Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top

I have been a fan of Bo Burlingham for more than three decades starting from his articles for Inc, through his Street Smart columns with Norm Brodsky and his last book Small Giants. What I really liked about Small Giants is the light it shed on successful companies whose founders/owners had a clear view of what they wanted their business to be like and the diversity of these views. Finish Big focuses on a different theme - how do you, as an entrepreneur exit your company? You WILL exit even if it is because you are carried out feet first. The question is whether you will do it on your terms or by happenstance. Most of what is available on this subject deals with how to obtain the 'maximum' amount of cash for your company. But there are a host of other issues: Do you want to be involved after the transition? How concerned are you about the culture of the company and what happens to it? What about the employees - do you feel you 'owe' them anything? And customers/clients? Most important, What do YOU want to do next? Do you know and are you at peace with it? Burlingham points out that - regardless of whether or not you plan to leave your company in the forseeable future - you should start thinking about that exit NOW. The reason is simple - looking at your company the way a potential purchaser would gives you innumerable ways to improve its operation right away. He discusses a 'Sellability Score' that has eight factors: 1) Financial performance 2) Growth potential 3) Overdependence - on a customer or vendor or employee or whatever 4) Cashflow 5) Recurring revenue - anything, such as contracts with customers, that provides some stability of revenue 6) Unique Value Proposition - What do you offer that competitors cannot easily match? 7) Customer satisfaction - if they love you they will be loyal and your business will be worth more 8) Strength of management team - will management fall apart if you leave? Ultimately Burlingham is a tale spinner and the lessons emerge organically from the stories. For example, Martin Babinec ran a company callee TriNet - a professional employer organization. This means that TriNet served as the employer of record and saved its clients the burden of maintaining a personnel department. Which meant that TriNet had to grow to reap the benefits of scale in matters like buying health insurance or upgrading its technology. Babinec accepted funding from a publicly traded company and this came with the caveat that milestones had to be met before each tranche of the funds were delivered. What happened when he missed a commitment makes gripping reading and the lesson he learnt is valuable to all entrepreneurs. The book is peppered with many such stories and anecdotes and most are of real companies with real names of the persons involved. I would particularly like to note that there are many valuable resources in the book but you have to keep your eyes open to recognize that these are valuable resources. These include names of consultants, sources of information and so on. Even the nature of business of some of the companies profiled is a great resource - you may well be able to use the services of some of them to your benefit. Would have been nice if this had been explicitly recognized and each chapter had a section listing these resources and others for further exploration. But this is a minor quibble. The book is both informative and easy to read so go, get it.

Being in the midst of trying to figure out my exit plan for the past few years, this book has been the best I have read about the process of selling. It is so hard, especially when one is blessed to have a great business and really cares about his employees. I can really relate to many of the examples given and the lessons learned will help me as I plan for my next journey. What I really liked about this book is that it was not all about the money and processes of a sale. Those were discussed and are relevant, but Birmingham tells the emotional side of the process, which is so very important. Great book. I just hope I can get it right as some of the people written about did.

“A good exit takes time – measured in years, not months” Hundreds of books have been published for the aspiring entrepreneur who wants to start a business. At the same time, very few books pay attention to where the startup company wants to eventually be, or having an exit strategy that is literal, graceful, and planned out well in advance. Beginning with the end in mind is the emphasis of author and small business expert Bo Burlingham, in his latest book, “Finish Big”. Several years ago, Burlingham wrote the indispensable business bible, “Small Giants” that chronicled successful companies that chose to make their business great instead of big. In “Finish Big”, Burlingham points out that the very few business owners hand off their companies successfully. These owners have not positioned their companies well financially, failed to offer any future value or growth to potential buyers, rely heavily on one major customer, or operate with a top-down management style that fails to delegate important tasks to employees. Burlingham blends his past management experience with dozens of interviews with business owners that have gone through the succession process. He asked each what made leaving their company either a positive or negative experience. The exiting owners that felt positive had the satisfaction of believing that their employees would be treated fairly by their successors and that their established company culture would be preserved. Owners satisfied handing off the reins also felt they were well compensated for their investment and left with a genuine sense of personal accomplishment. The owners that had negative experiences more often than not were forced to sell and had given little prior thought to getting out or planning any kind of exit. For some owners, leaving the business means carrying them out on a stretcher. For others, the day-to-day excitement of managing a thriving enterprise makes it difficult to ever think of leaving. In other words, they want to work in their business as long as they possibly can. This was true for Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, co-founders of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor. Both owners thoroughly enjoyed running the deli and the companies that grew out of it (bakery, restaurant, creamery, coffee roastery, and hospitality training). Saginaw and Weinzweig wanted to protect the company against anything that could possibly happen to either one of them, in the short and long term. After Saginaw suffered a heart attack in 2009, the partners and employees went through the process of developing a company governance policy, detailing the way the business would be owned, managed, and valued without a key partner. Burlingham breaks the succession process into four stages: exploration, strategy, execution, and transition. “Finish Big” also introduces a system devised by Burlingham’s cohort, and exit strategy expert John Warrillow, called the Sensibility Scale, which helps business owners look at their companies objectively, by stepping outside and looking at it from the perspective of an employee, customer, investor, or purchaser. “Finish Big” also recommends working with experts who have been through the process along with the assistance of an experienced accountant and business broker. Again, selling a company is only part of a succession plan. It’s stressed that when starting a business, the emphasis should be placed on how long the founder wants to own the business and how the founder’s life cycle fits into the company’s long term plans. In other words, too many people begin a business without a strong vision of what the end game is. At first glance, “Finish Big” appears to be a book relevant just to those handing off their business. Burlingham breathes life into a topic that for years has been relegated to the back burner of important business issues. Although medium to large sized companies are featured, “Finish Big” is strongly recommended for those just beginning the business planning process.

There are comparatively few resources available for business owners and leaders seeking to exit their business well. Bo Burlingham points this out and helps remedy the situation with “Finish Big – How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies On Top”. This book is indeed a valuable contribution to the journey no business owner can escape facing. Perhaps there is something inherent in Western business culture that prevents us from talking about exit. Growth, leadership and success are seemingly much more compelling themes and there is no shortage of books that offer the latest and greatest ideas in these areas. Yet, while business exit and owner transition is an absolutely guaranteed reality for every business owner there is comparatively little is written. This is despite the fact Baby Boomers are in the midst of the one greatest transitions of wealth and legacy in history. Trillions of dollars of wealth and associated legacy are at stake. A lifetime of work can be lost on the home straight with an unplanned or poorly designed transition experience. Bo does an excellent job of using the stories of numerous small to medium sized business leaders to crystalize key themes that define a successful exit. Most importantly, these themes are a balanced mix of “hard” and “soft” whereas much of the existing business material focuses in large part on the “hard” tangible things such as business valuation or legal preparation. While important, in many cases the heart of the matter is the core identity and values (the “soft” stuff) of the leader and owner. Unless these core underlying themes are evaluated and understood, many of the tangible decisions often lead to disappointment for the leader because he or she didn’t ever know what they wanted and why. All the legal preparation in the world can’t compensate for an owner who doesn’t know who he or she is without the business. This book would make for a comfortable trans-continental flight. The lessons are readily apparent from the writing and the stories are suitably illustrative. The accessibility of his writing should not be mistaken however for flippancy or lack of importance. In fact the learning contained in this rich volume should be required reading for every business owner, particularly those considering transition in the next 10-15 years… because, as Bo clearly states, you really can’t start too soon. (Andrew Taylor is a partner at Orange Kiwi, www.ockiwi.com and Plan for Transition, www.planfortransition.com)

Other reviews here have covered this book well, so I'll just add a few comments. 1) I believe this book is a must for business owners. It opens your eyes to what happens AFTER you exit your company. Every business owner should be aware that, even with a large pile of money, exiting could lead to years of regret and disappointment. 2) There are great nuggets of wisdom here that are valuable today, even if you are not planning on exiting your company. Many exits are not planned, after all. 3) If you are a business owner, this book is an easy and entertaining read. 4) Most business owners have only one exit in a lifetime. There are no do-overs. This book will better prepare you for an exit and its impact on the rest of your life.

We've been looking for the quintessential book that would be an anchoring textbook in our entrepreneurial-focused curriculum. This is it. As entrepreneurs ourselves who've cashed out, we know the importance and timeline of the exit. All entrepreneurs we coach do not. Every one of them. This book, well researched and full of real-life stories, brings that key point to life. There is valid step-by-step instructions our students will find useful. Great job.

Interesting book about how to exit your own company. It primarily explains and gives examples about the psychology of the next phase of life after exiting.

Building a company from scratch is incredibly hard, and this book will teach you how not to squander that effort. As someone new to the startup game, it's easy to overlook the importance of the later stages of a company. Finish Big paints a clear picture of the pitfalls of this ignorance, namely: - Failing to prepare a company for exit and not being able to when you want to - Exiting on unfavorable terms that mitigate years of hard work - Not actually knowing your own endgame and taking a deal that leaves you unhappy In particular I think VC-style tech entrepreneurs should give this book a look because our niche over-hypes the fast exit and doesn't shed enough light on why you may want to bootstrap so as to maintain control or build and run a company longer than 5 years.

What an amazing insight on how it feels to have an exit. Highly recommended. Fantastic book for all entrepreneurs. 5 stars

Buenas recomendaciones y listas para preparar la venta y salida de una empresa.

Every business owner (and aspiring business owner) should read this book - and the sooner the better. Bo captures the 4 key stages of exiting your business in an easy to read, entertaining and highly informative book - and explores the emotional journey of the business owner in a way that other books on the subject just don't even begin to address. Excellent book.

Really Gem for founders

Packed full of case studies and anecdotes