Our founder and CEO Brent is getting set to update his 2018 book The Messy Marketplace later this year. Perhaps exciting news on its own, the point here is that in advance of that, we’ve all been re-reading what was said way back when to help figure out what’s changed (e.g., interest rates) and what’s been learned since then (e.g., how might a buyer and seller meet in the middle around a massive business disruption like a pandemic) to make sure any second edition is a step up from the first.

And while there is quite a bit of change and learning that should add some nuance to the book, what’s been most interesting to me in reviewing the project is what hasn’t changed. The reason that’s so is because a lot has changed since 2018, so if something fundamentally hasn’t, it might be the case that that thing is a constant. And since constants are rare in this world, that makes it potentially notable. For example, Brent wrote in 2018 about the seven root motivations for transitioning a company to new ownership. They are:

1.       Personality/skills: We’re growing faster than I know how to handle.
2.       Exhaustion: I’m burnt out and my heart just isn’t in it anymore.
3.       Freedom: I’m ready to wake up in the morning and think about something else.
4.       Health: If my doctor had it her way, I’d already be retired.
5.       Obligations: I promised my wife at age 65 we could start doing all the things we never had time to do before.
6.       Risk: I can’t manage through another major business disruptions and need to take some chips off the table.
7.       Legacy: I want to make sure that the team I’ve built can continue forward with good support.

Money, of course, is not on this list because as Brent pointed out back then, due to taxes and the power of compounding gains, a business owner will “almost always do better financially…by not selling.”

But back to the seven motivations…

I spent considerable time racking my brain to come up with another one and couldn’t. So if you have a business, or really any significant obligation or responsibility, and one of those seven things is true of you, now might be the time to consider how to transition out. It may cost you, but could also well be worth it.

Have a great weekend, and look for the updated Messy Marketplace in the fall.

— Tim

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