If you are an advisor to family- and founder-owned businesses, your clients face more opportunities for generating liquidity and transitioning their businesses than ever before. When speaking to your clients about raising capital or succession planning, there are four considerations that business owners might find helpful.
Video Transcript
MATT ZIMMER: Company founders and leaders of family-owned businesses have more options for generating liquidity and greater possibilities for transitioning their companies today than ever before. Over the past nine decades, we have had the honor of guiding countless business owners and families through the host of critical decisions related to what is usually the family’s single largest asset.
RYAN DEVORE: When it comes to successfully transitioning a business, balancing the business transaction with the personal elements is absolutely paramount. So is working with a partner that you can trust to provide thoughtful, holistic guidance and execute a quality game plan that balances the many considerations that go into these high-stakes decisions. Going through an ownership transition process can be intimidating because it forces business owners to start new conversations and grapple with decisions that they haven’t encountered throughout their careers. Their focus has been on building their amazing companies.
MATT: Maximizing the value of the business is just one aspect of this process. Finding the right type of partner for the future of the company and determining what role the owners and family members want to play in the company are critically important.
RYAN: Planning for the owner’s next chapter—or pre-liquidity planning—should begin well before the transaction launches. Defining this vision will unlock opportunities to maximize the after-tax proceeds of the transaction.
MATT: At William Blair, we are uniquely equipped to guide business owners through these transitions. As an independent, private partnership, we understand the passion, pride, and stewardship that goes into building a business and making an incredible impact for the clients, employees, and, communities you serve.
RYAN: An owner’s life inside and outside the business are often difficult to separate, and each business owner’s journey is uniquely theirs. Our mission is to bring world-class resources and expertise to business owners and their advisors during every point of their personal journey.
MATT: We invite you to learn more about the ways we support and advise business owners and help our clients capitalize on the tremendous opportunities before them.