Insight
Bishop: PE Buyers Walk Away If One Customer Exceeds 20% Revenue
“If you have more than 20% of your business is dependent on one customer, That's for private equity buyers in particular, if the company is big enough to be acquired by a financial buyer, that's one of the first questions we get asked when they call us about a …”
Insight
Bishop: Poor Accounting Is the Top Reason Businesses Fail to Sell
“The first thing we see that is going to make the company unsellable or take a really long time is they have terrible accounting.”
Insight
Bishop: Seven-Figure Lifestyle Businesses Often Have Zero Exit Value
“And we see a lot of owners come to us trying to sell a lifestyle business. And a lot of them are making a lot of money, some in the seven figures, but it's not transferable.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bishop: AI-Driven Service Businesses Will Eventually Become Sellable
“I think right now it's probably going to be more difficult, but I think over time as people come to understand and accept AI, I think that'll probably be a viable business path.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bishop's Client Left $4M on the Table to Keep Working Post-Acquisition
“I sold a company about three months ago we brought that owner. It was a very large construction company and we brought them four offers and they chose a lower priced offer because they actually wanted to continue to work in the business and they liked the buye…”
Insight
Bishop: Founders Struggle to Delegate Fearing Different Management Methods
“Most business owners, you know, they've, They eat, sleep and breathe their company. It's their primary source of value, of legal validation. It's their baby. And a lot of them would have a very difficult time turning over their business to somebody else to run…”
Insight
Bishop: The Median Age of an Acquired Company is 15-25 Years
“In the range of 12 to 25 years, but we do see some second generation businesses.
So well, the construction company I sold, I should say that was an 80 year old company.
we're selling a second generation company on the east coast right now.
and that's, I beli…”
Insight
Bishop: Private Equity Rarely Acquires Companies Under Three Years Old
“And a lot of buyers, private equity in particular, they're very reticent to buy a two or three year old company.
They,
In fact, we recently sold a five-year-old company, and that was a barrier to selling because buyers didn't see the company as being establish…”
Insight
Bishop: Buyers Usually Require Founders to Stay on Post-Acquisition
“Most buyers require them to stay on board at some capacity, whether it's as an employer or a consultant for a transition period for knowledge exchange and risk mitigation for the buyer.”
Insight
Bishop: Preparing a Business for Sale Takes One to Three Years
“Because they usually need ideally they need a runway of a minimum of a year and two to three years is usually the case.”
Disclosure
Bishop: A Single Vendor Dependency Killed a Profitable Business Sale
“We eventually weren't able to get a buyer for that business for that very reason, because of that singular dependency. That one vendor.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bishop: Working Capital Adjustments Can Alter Exit Prices by Millions
“Things that get into working capital, for example, on the balance sheet that can easily make a difference of sometimes millions of dollars and what the effective purchase price for that company really is.”
