Commercial Growth
Taking commercial load off a founder without hiring a director
One day a week of senior commercial leadership: pricing, margin and new business given structure, owners and a reporting rhythm.
Exit
Don't start preparing for exit when you're ready to sell.
Commercial and operational preparation for a sale, succession or step back, started early enough to change the outcome.
What does an exit planning consultant do?
An exit planning consultant prepares the business itself, rather than the transaction. That means assessing the company as a buyer or successor would, then working through what suppresses value or would fail scrutiny: earnings quality, client concentration, founder dependency, management structure, reporting and documented process.
The transaction itself belongs to corporate finance, legal and tax advisers. Exit planning is what determines whether that process starts from a strong position.
The readiness questions
- Could the business operate for six months without you?
- Would the earnings survive a change of ownership?
- How much revenue sits with your largest two clients?
- Who makes commercial decisions when you are not there?
- Would your management information stand up to due diligence?
- Is there a successor, internally or otherwise?
Succession, not only sale
Not every founder wants to sell. Some want to step back, appoint a managing director, bring a leadership team through or simply stop being the reason the business works. The preparation is largely the same.
How the work runs
A structured readiness review first: a small number of conversations and a proper look at the numbers. Then a prioritised plan with owners and dates, worked through alongside the leadership team, usually over a period of years rather than months.
ANDvisory does not provide regulated investment, tax, legal, accounting or corporate finance advice. Where specialist transaction, legal, tax, accounting or corporate finance expertise is required, we work alongside your existing professional advisers or appropriate specialists.
Questions founders ask
How early should you start preparing a business for sale?
Two to three years before you want the option. Buyers look at trading history, so the earnings quality, client diversification and management structure you want them to see has to exist well before they look.
How do you prepare a creative agency for acquisition?
By making the revenue and the delivery independent of the founders: repeatable client relationships, standard commercial process, a leadership team that runs accounts and production, and clean, credible reporting. Creative reputation opens the conversation; the operating facts decide the price.
What if you are not ready to sell at all?
Then do the work anyway. It improves profitability and resilience now, and it means a future decision is made on your terms and your timing.
Related work
Better businesses perform better.
Commercial performance and organisational health reinforce one another. It is the philosophy that runs through everything ANDvisory does. Read why →
Advice action.
Start the preparation early enough for it to change the result.