{"id":560743,"date":"2018-11-14T12:57:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T17:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vrbbd.wpengine.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/day-one-is-the-day-to-prepare-your-exit\/"},"modified":"2022-01-31T12:42:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T17:42:43","slug":"day-one-is-the-day-to-prepare-your-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/day-one-is-the-day-to-prepare-your-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"Day One is the Day to Prepare Your Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

Pepperjam CTO, Greg Shepard recently published \u201cPlanning Your Exit Should Begin When You Launch\u201d in Entrepreneur magazine. \u00a0In this article, Shepard puts forward a variety of thought-provoking ideas including that entrepreneurs should be thinking about partnering early on with those they believe will ultimately want to buy their business.<\/p>\n

Thinking Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much of Shepard\u2019s thinking centers around the fact that a large percentage of startups end in acquisitions. \u00a0In particular, he notes that in 2017, \u201cmergers and acquisitions accounted for 93 percent of the 809 ventures capital-backed exits, yielding a total of $45.6 billion in disclosed exit value.\u201d \u00a0Not too surprising, he also points out that according to a recent Silicon Valley Bank survey, over 50% of all startups are \u201choping for an acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this reason, Shepard points out that entrepreneurs should be thinking about who may potentially acquire them from day one. \u00a0In particular, startups will want to build their companies in such a way that they will be attractive for acquisition at a later date.<\/p>\n

Making one\u2019s startup attractive for acquisition means thinking about such details as the Ideal Customer Profile, Ideal Employee Profile, and Ideal Buyer Profile. \u00a0This will help startups build the most attractive acquisition friendly company possible. \u00a0According to Crunchbase, exit opportunities frequently present themselves well before a company\u2019s Series B funding.<\/p>\n

Building Successful Strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Startups simply must understand who their customer is and why their particular product is attractive to that customer. \u00a0Likewise, having the right kind of employees with the right kind of training and know how is key.\u00a0 Hiring the best talent is definitely a way for a startup to make itself more attractive for a potential future acquisition.<\/p>\n

Shepard believes that once you understand your customer and have the right team to support your vision, you\u2019ll want to focus in on companies that are most likely to be interested and construct an \u201coptimal buyer pool.\u201d \u00a0Finding this optimal buyer pool means finding businesses that serve similar markets and then making sure that your product, as well as your business model, both address an overlooked need within the existing customer base. \u00a0Combine all of these variables together, and your company will be more attractive for an acquisition.<\/p>\n

Let Innovation Drive You<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another key point in Shepard\u2019s article is that startups will want to provide products or services that potential buyers are currently not providing to their customers. \u00a0Additionally, he states that \u201cDisruptors should seek out companies that are truly driven by innovation-perhaps those that have already established or partnered with innovative labs or accelerators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it is critical for startups to understand where they could fit within a larger organization. \u00a0Understanding this will help entrepreneurs make their company more acquisition friendly.<\/p>\n

Copyright: Business Brokerage Press, Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n

fizkes\/BigStock.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pepperjam CTO, Greg Shepard recently published \u201cPlanning Your Exit Should Begin When You Launch\u201d in Entrepreneur magazine. \u00a0In this article, Shepard puts forward a variety of thought-provoking ideas including that entrepreneurs should be thinking about partnering early on with those they believe will ultimately want to buy their business. Thinking Ahead Much of Shepard\u2019s thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seller-articles","category-selling-a-business"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrbusinessbrokers.com\/vrbbgreenbay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}