Because whether you plan for it or not, one day you will leave your business.
The question is whether you leave on your terms.
More to come,
Luke