We Buy Boomer Businesses
You've poured your life into this business to get it where it is today.
Now let us take it from here.
award winning
This isn't our first rodeo...
We've grown, scaled & sold numerous award-winning companies.
Some of our companies have made Inc 5000's "Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" 3-times, along with companies that have won awards from VentureBeat & GeekWire Magazine.
What We Do
- We buy businesses, often owned by Baby Boomers - We have found that a lot of Baby Boomers are looking at wrapping up their careers and haven't found a way to transition out, nor do they know how to prepare the business to sell. They aren't sure what the options are, who to trust, what it costs, how it works, when & how they get their money, etc. Selling a business is fairly complicated, and we specialize in finding ways to simplify, de-stress and reach outcomes for Owners that are stuck in between the "I want to sell" and "now what?..." phase, regardless of how prepared they are.
We can put together a deal to potentially buy your business. There are a lot of ways to accomplish selling your business and we would be happy to discuss that in detail with you.
- We can help grow and scale your business - Some Owners want out entirely, but a lot of times there are ways to accomplish what an Owner is looking for but through options that they weren't aware were possible. Maybe you haven't prepared well enough to sell your business at it's highest value and you need a business partner to come along side, maybe even take the reigns, and grow it before you fully exit. We are not a consulting firm looking for fees, we are seasoned entrepreneurs that are looking for businesses to buy or grow as business partners.
We may be the missing business partner that you've been looking for.
Start a chat with us from this website and we can setup a time to talk. At the very least you will understand more about what your business is worth, who might buy it, how to get the maximum value for it and what it will take to get there.
Who We Are
Seth Talbott is a CEO and serial entrepreneur working at the crossroads of business and technology who started his career in IT and software development over 25 years ago. Seth is a "40 Under 40" Award Winner, Co-Founding CEO of Relief Factor (an Inc 5000 "Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" honoree), speaker, teacher and startup advisor.
Over that span he co-founded a private equity firm (Legato Equity), been CEO of a group of award winning medical clinics and started numerous companies including Relief Factor (a 3-time Inc 5000 honoree, ranking 37th fastest growing retail company in its inaugural year), and AtomOrbit which VentureBeat named as one of the most innovative Early-stage Startups in the 2013 Innovation Showdown in Cloud software. He has been all over the world to consult and advise with some of the largest companies in the world, including AT&T, Microsoft, Vodafone, Citi, Wells Fargo, Target, and the British Ministry of Defense, just to name a few.
Seth also co-founded HonorBound Coffee with his father Pete, a subscription-based premium coffee company that donates 100% of its profits to US servicemen and their families through the Semper Fi Fund and other similar charities. Having reached profitability within its first year, it was able to donate tens of thousands of dollars this past year.
Pete Talbott started off his early career as a professional singer in his late teens, hosted his own cable talk show at the age of 18, founded Five Loaves and Two Fish, Co in 1974, followed by 12 Baskets Restaurants in 1976, 12 Baskets Catering in 1977, and 12 Baskets Distributors in 1978.
Pete then founded the Talbott Group as a boutique advertising and production agency. He has nearly 50 years of entrepreneurial experience in starting and successfully managing numerous businesses…from retail and professional services to healthcare products and services.
In 2008, Seth joined his dad by working with a number of Talbott Group clients and companies. Most recently, as co-founders of Relief Factor (Seth as CEO and Pete as Marketing Director) they created one of the most impressive and fastest growing companies in America, on average doubling in size all eight years since they began. Through The Talbott Group, Pete has also created, produced and promoted over 4,000 seminars, workshops, conferences and tours. He has also produced over 14,000 hours of live or recorded radio programs, while personally hosting and/or moderating over 5,000 of those hours.
When you list with a Broker or Online listing, most won't be able to sell their company.
- Too small for the Broker - When brokers and bankers get involved, there is only so much to go around. Smaller businesses often just aren't worth the work for a Broker if the price isn't high enough to generate enough fees for all of the work that needs to be done (due-diligence, banking, legal, etc).
- Brokers just want their fees - If the business is too small and needs too much clean-up work to get ready to sell, they are out. If there aren't enough fees, they are out. If the business is too Owner-dependent to sell, they are out. Brokers don't know how to run a business, let alone how to grow and scale one. They love using language full of industry lingo that can be intimidating and overwhelming. Going through a Broker is expensive and often leads to a mismatch between a Seller's vision for their legacy and potential Buyers and what they are looking for.
- Online listing sites are filled with garbage - Online brokerages are filled with fake listings from scammers and lead farmers who are trolling for prospective investors with high net worth. It's very difficult to find legitimate businesses to buy online with so much fraud and fake listings which makes it very hard to stand out and get the right attention from legitimate Buyers.
- The Buyer has more risk than the Seller realizes - This may sound obvious, but this is a major stumbling block in a lot of sales because Owners typically aren't aware of the Buyer's side of the financial transaction. For examples, Sellers often don't realize how risky it can be to secure the financing and how much paying that loan monthly eats into the cashflow of the company. Additionally, the Buyer frequently uses an SBA loan, requiring them to pledge their home as collateral. This condition significantly heightens the emotional stakes for the Buyer. What seems like a "steal" to the Owner might feel like a huge risk to a Buyer because of some of the issues listed above.
- Sentimental Value vs Sellable Value - One of the biggest reasons why Owners have a hard time selling their business is that the amount of money the Buyer is ready to pay is less than what the seller was expecting. Things like owner dependance, customer concentration, eroding profit, or some other factor reduces what others are willing to pay and the gap is too big from what an owner feels the company is worth. The Owner gets offended because the Buyer was seen as low-balling an offer, when often the expectations were unrealistic to begin with. It can be very hard to an Owner to be told that their company, that they have poured blood, sweat and tears into, isn't worth as much to someone else as they had hoped. That is what we would call Sentimental Value vs Sellable Value. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a high Sentimental Value as long as Owners realize that it doesn't necessarily translate into actual Sellable Value when someone else has to come in and take over. Often the Owner doesn't understand the magnitude of the risk or complexity in taking over a business with limited knowledge or inside information.
Often the business is literally worth more to the original Owner because the Buyer can't replicate the financial or operational performance.
What factors increase or decrease a company's sellable value?
- Rapid & Continuous Growth - Rapid growth with huge profit margins solves a lot of problems, and obviously the inverse is true too. If the Owner, with their years of domain expertise can't solve a certain growth problem, it's not realistic that a new Owner can expect to do better.
- Owner Dependency - If a business depends too much on the owner, it's hard to sell. This is because the buyer can't take over the owner's friendships, knowledge, connections, good name, and other things that helped the owner grow the business. What was once an advantage turns out to be a hinderance when it comes to selling. Many owners get frustrated by this because it feels counterintuitive to hear that the very thing that helped them grow is now a liability when it comes to pricing their business. Also, Owners tend to "need" to be needed and aren't always the best at stepping aside to let their team work on the business and grow it without them. This can result in businesses that are very Owner-centric because they have built the company around making themselves feel important and needed, although ironically it makes it then VERY difficult to replace them and get the value that they want when the business is being sold. If the Owner can go away for a month without working IN the business, the higher the value.
- Many Products Sold through Many Channels - A single product being sold through a single channel like Amazon isn't worth as much a a variety of good selling products that are being sold through a variety of distribution channels. A new Buyer will likely need to expand sales in order to justify the investment of time and money, so the more that an Owner has accomplished with divesting product focus and distribution, the more valuable a company is for a new Buyer.
- Customer Concentration - When you get started, a HUGE new customer is a saving grace, but then it has a dark side too because so much of your revenue comes from one way-too-important customer. That is what we call customer concentration, and it is a complicated aspect when selling a business. A lot of times that single customer has a special relationship with the Owner and it often doesn't transfer well to the new Owner. This creates a problem where the business is $XYZ profitable to the owner, but would be LESS likely to be that valuable without the original owner.
- Simplicity - A simple business is best. If fewer experts are needed to make or deliver what you're selling, it's easier for a Buyer to step in. But if your business relies on workers who have complex skills, are costly, or hard to find, it will be harder for a new owner to come in and make the business grow. The simpler the business, the higher the value.
- Competitive Advantages - How hard is it for a competitor to come in and steal your customers? How hard it is to produce the product or service? Ironically, while you want a simple business to operate, but you inversely want a hard product or service to copy. How sticky are your customers? How hard would it be for them to switch? The harder to switch, the stickier the revenue, the higher the value of your business. The harder it is to copy, the higher the value.
- Are they a Strategic Buyer? - If a competitor wants to buy a business, they often pay more. This is because they can combine operations, sales, manufacturing, etc better and save costs, compared to someone new without these benefits. A competitor may really want your Intellectual Property (IP), or access to your customer base. In other words, a competitor (also known as a strategic buyer) might make more money from each customer than you or anyone else who doesn't have the same resources or size.
What's Next?
- Start an online chat with us - Our chat system pings us whenever someone starts a conversation with us. Fill out the Name and Email address fields, then we can jump into a conversation when we are available. Someone will get back to you SAME day.
- Schedule a Call- Once we confirm that you are not a BOT from overseas, we will setup a phone call or zoom call to discuss more as much about your business that you are open to sharing. If we find that it's a good match, we would then...
- Sign an NDA - We have a typical Non-Disclosure Agreement that we would both sign so that you can feel safe sharing more information with us.
- Dive into the Business - Once we have signed an NDA we would start working with you on reviewing the financials, operating agreements, contracts, product/service details and other relevant details about your business.
- Make an Offer - Through a series of online meetings, reviewing your financials and agreements we would then work towards making an offer for your business. There are many ways that we can shape an acquisition or partnership, and each deal can look very different than the next based on what the Owner is really looking for ranging from cash needs, level of involvement or other complexities in the business like current business partners, debt, real estate considerations, etc.
- Sign an LOI (Letter of Intent to Buy) - Once we have a mutually agreed upon price, terms and timeline, we would draft a reasonably concise LOI that outlines the details of the transaction and arrangement moving forward. This would specify an agreed upon timeline for the transaction that includes the legal paperwork, due diligence, financing considerations and any unique aspect of the transaction.
- Due Diligence -This is when the heaviest lifting is done to dive deeply into the business, contracts, financials, customers, debt and much more. This is a complicated and complex process that is necessary to make sure that the assumptions of the transaction are solid enough for a bank, investors and insurance company have their questions answered and addressed.
- Closing - We sign the paperwork, pot a bottle of bubbly and start working on your business either together or on the transition plan.
Start a Chat with us right now on the bottom right of your screen to get started
