Even the best (Buffett) investors are not immune to paying over the odds for a business or lousy strategy implementation (Kraft Heinz/3G). What they do have is resilience (dust themselves down) and a balance sheet (plentiful resources) that affords them the luxury of ill-timed investments with less than ideal partners. Two prerequisites for any business seeking success with an acquisition-driven growth strategy.
I meet a great many entrepreneurs/founders in their later years embarking on ambitious ownership transitions. In my experience with such complex and ambiguous plans, we need to ensure the strategic guidance to successfully attract ideal investor(s) and convert that into a signed agreement is matched by the seller’s future understanding of their actual personal wealth needs, post-sale. The trail is littered with the remains of unrealistic and poorly informed sellers of businesses that pursued a sale without sound metrics and accountabilities.
If “Yes”, where are you today, what changes must happen, who is accountable, and in what timeframe?
If “No”, when and where are you going to acquire the hard evidence and the expertise, to help you make prudent life changes consistent with your realistic financial means?
It is that simple if you have the courage and volition to put yourself first.
