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Deciding why and you might have a figure in mind that you
want to sell for, it may not be enough to
how to sell give you the life you want after exit.
Before you prepare to sell Some members have commented that, in
your business, consider your hindsight, they would have benefited from
motivations and exit options professional advice earlier on calculating
a minimum threshold as it would have
helped in negotiations. It will be easier
PERSONAL MOTIVATIONS to manage the stress of selling if you
There are lots of reasons to sell your understand your sale threshold and know
business. Some members say they had when to walk away.
fallen out of love with their business. Some
no longer felt they were the best person EXIT OPTIONS
to run it, or take it to the next level. Some Just as there are different reasons to sell,
wanted to invest their time and energy there are different ways to exit. You may
in a new venture or solve a new problem. want to sell part of the business to take
Others wanted to sell before they got some money out and de-risk personally.
disrupted or to get the best price. And Some members have left shares in the
some simply got offers they couldn’t new company, which gave their buyer
refuse. confidence, made the deal process easier,
and meant they could benefit at the
Whatever the reason, members and second exit. Some wanted to make sure
partner experts recommend that you they could walk away the second the deal
focus on running a good business. Always was done while others wanted to stay
consider what might be impacting its involved with the business. Each process
capital value and salability – even if you’re has pros and cons that you need to assess.
not looking to sell imminently. Have a
clear, long-term plan for the business so MBO
your decisions help you reach that goal Members that have gone through an exit
rather than constantly trying new things. process all agree that the best preparation
Focus on the associated problems you for a sale is a strong senior management
need to address now, rather than storing team, who are incentivized to deliver on
them up for the future. agreed growth objectives and stay on
after an exit. For some, it can be hugely
The most important thing to calculate is rewarding to see your staff take over the
the minimum you can sell the business business with a Management Buy Out
for after all liabilities are paid out of the (MBO). One benefit of this is that you may
proceeds; and whether that number is life- be able to avoid an earn-out. It could
changing or merely life-enhancing. While be that managers will pay a premium to
As the company matured, we moved into new
MEMBER INSIGHT: markets, we expanded across all dimensions:
MY EXIT JOURNEY hiring lots more people, investing millions into
Graham Hobson, Founder, Photobox new platforms, process, much more active
management of culture and values.
I started Photobox in 1999 from nothing. I really enjoyed learning about those things, but
Today we are a group of four main brands felt that my comfort zone was something a bit
operating across Europe, and we’re PE smaller. So, from 2007 onwards I was thinking
owned. Our last published finances had about leaving. For me it would have come a bit
£300m turnover and we have around 1,400 sooner, but we were effectively for sale from
employees, which gives you a sense of scale. 2010 to 2016, trying to find an exit for our
investors who had been in for a very long time.
The business is all about personalisation:
Moonpig is around greetings cards, flowers, Part of the reason I was still there until recently
etc, Photobox is more about photos, was that I wanted to see that process through,
creating memories – the customer gets and I felt I had a lot to contribute. But I was
something unique out of it. I always felt actively removing myself from very visible roles.
more comfortable in the start-up business. I was CEO, then I was CTO for 8 years, then
