3 ms·

Lot of great comments here. Couple things I've seen in America talking to Boomers who are (trying) to sell their business. 1) the owner is absolutely integral

Lot of great comments here. Couple things I've seen in America talking to Boomers who are (trying) to sell their business. 1) the owner is absolutely integral for day to day ops. These businesses in all practicality are people who are self employed at a high level (if owner isn't there, the place doesn't run). 2) the asking price for some of these businesses can be absurd, mostly due to the Boomer needing it to fund retirement, or a large injection of capital late in their life. They have a mentality that this is America, and it's our god given birth rite to grow indefinitely, etc. they've put their life and soul into it and sometimes don't see economic realities. Also, they cook the hell out of their books. A lot of this passes through the cracks because no accountant or tax person even understands the business or expenses.

doctorwho42 4y ago
(2) is definitely a regular occurrence in my experience talking with retirement age or older business owners. There is this inherent misjudgement of value, the only way to describe it is to compare it to car owners who put $X into their car to modify it or repair it. Then turning around and saying the cost to buy is (stock price) + $X. And there is no bargaining with them, their way or the highway. They especially don't want to hear cost versus ROI based on profits of the past 5 years. So honestly, in my experience - start your own small company and keep an eye out for when their business folds because no one will buy at inflated prices... Then buy what you need from the auction they eventually have to recoup some money from their shuttered business.
- happyjack 4y ago
  You're spot on. At the end of the day there really isn't any bargaining with them. They either forcibly sell to deal with bills or they literally die with it. "But you can make money look at all the money I made in the past" while you look at their last 3 sales years and it was abysmal because they started to slow down / retire themselves.

doctorwho42 4y ago

(2) is definitely a regular occurrence in my experience talking with retirement age or older business owners. There is this inherent misjudgement of value, the only way to describe it is to compare it to car owners who put $X into their car to modify it or repair it. Then turning around and saying the cost to buy is (stock price) + $X. And there is no bargaining with them, their way or the highway. They especially don't want to hear cost versus ROI based on profits of the past 5 years. So honestly, in my experience - start your own small company and keep an eye out for when their business folds because no one will buy at inflated prices... Then buy what you need from the auction they eventually have to recoup some money from their shuttered business.

happyjack 4y ago
You're spot on. At the end of the day there really isn't any bargaining with them. They either forcibly sell to deal with bills or they literally die with it. "But you can make money look at all the money I made in the past" while you look at their last 3 sales years and it was abysmal because they started to slow down / retire themselves.