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.

  • Adventurous_Fig_941@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    It all comes down to:

    • are the offers fair?
    • how much can you get after tax? try finding a way to reduce the tax on capital gains
    • what is your utility of this money? It’s not the same if you are already a millionaire or if you are broke, if you want to make a family soon and chill or if you want to keep working, if you can find a job paying 400k per year, etc.
    • how risky is the business? you feel like it has good odds of failing to scale up so if you have no other asset, it feels better to sell
    • can you find a middle ground (e.g. keep some ownership and control, to reduce your exposure, maximize your utility and your future profits)?