A little known, yet uniquely effective, strategy to propel breakout growth for a lot of companies is to just...

...put it up for sale.

Whether or not the company or its owners are truly ready for it.

The reason why starts with that fundamental entrepreneurial dream of building a company successful enough to attract a buyer.

So as to reap a financial windfall - sometimes in the millions, sometimes in the billions of dollars, and at all points in between.

While this is certainly a challenging goal, it is a straightforward one too.

But meaningful progress toward it often gets lost in the noise and distraction of the daily business battle.

This is especially true for smaller private companies, who have both the blessing and the curse of not having “quarter-by-quarter” financial accountability as public companies do.

It is a blessing in that this kind of financial reporting and accountability is a lot of work and headache.

But it is very much a curse, as because it is not required, way too many private companies just don’t do it.

And if they do, and if results are disappointing, instead of the real time feedback that public company executives get, private company executives often become quite skilled at “rationalizing” poor performance on a myriad of excuses - economic conditions, overseas competition, employee turnover, product development delays, supply chain snafus, etc.

And as they do, meaningful business progress and growth often just crawls to a halt.

Luckily it is quite simple for private companies to get the kind of “tough love accountability” that public companies, with their reporting requirements, naturally have.

And with it, a far faster timeline and greater probability toward a business sale.

To illustrate, let’s investigate two typical company scenarios:

Company Scenario #1: A company lacking great financial traction - slow revenue growth, little profit - but one that competes in an industry attractive to strategic and financial buyers.  Many software and healthcare businesses fit this description.

Company Scenario #2: A company with a solid revenue base - say more than $5 million in sales - but in an industry not of great current interest to buyers.  Many distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses fit this description.

In both scenarios, the likelihood of a third party buyer approaching companies like this and making anything other than “fire sale” offers for them is quite low.

So - unlike for public companies - there is no natural “feedback loop” of what the drivers and inhibitors of value growth and sale probability really are.

Now, private companies “stuck” like this can - simply by putting themselves up for sale - get all of the accountability and real time market data feedback they need and more.

Yes, I know there are concerns of confidentiality and distraction when so doing, but these are often far outweighed by the benefits of putting it all out there and seeing what you’ve really got.

Putting out there what results - financial and otherwise - actually have been.

Putting out what those results will be, and why - in the form of well-documented and reasoned financial forecasts and pro-formas.

And not only the numbers, but also the story behind the numbers - the talent, work ethic, and integrity of our people, the soundness of our IP, the thoughtfulness of our product development roadmap, the sustainable competitive advantage of our operational cost structure, and the like.

As we do, so many good business things come back to us.

Ideas. Relationships. Momentum.

We find out, just like a public company does, what we need to do - financially, strategically, culturally - to attain that financial harvest.

And we attract new relationships and partners to help get there.

And, oh yes...we just might attract purchase offers at suprisingly exciting prices and terms.

And attain that business sale and financial windfall far sooner than we thought possible.

Want to sell? Would you like to explore how to accelerate your business down the path to an exit?

Curious to know how buyers might value your company now?

If so, we should talk.

Click here and complete this short questionnaire as to a few questions regarding your business’ current status, and key goals now.

And we’ll reach out with our thoughts to help you.

The world’s best run companies are great innovators.

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