Over the past 20 years or so, I’ve met with hundreds of business owners around the country, consulting them on a variety of topics including tax, business valuation, exit planning and risk management. Owners spend virtually their entire lives building their businesses with hope of creating a valuable asset that they can eventually sell or transfer in order to achieve a lifetime of financial independence.
Anyone who’s walked in those shoes can tell you that it’s harder than it sounds. The journey from starting a business to the eventual monetization of this illiquid asset is plagued with landmines along the way. One such landmine that we encounter on a regular basis is an improperly created buy/sell agreement.