Podcast
Podcast
Defenders of Business Value
Business value does not defend itself. More than 150 conversations on what a business is worth, how buyers think, and what happens when a company changes hands. For owners who will sell once, and the advisors who serve them.
Why the show exists
Most of your net worth is locked in the company. Someday you have to unlock it.
For most owners, the business is the retirement plan, and the only way to get the money out is to sell. The odds are against them because most owners do not learn what makes a company saleable until a buyer tells them. The show exists to move that conversation earlier.
Three kinds of episodes. Conversations with the people who help owners prepare, build, protect, and transfer value: advisors, lenders, buyers, and owners who have been through a sale. Short solo episodes from me on market data, multiples, and what I am seeing in deals right now. And an industry series (how to sell a laundromat, a trucking company, an HVAC business, a restaurant) where an operator or specialist walks through what buyers pay for in that trade. Most episodes run 30 to 50 minutes.
Start here
New to the show? Start with these.
- How EOS builds a more sellable business
- Ashley Walters on getting the owner out of the middle of everything, which is the first thing a buyer checks. Episode 129.
- How to sell when the owner is the number one salesperson
- Why customer relationships that live in your head cost you at closing, and what to do about it before you go to market. Episode 119.
- Inside the mind of a buyer
- Ted Leverette on what makes or breaks a deal from the other side of the table. Episode 138.
- Tax issues when you sell
- Attorney and CPA Roman Basi on the tax questions that decide how much of the price you keep. Episode 69.
- Inside the broker’s engine room
- George Wellmer of Tupelo on what sellers get wrong about brokers and the deal process. Episode 124.
- How to pick the right SBA lender before you buy
- For buyers. Jared Johnson, an SBA lender with nearly $900 million in closed deals, on choosing the lender before you choose the deal. Episode 149.
- It is a transition, not just a transaction
- Denise Logan, who has worked with hundreds of sellers, on the part of selling that has nothing to do with the number. Episode 128.
- John Warrillow on building to sell
- The author of Built to Sell and founder of the Value Builder System, on the 100th episode, on what makes a company worth buying. Episode 100.
Guests and speaking
I am always looking for great guests who serve the people I serve.
The best guests are owners who sold and would do something differently, buyers who learned the hard way, and advisors with a pattern worth naming. If that is you, send a note with the story in three sentences. If it is someone you know, nominate them. And if there is a kind of guest you want to hear from, a lender, say, or someone who sold a company like yours, tell me and I will go find one.
The same goes the other direction. I speak to owner groups, advisor firms, and industry conferences on valuation, exit planning, and what happens inside a deal.
If an episode hit close to home
Find out where your business stands
The three free assessments take about fifteen minutes and show you what a buyer would see. Nobody calls you afterward unless you ask.