Hi everyone,

31 years old, no kids.

I own a small business, and have received offers in the region of £750k. Plus cash in the business would give me a total equity value of around £900k on exit.

I started it 5 years ago now, with the dream that one day it could be sold. Well that day has come and I’m in a very fortunate position of having 3 companies submitting offers.

But, instead of feeling excitement, I feel a sense of dread that I’m doing the wrong thing. This business has been everything for me for 5 years. At points I have genuinely thought it would end up killing me and through the toughest days and weeks the thought of the end goal was often what kept me going. So not to be feeling a huge rush of excitement and relief right now is a surprise to me.

I have 2 options.

  • Exit the business and take the money. in this situation I would invest the profits in property and lead a considerably lower stress, yet comfortable lifestyle.

  • The second option is reinvest our profits and try and take it to the next level. This would invoicing recruiting, advertisement and investment in our general operations. I’d be committing to another 2 - 5 years and going back in balls deep. Obviously the risk here is we dramatically lower our profitability by doing so and fail to scale any further. I worry we may then miss what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to sell a business for decent money.

Not really sure what I’m expecting to get by posting this, but if anyone has thoughts or has sold a business themselves, did you experience this? Did you regret it post sale? All advice appreciated.

  • K_v_A@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    First of call, CONGRATS! Take a moment to realize you are successful. To have multiple interested buyers is amazing!

    A few things to consider:

    1. Make a pro/con list on paper for each company and if you keep the company and don’t sell. I’m sure you’re doing this, but sometimes the physical act of writing helps you think through things in a different manner.
    2. If you feel like you want to keep going, is there a way to partner with the potential buyer vs outright selling the company?
    3. Do you have a second in command? Someone that knows the business and shows interest is growing with you and the company? If so, it could be worthwhile to delegate authority and have them handle the daily operations while you focus on strategy, growth, and client relationships.

    Hope this helps. Best of luck. And remember, you deserve this, the hard work and sacrifices you’ve made up to this point have made this opportunity real! Maybe if you have some capital in hand, another idea comes along that you could explore.

    • spiderpigparty@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Thank you, appreciate that a lot. This is great, I have been wondering about potentially not exiting completely but I don’t quite know how that would work. A share swap is a potential option. Or maybe selling and retaining a small portion of shares if they would consider that.

      I have a really great 2nd in command, they’ve actually been very involved in business development directly recently, which has worked well.