It’s the perfect time to share a round-up of our favourite advice received from the BTF community of entrepreneurs
Bonnie Elgie
You’ve worked hard to create a bright future for your family. Our team is here to help you navigate key life decisions, showing you the options so you can make choices with confidence.
On Family Business
“You have to be open and honest with everybody in your family no matter the circumstance, whether it's acquiring something new or reinvesting in another area. You also have to have a lot of trust with your family, and with your executive team as well. Trust that they're making the right decision at the right moment for your organization.”
– Laura Zanchin, Principal, Zanchin Automotive Group
“As a family-run business the buck stopped with me. My door was always open to employees because that is how we built a stronger company.”
– Gord Smith, Owner/Entreprneur, Smithrite (bought by GFL)
Our record stands for itself - a stellar 90% success rate selling the businesses we've represented. When choosing an Advisory Partner "good enough" just isn't! Let us use our expertise to help you optimize your exit and maximize your return.
Growing Your Business
Being able to transition effectively from working in an office, to working while travelling, to now working remotely removed plenty of hurdles for us. The best way to prepare for the future is to acknowledge that the world is a lot smaller and closer than it used to be. You have to be willing to change with the times and be open to different ways of delivering your products and services. Really, it’s just about being adaptable and being willing to change to safeguard your business.”
– Kristin Delwo, Founder of Stacks Inc.
– Axel Christiansen, Senior Vice President with Renaissance Mergers and Acquisitions.
As entrepreneurs ourselves, we get what it means to be a business owner. We have decades of experience at the top accounting firms in the world. Reach out to have us on your team and take your deal to the next level.
Preparing To Sell
“If you're at all contemplating an exit from your business in the future, use the time to your advantage and set your business up for the best possible exit. Too many business owners literally leave millions of dollars on the table due to a lack of preparation. I think a lot of people get to a stage where they’ve had enough and they’re ready to sell but haven’t prepared whatsoever. They’re ready to go so they blindly start conversations and either end up not getting the best deal, or worse, no deal gets done.“
– Paul LeBlanc, Entrepreneur
“When you get your company’s house in order, it will help you understand how well you are running your business and how profitable it can be, which in turn will maximize the transaction.”
– Paul Hemsley, Founder of Hemmera and Executive Vice President of ESG Strategy for Ausenco
“As we considered new partners from our internal staff, we could always tell very early on who had the required partnership qualities. With all three of our current partners — Julie Campbell, Kenna Manley and Lynn Hughes — we nurtured those relationships, planting seeds early that encouraged them to stay, which made the buyout transition quite smooth.”
– Susan Steeves, retired partner, SSDG
“As a numbers and process-driven person, I always made sure I knew what my business was worth—both from an investor return perspective and the market at large value. I monitored merger and acquisition activity in my industry on a quarterly basis. I also made sure that our value from the bottom up was justifiable and that we could meet the multiples and the ideals of the space. If a buyer was interested in the business, I knew what my sale price needed to be at any point in time.”
– Tea Nicola, co-founder, Wealth Bar Financial Services
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