By Gokul Padmanabhan
Those who know me well will tell you that buying and selling businesses is almost an addiction for me. The buy-sell bug found me back in 1998 – the year MP3 players were released, Google was founded, and the last year I remember having hair. If we haven’t met, I’m Gokul, and that personal love for buying and selling has translated into working in M&A and helping other business owners maximize the value of their business to exit well.
If you’re expecting a sales pitch or a lecture on the perfect time to sell, well, that’s a conversation for another day. In my line of work, I see business owners at every stage of the business journey. When I was asked what advice I would give to business owners who have never sold a business before, the question got me thinking about how qualities essential to the success of any entrepreneur—qualities like resilience and the resolve to push through adversity—can be the same forces that lead to their downfall.
A few years back, a restoration business owner who we’ll call Mike from Michigan, reached out to me for a valuation on his business. Mike was 68. His valuation wasn’t win-the-lottery great, but it was strong enough to give him a well-earned, comfortable retirement after spending 30 years building his profitable restoration company. At this time, Mike had no motivation to keep growing his business. He was looking for the best time to step away, and ultimately, he decided to pass on his valuation and wait.
Three years later, I answered a call from Mike. This time, things had changed. His health was declining, his business had endured a couple of tough years, and one of his key managers left. To make matters worse, Mike’s competitor down the road was acquired by a larger company with more resources and talent. As business owners, we all face these moments in our business, but in his case, Mike no longer had the internal motivation necessary to overcome this new hurdle. I think I’ll always remember the difficult day when I had to call Mike and his wife and tell them their business was no longer sellable.
Time and time again, I see this happen in restoration. Business owners hold on for too long, not because they don’t see the warning signs, but because they struggle to admit that they no longer have the motivation to continue. It makes sense on the surface. They’ve given everything to a business for 20, 30 years, and it’s a highly emotional decision that can feel at odds with the idea of building and owning a business.
The hard truth is that if you’re no longer excited about growing your business, you’re taking the biggest risk. Am I saying you need to love what you do every day? No. But, can you still compete with the competitor down the road, just five or ten years in and hungry to grow? By the time you finally decide to sell, the business you built might not be worth selling. In 18+ years in M&A, I’ve never seen a business owner turn things around after they’ve mentally checked out.
Here’s my advice: Be brutally honest with yourself. If you’re no longer all in, don’t let guilt keep you from stepping into a healthy retirement or something completely new. Big picture? Staying too long doesn’t just affect you; it can dismantle everything you’ve built and harm the folks you were trying to help by staying.
I’ve witnessed hundreds of people cash out on their years of hard work, moving toward new opportunities and injecting the business they left behind with the fresh energy of new ownership to maintain their legacy. Owners who understand how important it is to exit at the right time are taking hold of new opportunities…they’re excited and motivated and are focusing on family and what a new future holds.
Whether you’re in your first decade of ownership or are nearing retirement, it’s important to regularly ask yourself, are you still all in?
If you’re interested in learning more about the M&A market, Jeff and I will be giving a presentation at INTRConnect 2025. Join us for what’s bound to be a value-packed and informative discussion.