What if the price you get for your business was mostly decided before you ever called a banker?
A founder called J. Michael Fischer Jr. last year, excited, ready to sell the company he had spent almost 20 years building. Michael had to tell him the hard truth. The price he was going to get had already been mostly decided, not by the market or the buyer, but by what he did or failed to do in the 24 months before he picked up the phone.
In this solo episode, Michael lays out six moves he would make at least two years before selling any business. Clean up your numbers so a buyer can trust them. Make yourself removable so the company is not just you. Fix customer and supplier concentration. Lock in the people a buyer is really paying for. Grow into the sale instead of dressing up earnings. And get your house in order, your money, your taxes, your family, and your head.
If you are one, two, or three years from the most important financial moment of your life, this is the perspective most founders only get after it is too late. The two years before you sell are the two years that pay you. Listen now.
Timestamped Highlights
[00:10] – The founder who called ready to sell, and the truth Michael had to tell him
[02:19] – Six moves worth more than any multiple, starting 24 months out
[04:33] – Why messy books make a buyer question you, not just the numbers
[06:50] – When clean financials sell harder than any pitch you could make
[08:58] – The moment being needed stops being a compliment and starts being a risk
[11:45] – The concentration that quietly gets built into your price
[13:36] – The people a buyer is really paying for
[14:58] – Why a stronger team makes the business worth more, not less
[17:04] – The earnings mistake that makes your story weaker, not stronger
[19:54] – Your real number versus the one that sounds good at dinner
[25:01] – The number that was not available the first day he called
Important Links
Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
