The Sale of my Microsoft Dynamics Business – Three Part Series on Timing, Valuation and Financials

At some point every business owner dreams about selling their business and either retiring, pursing other business interests, combining with someone larger to increase the size, reach and opportunities not easily accomplished organically. Maybe you have been contemplating the sale or merger for some time and are wondering when the right time is to step into the process. Well from my personal experience, the time is NOW. Why now? Here are my top three reasons:

1.      Microsoft is HOT, sexy, in vogue, call it what you want, but companies outside this space want in.

2.      The economy is doing well and customers are spending money on technology; cloud, apps, consulting.

3.      There is money to spend; investors are still sitting on record amounts of cash, interest rates are still low to facilitate M&A activity and acquisitions remain the best source of growth (organic growth takes too long.)

Since the announcement on the sale of my Microsoft Dynamics business, in addition to receiving many well wishes from friends and colleagues, surprisingly, I have also received a number of questions on HOW the process worked. While not everyone is contemplating the sale of their business today, I thought it would be worthwhile to share some valuable tips for those who plan to sell at some point as well as things I learned along the way. I will be posting three separate blogs in the coming weeks that will cover the following topics:

Part I – Timing of the Transaction – When to start and how long it will take

Part II – Valuations (realistic ones) that you can expect for your Microsoft business

Part III – Getting your Financials in order – EBITDA and more importantly “Adjusted EBITDA”

If you are seriously wanting to learn more or have been contemplating a sale, or just want to understand the process join me on June 22nd for a webinar where I will join Tim Mueller of IT ExchangeNet for a more in-depth conversation of the process. I will be updating this post as more details are available or PM me if you would like additional details at [email protected]