Today’s guest is Steve Denny. He started his business back in 2018 called Innovative Business Advisors where he helps businesses buy and sell other businesses. He specializes in working with private companies that are in the lower to middle market, those in the one-to-fifty-million-dollar range. According to Steve, one of the most difficult things business owners face is how to retire from their business. Steve’s company helps business owners through this process first, by helping them understand the value of their company as well as helping them through the emotional and technical side of retirement. Most of the time the technical side is focused on first and as the process continues the emotional side comes into play.

After Covid a lot of business owners started to really think about how to retire. It was something that no one was prepared for and it changed their whole mindset about the stability of their business. Steve does represent more sellers than buyers but sees both sides in the process. 2021 was an all time high in the number of transactions for Steve’s business. A good solid business is one that has a good net worth and no liabilities. Those businesses that don’t have any dependencies are the ones that will be valued higher. Business owners should start the process of selling their business ideally within a three-to-five-year window. This gives them time to actively work on the business aspects that might need fixing in order to make it more profitable

Key Takeaways:

“When business is good nobody wants to exit”. -Steve Denny

“The timing thing is an important point.”- Tabetha Sheaver