My Guest Dr. Victoria Medvec is the Adeline Barry Davee Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In addition to her professorship, Dr. Medvec is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the Center for Executive Women at the Kellogg School and the CEO of Medvec and Associates,Continue reading “Dr. Victoria Medvec on the Art and Science of High Stakes Negotiations”
Tag Archives: LOIs
Building a $5.5B Mid-Market Private Equity Firm: Brent Belzberg, Founder of Torquest Partners
My Guest My guest today is Brent Belzberg, Founder and Senior Managing Partner of TorQuest, a middle market private equity firm that he founded in 2002 that has since grown to ~$5.5B in assets under management. Outside of TorQuest, Brent serves as a Director of The Sinai Health System, having previously acted as Chair. HeContinue reading “Building a $5.5B Mid-Market Private Equity Firm: Brent Belzberg, Founder of Torquest Partners”
Lessons Learned From 400+ Post-Exit Entrepreneurs: John Warrillow, Host of Built to Sell Radio
My Guest My guest today is John Warrillow, author of the bestselling book Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You, and Founder & CEO of The Value Builder System, a sales and marketing software tool for business advisors to find, win and keep their best clients. Built to Sell was recognizedContinue reading “Lessons Learned From 400+ Post-Exit Entrepreneurs: John Warrillow, Host of Built to Sell Radio”
When Search Funds Don’t Go As Planned (Part 2): Trends & Observations With Jim Sharpe
My Guest My guest today is Jim Sharpe, somebody who I’ve been fortunate enough to call a mentor and friend for over 10 years now. This is Jim’s second appearance on In The Trenches (you can access the first episode here) In this week’s episode, we build upon the first-hand accounts presented in episode 1Continue reading “When Search Funds Don’t Go As Planned (Part 2): Trends & Observations With Jim Sharpe”
The Merits, Risks, and Possible Unintended Consequences of Earn-Outs
Listen to this Blog Post When acquiring small to medium sized businesses, buyers often utilize a tool called an “earn-out”, which is a form of contingent consideration that sellers may receive at some point in the future in addition to the cash that they stand to receive at closing. Though earn-outs can be useful andContinue reading “The Merits, Risks, and Possible Unintended Consequences of Earn-Outs”
Sell-Side M&A Advisors: How to Choose One, How Much They Cost, and The Importance of the “Fine Print”
My Guest John Carvalho is the President of Stone Oak Capital, an M&A advisory firm that focuses exclusively on middle market businesses, with a specific focus on transactions between $10 and $100 million. Among other things, Stone Oak offers acquisition, divestitures, corporate finance and valuations services for its clients. John is also the Founder ofContinue reading “Sell-Side M&A Advisors: How to Choose One, How Much They Cost, and The Importance of the “Fine Print””
Strategic Considerations When Evaluating a Letter of Intent to Sell Your Business
Listen to This Blog Post For many business owners (particularly those actively looking to sell their companies), few things are as exciting as receiving a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) from a prospective purchaser. Beyond the sense of personal validation stemming from the fact that a sophisticated counterparty sees an asset worth paying for, many businessContinue reading “Strategic Considerations When Evaluating a Letter of Intent to Sell Your Business”
Having Hard Conversations (Live Panel Discussion from 2022 MIT Sloan Search Fund Summit)
In this week’s episode, we discuss the importance of having difficult conversations, something that CEOs find themselves doing on a near-daily basis. We discuss three primary types of difficult conversations, including: Hard conversations around internal company dynamics (eg: terminations); Hard conversations about dynamics external to the company (eg: politics and global affairs); Difficult conversations thatContinue reading “Having Hard Conversations (Live Panel Discussion from 2022 MIT Sloan Search Fund Summit)”
Quality of Earnings Analysis: What You Need to Know Before Buying a Business
My Guest My guest today is Chris Hutchinson, a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Transaction Advisory Services Group. Chris has over 15 years of experience advising clients on M&A, financings, valuation projects, and due diligence mandates, with a specific focus on private lower-middle-market businesses. Chris and his team have completed an untold number of QualityContinue reading “Quality of Earnings Analysis: What You Need to Know Before Buying a Business”
The Working Capital Adjustment
Listen to This Blog Post In a previous blog post, Busting the Biggest Myth About Selling Your Business, we reviewed a number of fundamental facts related to the sale of any company that warrant being repeated here: The single biggest myth about selling a company is that the seller bears no further risk after theContinue reading “The Working Capital Adjustment”