Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Early Exits" the First Book on Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors

By J. Basil Peters

Companies are getting sold early than ever before. Tech companies are often sold only one or two years from start up. This is happening now because the IPO market is dead, the Venture Capital model is broken and the fundamental structure of the American economy has changed dramatically.

Very few entrepreneurs, and angel investors, have sold more than a few companies. There is very little good information available about selling companies.

Almost all of the earlier books on exit strategies were for business owners who wanted to retire. Recently, there have been a number of books written about exit transactions for traditional venture capitalists. "Early Exits" is the first book about selling companies specifically written for entrepreneurs and angel investors.

Everything is changing - the venture capital industry is shrinking at an alarming rate - but angel investing is booming. Today, it's most likely a company will be sold without ever having an investment from a venture capitalist.

The reported median price of private companies that are sold is about $25 million. But this only includes the transactions where price is disclosed. Most often, the price is not disclosed for the smaller transactions. The median price for private M&A transactions is probably under $15 million.

Companies are being sold earlier than ever before because big companies have lots of cash on their balance sheets. Big companies know they are not good at starting businesses or growing businesses from zero to $20 or 30 million in value. Large companies are much better at growing businesses from $ 20 million to $200 million in value. Today, growth by acquisition is the best way for big companies to grow. Many large companies are spending more on M&A than R&D.

These trends have created a golden era for entrepreneurs. Never before has it been so easy for entrepreneurs to build valuable companies on so little capital, and to sell them so quickly for so much money.

"Early Exits" is about exit strategies that every entrepreneur and angel investor should be utilizing right from start up to maximize the chances of an early, profitable sale of their companies. Every company needs a clear exit strategy - right from founding. It doesn't have to be complicated. Good exit strategies are often only a few sentences long. The important thing is to have all of the shareholders aligned on the exit strategy.

The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs and angel investors have more successful, more frequent and more profitable exits. - 22871

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