The Art Of A Happy Exit

Book excerpt: EVERY ENTREPRENEUR NEEDS A HAPPY EXIT STRATEGY! 'So, what's your exit strategy?' The question often leaves most entrepreneurs stumped as running a business leaves little time to think about anything else. While business owners recognize that they may have to exit their business at some point, few give enough thought to how they will sell it. And fewer prepare for it. Invariably, when a prospective buyer appears or an offer is made, or when an unforeseen health or financial contingency arises, they scramble to respond. Even those rare entrepreneurs who have given thought to an exit often end up with seller's remorse. The Art of a Happy Exit helps entrepreneurs get prepared for all that selling their business entails. The book covers not just the Outside game-positioning, prospecting, finding professional partners, negotiating, structuring, and executing, but the critical Inside game-the mental and emotional preparation needed even while retaining customers, employees, and the business. K. Srikrishna tells the stories of twenty entrepreneurs from India and the United States who've sold their businesses to varying degrees of happiness. Between the stories, he lays out the typical steps involved in a business sale, each with its own practical checklist. The result is a book that will help you gain greater self-awareness of what you seek and how best to go about it, and ensure the happiness of all involved with the outcome.