Table of Contents

EXPENSIVE MISTAKES WHEN BUYING AND SELLING COMPANIES
And How to Avoid Them in Your Deals

FOREWORD 1
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND 3
Chapter 1 - PREPARING FOR A DEAL AS THE SELLER 9
Mistake #1 Fuzzy Objectives 12
Mistake #2 Vague Exit Strategy 16
Mistake #3 Artificial Deadlines 19
Mistake #4 Getting Soft Advice - or None At All 22
Mistake #5 Nothing to Sell 25
Mistake #6 No Plan to Maximize Value 27
Mistake #7 Organizational A-D-D 30
Mistake #8 Ad Hoc Operations 33
Mistake #9 Weak Executive Team 36
Mistake #10 Who Owns this Place 39
Mistake #11 Financial Warts 43
Mistake #12 Hockey Stick Projections 46
Mistake #13 Mile Wide and an Inch Deep 49
Mistake #14 Looking Like Everybody Else 52
Mistake #15 Dancing With Sugar Plum Fairies 55
Chapter 2 - PREPARING FOR A DEAL AS THE BUYER  
Mistake #16 No Strategy for Growth 62
Mistake #17 All That Glitters Is Not Gold 65
Mistake #18 Tire Kicking 68
Mistake #19 Where’s the Money 71
Mistake #20 Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword 74
Mistake #21 Hiring Jack-the-Ripper 76
Mistake #22 Impatience 79
Mistake #23 Abandoning Your Pricing Strategy 82
Mistake #24 Forcing It Down Their Throats 85
Chapter 3 - GETTING THE DEAL DONE AS THE SELLER   87
Mistake #25 Selling Yourself Short 90
Mistake #26 Limiting Your Possibilities 92
Mistake #27 Making a Bad First Impression 95
Mistake #28 Lack of Intelligence About a Buyer 99
Mistake #29 One Buyer Is No Buyer 102
Mistake #30 Relying on a Handshake 104
Mistake #31 Rigid Price Expectations 109
Mistake #32 Sleeping Through Due Diligence 113
Mistake #33 Showing Your Warts 117
Mistake #34 Taking Your Eye Off the Ball 120
Mistake #35 Loose Lips Sink Ships 122
Mistake #35 Complex Earn-Outs 125
Mistake #37 Loaning Your Money Away 128
Mistake #38 Afraid to Say NO 131
Mistake #39 Oh What a Day! 135
Chapter 4 - GETTING THE DEAL DONE AS THE BUYER 137
Mistake #40 Not Selling the Seller 139
Mistake #41 Letting Price Kill a Good Deal 142
Mistake #42 Unverified Optimism 146
Mistake #43 Penny Wise and Pound Foolish 150
Mistake #44 Running the Negotiations Meter 153
Mistake #45 Skimpy Escrows 156
Mistake #46 Skimming Over the Agreements 159
Mistake #47 Ignoring the World Around You 163
Mistake #48 Delaying Integration Planning 166
Chapter 5 – INTEGRATION – GETTING THE PAY-OFF 169
Mistake #49 The Unemployable Entrepreneur 172
Mistake #50 Letting the Assets Walk Away 175
Mistake #51 Compensation Quagmire 179
Mistake #52 Throwing Away Something Special 182
Mistake #53 Mixing Oil and Water 185
Mistake #54 Overlooking the Synergy 188
Mistake #55 One Year Later 191
Mistake #56 The Worst That Can Happen 193
Mistake #57 Making New Legends 197
MAKING NEW MISTAKES 199
APPENDIX - 17 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE VALUE 203
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 207
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 209
LIST OF ACRONYMS 210
INDEX 211

Excerpts

Table of Contents

Mistake #6
No Plan to Maximize Value

Mistake #21
Hiring Jack the Ripper

Mistake #33
Showing Your Warts

Mistake #56
Worst that Can Happen

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