What if two businesses with the same revenue and the same profit went to market, and one sold for millions more than the other?
I've watched it happen more times than I can count, and the reason never shows up anywhere on the balance sheet.
Alex Brueckmann has been a good friend of mine for the best part of five years, and this is the third time he's joined me on the show.
This time we tackle the question most founders never think to ask until a buyer is already sitting across the table: why will an investor happily pay more for one business than another when the numbers look almost identical?
Alex sits on both sides of that table, advising founders and investing in businesses himself, so he knows exactly what makes a buyer lean in and what quietly sends them walking.
Towards the end I asked him to coach me through my own exit plan, and the very first question he put to me is one I think every founder planning to sell should be able to answer before they go anywhere near a deal.
Alex is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Strategy Legacy and creator of the Nine Elements of Organisational Identity framework.
Value bombs
Why identical profits can sell at very different prices
The dead body in the closet that kills deals
How buyers read your culture in due diligence
Why alignment is a dangerous word in your boardroom
Where to start if you plan to exit in the next 24 to 36 months
Interested in freeing yourself in the business? Take the exit ready diagnostics test and identify the gaps in your growth and scale model. Go here: https://readytoexit.scoreapp.com/
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