Valuation Principles in Our Sector
The people at websiteclosers.com value their clients. There are a plethora of businesses out there, and with that comes business owners looking to sell.
It’s up to people like Jason and Ron at websiteclosers.com to find buyers.
But before the handshakes and signed deals are done, there’s a lot of work that’s put in beforehand. For one, not everyone and every business can be taken on as a client.
Jason and Ron break it down for us in this episode of Deal Closers - A Tech & Internet M&A Discussion.
[02:40] How do you narrow it down? What kind of information do potential clients provide to pique interest?
- What we’re looking at in the beginning is the URL, so we can dive into their company and get a little more information about the website.
- The next big step are the financials – we need to understand where the company has been, how old they are, what the financial looks like, etc.
[04:55] What are some red flags that you look for when talking with potential clients?
- Verbal claims that don't match the paperwork that they send us later.
[09:25] What does the ideal client look like?
- Those where the buyers are going to be the most interested in the company.
- The ones that we work on, are going to be the really super exciting ones that everybody wants.
- A lot of times, the perfect client is what we create, not necessarily who came to us, because we’ll work with him.
[11:47] Who can be your potential clients?
- Anything that's in the digital space, and some things that you might even consider "brick and mortar".
- It needs to be tech enabled or IP or IOS or a software company, eCommerce.
- We really handle everything from A to Z.
[17:00] Have you found some industries that are harder to evaluate than others?
- The issue is 100% the seller and his or her expectations for that business – you have to understand the expectations of your client.
- There is no one value for any company, it’s going to be a range.
[20:47] Where might an evaluation get complicated or become difficult?
- From the valuation standpoint the most difficult part is making sure that you match the market with what the seller wants.
- Tax returns can always can make evaluations difficult
- One other item too, might be inventory issues.
[28:12] Jason and Ron share their advice to future sellers.
- If you're looking to sell a company, you've got to talk to a broker and hopefully someone that's in your space and understands it well. Once you do that, then you can better answer the question as to what are some comparables out there, why are you better or worse than those comparables.
- You have to understand what the banks are doing too.
- Every single business is different so you have to do the hard work.
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