Buyout Barometer®

Our tool for business succession planning in Denver helps you navigate all the decisions that go into a successful corporate exit plan.

Will the sale of your business lead to a successful retirement?

Brown and Company is highly qualified to help entrepreneurs and business leaders with their unique financial planning requirements, and we have been a valued resource in the Denver community for years. Professional expertise and decades of experience went into the development of our proven tool and our process for approaching the sale of a business.

The Buyout Barometer^® is our proprietary tool that helps business owners assess whether they can sell their business and confidently pursue a successful retirement. We begin the process by assessing your opportunities to reduce taxes, minimize risk and create sustainable income.

This tool helps us determine these factors:

Asset Base (maximizing value)
Lifestyle and Legacy (exit preparedness)
Portfolio Allocation (investment and tax planning)
Exit Timing Readiness (optimal windows for selling)

Helping You Achieve
Two Important Objectives

Our business succession planning process helps you to:

The energy you spend growing a business is largely futile if the business is not properly transitioned and its value fully realized. In a study of 300 former business owners who recently sold their companies, only 25% felt the sale accomplished their personal and financial objectives.¹

Undoubtedly, much of those disappointing results can be attributed to a lack of planning. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of business owners over the age of 50 have no succession plan for their businesses.²

Whether you’re preparing for a third-party sale, assessing private equity interest, or planning for internal succession in your Denver-based business, it’s critical to make sure you’re ready for the transition. These are the questions you should ask yourself as you prepare your business for sale:

Have you had a recent valuation that indicates what the business is worth?
Do you know what the business needs to be worth to meet your goals?
Are you familiar with the common mistakes business owners make when selling their companies?
Who runs the business if you are no longer around?
Do you have documented operational processes that can be easily transitioned to a buyer?
Have you identified key employees critical to post-sale business continuity?

An entrepreneur’s emotional attachment to a family business cannot be overstated. Many business owners are not emotionally prepared for life after the sale and fear the loss of stable income. According to our conversations with numerous investment bankers over the years, this is a big reason why many deals fall apart.

Below are the questions you should ask yourself as you and your family prepare for life after the sale of your business.

How will you spend your time once you are no longer involved in the business?
How do you “get paid” for the next several decades after you sell the business?
Have you created a post-sale investment strategy to protect your proceeds?
How will you replace the sense of purpose and daily structure that your business provided?

Why Business Succession Planning Matters in Denver

As one of the western United States’ top centers for innovation and entrepreneurship, Denver is a highly competitive and fast-moving market. This dynamic environment favors the prepared, which is why it’s essential to have a plan in place for when the day finally comes that you hand the reins over to the next generation of leadership. A formal succession plan can ensure a smooth and seamless transition from your control to the next generation , which is extremely important. Without a clear idea of what happens next on the day you choose to step aside, everything you’ve worked for in your professional life can disappear. Your competitors will not wait for your company to regain its bearings, and you need to make sure you won’t lose any ground during that transitional period.

Working with Brown and Company means you’ll have experienced wealth management team on your side to help you navigate the uncharted territory ahead. We can help you navigate your financial landscape as you sail off into the sunset. Our long-standing presence in the Denver market means we know your needs and will do whatever is necessary to ensure you won’t skip a beat as you plan for the future.

Take the Buyout Barometer® Assessment

Are you ready to assess your company’s current attractiveness to potential buyers and/or internal successors, as well as your personal readiness for either a planned or unplanned exit of the business?

Click here to answer a few relevant questions and receive your own customized report.

¹ Jackim, Richard E., The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Designing Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners, Second Edition, 6/1/2006.
² Frank, Robert, “If you do this, you’re smarter than most millionaires,” CNBC, 3/15/2016. ³2014 Business Enterprise Institute, Inc.

With Brown, You’ll Know!