Why is business valuation a moving target, and what does that mean for your buy-sell agreement?

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Z. Christopher Mercer of Mercer Capital about why business value can change over time and why business owners should regularly review and stress-test their buy-sell agreements.

Chris explains how shifts in performance, market conditions, risk, and ownership expectations can affect valuation, and why outdated assumptions can create problems when a transition event occurs. This episode is especially relevant for owners, partners, advisors, and family businesses focused on succession planning, shareholder alignment, and long-term exit readiness.

Topics include:

business valuation

buy-sell agreements

ownership transition planning

valuation risk

succession and exit strategy

Learn more from Z. Christopher Mercer:

Listen for more conversations on business value, succession, leadership, and exit planning through Exit Coach Radio.

Join Bill Black for his weekly humor column at BlackPapers: https://Blackpapers.substack.com

Hashtags:

Keziah Robinson (pronounced KAY-zee-uh), is a business strategist, CEO coach, and investor. Described by her clients as a “shapeshifter” who “can coach business owners through any challenge at any stage of their business,” Keziah helps small business CEOs navigate the operational and existential challenges of scaling up, pivoting, and/or selling a business they’ve put their blood sweat and tears into. Keziah holds a BS in Physics from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and she serves on the advisory board of Private Packs, an innovator in the fast-growing femtech industry.

Some of the questions Keziah answered today:

What does it mean to "helicopter parent" your business?

Why is it so hard for business owners to stop doing it?

What are some practical tips to break out of this pattern?

Join Bill Black for his weekly humor column at https://Blackpapers.substack.com

Suggested Description:

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Keziah Robinson, business strategist, CEO coach, and investor, about a common challenge for business owners: staying too involved in every decision, function, and outcome inside the company they built.

Keziah explains why founders often struggle to let go, how overinvolvement can limit growth, and what practical steps leaders can take to build a stronger, more scalable business. This conversation is especially relevant for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and CEOs thinking about leadership development, operational readiness, succession, and exit planning.

Topics include:

founder dependency

business scaling

CEO leadership

delegation and control

preparing a business for transition or sale

Listen for more insights on leadership, growth, succession, and exit planning through Exit Coach Radio.

Join Bill Black for his weekly humor column at BlackPapers: https://Blackpapers.substack.com

What causes conflict in a family business, and how can owners address it before it damages the company or the relationships behind it?

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Vince Mastrovito, owner of Prometis Partners Inc., about the most common sources of family business conflict and the practical steps leaders can take to manage those challenges effectively.

This conversation explores how communication breakdowns, unclear roles, succession issues, and competing expectations can create tension inside a family-owned company. Vince shares insights that can help business owners strengthen alignment, improve decision-making, and protect both business continuity and family relationships.

Topics include:

family business conflict

succession planning

communication and leadership

business coaching

exit planning for family-owned companies

Listen for more conversations on leadership, growth, succession, and exit planning through Exit Coach Radio.

Join Bill Black for his weekly humor column at BlackPapers: https://Blackpapers.substack.com

#TheOWL #ExitCoachRadio #FamilyBusiness #SuccessionPlanning

What does it take to build a company culture that improves performance and lasts through change?

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Dr. Kenneth Majer, author, speaker, and consultant, about how values-driven leadership can strengthen corporate culture, improve organizational alignment, and help companies outperform their competition.

Ken shares insights from more than 30 years of working with businesses of all sizes on change management, communication, leadership development, and management training. This conversation is especially valuable for business owners, executives, and leadership teams focused on sustainable growth, succession, and long-term enterprise value.

Topics include:

values-driven culture

leadership alignment

change management

organizational performance

business strategy and growth

Learn more about Ken Majer:

Listen for more conversations on leadership, growth, succession, and exit planning through Exit Coach Radio.

Join Bill Black for his weekly humor column at BlackPapers: https://Blackpapers.substack.com

Mike Koenigs is an unemployable serial entrepreneur with a high-school education whose obsession with taking apart gadgets to figure out their inner workings started as soon as he could crawl. He quickly learned he has the attention span of a bag of gnats on amphetamines. His curiosity in tech, psychology, entertainment, storytelling, entrepreneurship, marketing,

Steve Medland is a Certified Financial Planner and co-founder of TABR Capital Management, an independent, fee-only financial planning firm based in Orange County, California. Today, he is going to talk about issues that the Millionaire Next Door faces.

Wayne knows websites - and how to measure their success.

Questions we discuss:

Contact at www.uglymugmarketing.com

Skip Weisman is in the business of improving workplace communication so that small business owners can create a more positive, productive and profitable company.

Questions Asked: 

1) You typically work with small businesses with between 6-60 employees, why do you focus on that size/type of business?

2) How, specifically, does communication kill company profits in small businesses?

3) What are the biggest communication mistakes small business leaders make in leading their employees?

Contact Info

Website: www.YourChampionshipCompany.com

Email: [email protected]

Joe Bertotto of CU Services, LLC, is a consultant who helps develop high care, high performance, and high accountability cultures in the workplace. Joe’s work in this field began 25 years ago and his expertise is in leadership and culture development. His goal is to help leaders create a work environment where employees feel they get to come to work, instead of feeling they have to come to work. While everyone has their own unique strengths, we all can be exceptionally bad at identifying what they are. 

Joe shares valuable insight on metrics for measuring strengths and weaknesses, as well as how this knowledge can be used to benefit the company and employees. He also explores the idea that individual well-roundedness may not be as important as we make it out to be. While weaknesses can’t be ignored, cultivating unique strengths can be potentially more fruitful. Joe’s tried and true process of helping coworkers understand, tolerate, appreciate, and eventually leverage one another is indispensable information for anyone who hopes to be a stronger team member.