February 23, 2023

S02E05 - The Secret Accountant - How Do You Really Sell Your Business?

1 hour 16 minutes

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I’ve been following an anonymous account on Twitter for some time, and I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the content and thoughts shared on some of my favourite topics such as entrepreneurship, mergers & acquisitions, and intelligent investing.

The Twitter handle is an anonymous one - The Secret Accountant, but I can now officially reveal the identity of this mysterious business expert as being none other than Mr Craig Richardson.

There’s a good reason for the nom de plume which he explains during our conversation, but the headline relates to a new book that he recently published called "How Do You Really Sell Your Business" - which is obviously right in the sweet spot for you if you’re a bulletproof entrepreneur and a fan of this podcast.

And the good news is that to celebrate this episode, Craig AKA The Secret Accountant has slashed the price it sells for on Amazon for the next few weeks!

So, as soon as you’ve listened to this episode, jump over to Amazon, and grab your copy - the link is in the show notes.

Now Craig’s got an incredibly interesting back story. He’s been a poacher turned gamekeeper turned poacher again and is reluctant to call himself an entrepreneur – he says that if indeed he is an entrepreneur, he’s an accidental one!

He started by qualifying as a chartered accountant in the corporate finance team at KPMG and it was there that he caught the bug of working with founder owners. He just loved helping them grow their companies and plan a successful sale and exit.

But then came a change of strategy at KPMG and their desire to focus on bigger corporate clients. So, Craig decided to leave to be able to continue to work with SME business owners, which is where his passion always was.

Since then, he’s spent more than 20 years helping entrepreneurs successfully grow, improve, and sell their businesses and now runs his own company where he continues to advise, consult, and invest in companies and their owners.

I found it fascinating listening to him explain that the skills required to take a company from £1m to £5m turnover are different to those needed to take a company from £5m to £10m and then to £20m and above - some great insights wherever you are on that scale.

He also talks of the importance of what he calls the magical entrepreneurial dust that only a founder is capable of sprinkling over his company and why they should focus on this more than some of the more regular day-to-day roles

And as someone who's worked with business owners and continues to support them, he breaks down the key attributes which are essential in an ideal ‘Trusted Adviser’ relationship which is designed specifically for entrepreneurs.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Craig Richardson AKA The Secret Accountant