Industry Magazine Commercial Kitchen Spring 2016 | Page 12

MAKING YOUR COMPANY MORE SELL ABLE

Kevin Daum

Kevin Daum is the best selling author of Video Marketing for
Dummies and ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing
Jungle; and columnist for Inc.com and Contributing Editor
at Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Mr. Daum is
an Inc. 500 CEO, with more than $1 billion in sales record,
who grew his online audience from 50,000 followers
to more than 800,000 in less than 18 months.

MAKING YOUR COMPANY
MORE SELLABLE
See if Your Company Meets the Criteria

OVER the years I have met many entrepreneurs who hope to
sell their companies. Some built their companies to sell from day
one. Others built lifestyle businesses and are just ready to move
on. The big thing to remember when selling your business is that if
it’s not valuable to you, it won’t likely be valuable to someone else
either, especially if the entrepreneur can’t step out upon sale.
There are certain criteria you have to meet if you want to make
your company sellable. In doing research for his new book, Finish
Big, Inc. Editor and best selling author Bo Burlingham surveyed
dozens of entrepreneurs who’d exited and found that about half
were happy at the end of the process and half were miserable.
One of the key factors in determining how satisfied they were had
to do with their success--or lack of success--in building a sellable
business. So what makes a company sellable? Burlingham highlights
the groundbreaking work that exit guru John Warrillow has done
with his company TheSellabilityScore.com. Warrillow surveyed
entrepreneurs and private equity investors and identified eight
key factors that determine whether--and for how much--a private
company can be sold. Do it right and you get to walk away a rich
person. Don’t ignore any of these key factors.
SPRING 2016

1. Financial Performance
Tech deals like Zappos and Whatsapp cloud the mind from
conventional thinking about business. Those deals are the
exception, not the rule. Warrillow points out most companies
are valued on how much they sell and, even more importantly,
how much profit they make. Warrillow also explains that smaller
companies are discounted for higher risk. So maybe bigger is
better.

2. Growth Potential
Warrillow gives great insight on how your rate of growth can
impact value. Investors are trying to buy something that has the
ability to scale. Otherwise there is little upside to them to pay
a high price or even be interested. Warrillow outlines several
creative ways to grow and expand.

For more Kevin go to kevindaum.com

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