Entrepreneur

0 readers

1 users here now

Rules

No Personal Attacks - criticism of ideas is allowed, attacking people is not.
Self Posts Only - links can only provide supplementary material. Your post must contain enough content to have a discussion.
No “How To Get Rich Quick” posts - This community is not about making a quick buck. Posts asking the community how to make $X, without making specific reference to a reasonable idea, are not tolerated.
Avoid unprofessional communication - Please treat fellow entrepreneurs like respected coworkers, label conversations if NSFW and avoid deliberate provocations.

Please feel free to provide evidence-based best practices, share a micro-victory, discuss strategy and concepts with a frame work, ask for feedback, and create professional conversation. Treat every post as if you're at work and representing the best version of yourself.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

communick@indiehackers.space

3 companies looking to acquire my business and I feel lost. (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by spiderpigparty@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

140 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi everyone,

31 years old, no kids.

I own a small business, and have received offers in the region of £750k. Plus cash in the business would give me a total equity value of around £900k on exit.

I started it 5 years ago now, with the dream that one day it could be sold. Well that day has come and I’m in a very fortunate position of having 3 companies submitting offers.

But, instead of feeling excitement, I feel a sense of dread that I’m doing the wrong thing. This business has been everything for me for 5 years. At points I have genuinely thought it would end up killing me and through the toughest days and weeks the thought of the end goal was often what kept me going. So not to be feeling a huge rush of excitement and relief right now is a surprise to me.

I have 2 options.

Exit the business and take the money. in this situation I would invest the profits in property and lead a considerably lower stress, yet comfortable lifestyle.
The second option is reinvest our profits and try and take it to the next level. This would invoicing recruiting, advertisement and investment in our general operations. I’d be committing to another 2 - 5 years and going back in balls deep. Obviously the risk here is we dramatically lower our profitability by doing so and fail to scale any further. I worry we may then miss what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to sell a business for decent money.

Not really sure what I’m expecting to get by posting this, but if anyone has thoughts or has sold a business themselves, did you experience this? Did you regret it post sale? All advice appreciated.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Old-Sea-2840@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I sold a business I built from scratch and owned for 14 years, my only regret was that I did not sell it earlier. My industry was declining due to rapidly changing technology and I didn’t see a long term future. I thought I would miss the industry but I didn’t for a minute.

The question I would be asking myself, if I do this for 2 or 3 more years, what do I think the business would be worth?

While $900k may seem like a lot money at 31 and it is but if you were 40 with a spouse and a family, $900k does not go very far, barely buys a nice house in a desirable area in the US.

I eventually took another job and started a whole new career, what was nice initially was the stress relief, not having to make payroll and taxes, having a direct deposit check every 2 weeks made my life so much easier. I will admit that it is often difficult not being the boss and having to play the corporate game. I often think about starting another new business but I have gotten too comfortable and recognize that it would take years to get to the income level I have today. It is a trade off. At your age, and being single, you have so many options to start over again with another business if you like.