In need of an exit strategy? Here are seven strategies for selling a business.

Welcome back to Big Trends in Small Biz, a weekly newsletter bringing you the news, tips and trends to help you with your business. Click subscribe above to be notified of future editions.

I first met Daniel Lewis at this year’s NCAA Sweet Sixteen game between Duke and Texas Tech. We were there for a networking event with the data analytics firm LexisNexis, which was really just an excuse to watch the game. Neither of us were heavily invested in the outcome, but watching the teams battle it out for the chance to make it to the Elite Eight was thrilling in its own right.

It turns out that Lewis's career has had more "lead changes" than an ultra-close basketball game — and he's now at a stage where he can share some valuable lessons from that journey. Think of him as an especially savvy adviser if you've ever wondered about selling a business to a competitor.

He sold his company Ravel that he started when he was 26 and fresh out of law school to LexisNexis, where he now works on the other side of the table buying companies for the firm.?

But here comes the plot twist: He started Ravel with the intention of disrupting LexisNexis, creating a searchable database for lawyers and associates who would typically spend hours manually pouring over books and cases to put together a history of precedent and how judges or circuits have rules on cases in the past.?

How did Lewis decide to sell his company to the firm he wanted to disrupt? And what has he discovered being on the other side of the discussion?

In an article for #BusinessReimagined , a series where entrepreneurs share their toughest challenges, Lewis shares the seven key lessons he’s learned and what other entrepreneurs should know when considering selling their own business.

Latest Developments

• It’s not just white-collar workers who want to dictate their hours in a post-pandemic world. Employees at restaurants, in manufacturing and hospitals also have new demands for their employers.
• On the other end of the spectrum, some prospective employees are tempering their salary and wage expectations because of the slowing economy.
• Holiday shopping is here , almost three months early, thanks to inflation and consumer concerns.
• Indeed, consumers felt more upbeat during the middle of the pandemic than they do now.
• Which generation of founders delivers the top performers? A new survey has some answers.

Conversations For You

• Failing at a business doesn’t make you a failure and can even better prepare you for the future. That’s what this three-time entrepreneur learned from his multiple failed ventures.
• Age is just a number and a whole lot of life experience that can help propel you forward. A business owner shares how her career has been impacted by ageism and why her ideas are getting better.

Something Good

• And you thought emotional support peacocks were a step too far .