Blueprint for Wealth

A private equity buyer’s view of what drives your value, how you get paid, and how to protect what you built.

Learning how to sell your business starts with a question beyond price: who is buying it, and what happens after the sale? In this episode of Blueprint for Wealth, Wayne Zell talks with Sequoya Borgman about what a private equity buyer looks for and what an owner should look for in return.

• 00:00 Why owner dependence can lower your offer
• 00:30 Meet Sequoya Borgman and understand private equity
• 02:06 What buyers want in a business
• 04:37 What drives your business valuation
• 08:49 Cash, debt, and ownership after the sale
• 13:18 Private equity myths and borrowing risk
• 16:23 The highest offer versus the right buyer
• 18:09 Protecting employees and your legacy
• 20:52 Due diligence and sale timelines
• 23:38 Planning your transition and finding a buyer

Key points

· Buyer fit matters: Compare the buyer’s plans and the deal terms, not just the highest offer.

· Owner dependence creates risk: A proven management team can give a buyer more confidence that the business will keep performing.

· Purchase price is not all cash today: Understand payments made later and ownership you may keep after the sale.

· Legacy needs clear terms: Raise employee and community priorities early, then work with your advisors to document the agreed commitments.

· Preparation supports the process: Organize the information a buyer will need and discuss the founder’s transition before closing.

Description

Your buyer will ask about your leadership team before they ask about anything else. Most owners answer the same way: someone in sales, someone in operations, and me.

Build a business that can run without you, and the answer changes. Ed Offterdinger spent almost a decade at Arthur Andersen, then led Beers + Cutler as chief executive and managing partner through the 2009 merger that created Baker Tilly. Today he is co-founder and chairman of AO People Partners, where he coaches chief executives and leadership teams, and he is co-author of "Conscious, Capable, and Ready to Contribute."

In this episode of Blueprint for Wealth, Ed and Wayne Zell cover why the people side is usually the biggest hole in an exit plan, the three-year timeline for closing it, why the value gap is almost always a chief financial officer, the one interview question Ed has used for twenty years to spot a leader who keeps growing, what employee turnover really costs, how to decide between an inside and an outside successor, and why every owner needs a plan for the day after the sale.

CHAPTERS 00:00 The question that sets your price

00:25 Meet Ed Offterdinger, from Arthur Andersen to Baker Tilly

05:32 Why he trained as a coach at Georgetown

07:31 Inside the book: Conscious, Capable, and Ready to Contribute

11:32 Growth mindset and the one interview question

14:16 Conscious capitalism, and why it pays

18:00 Culture when private equity is the buyer

22:41 The value gap and the missing CFO

27:16 When to hire a CFO, and why it hurts

32:05 Life after the sale, and your successor

36:41 Own, Model, and Drive

CONNECT WITH ED

AO People Partners: https://aopeoplepartners.com

Book: Conscious, Capable, and Ready to Contribute

RESOURCES FROM WAYNE

Take the Exit Readiness Assessment: https://www.hub.blueprintforwealth.org

ABOUT BLUEPRINT FOR WEALTH Wayne Zell talks with entrepreneurs and the advisors who help them about building value, protecting what they have built, and exiting on their own terms.

#ExitPlanning #BusinessSuccession #LeadershipDevelopment

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cassielane.com

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5:06 Interviewing with brokerage firms and the impact of COVID-19

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25:37 Contact information and closing remarks

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