Transition Planning
I sat down with NOWaccount CFO, Archie Jones and his colleague, NOWaccount Chairman, John Hayes. They stopped by to share some thoughts on how business owners need to start planning for how they intend to transition their business when it comes time, whether that’s selling it to a buyer or passing it to family members.
John and Archie talked about some of the common missteps business owners make that can complicate or delay sale of a business, or even cause the sale to fail. We talked about how important it is to choose capital sources carefully, taking a few minutes to discuss factoring, business loans, and NOWaccount’s innovative merchant services option that gives the business access to their accounts receivable cash and preventing the need to acquire debt.
We discussed how important it is for business owners to insure they are on the same page with all partners with regard to what the plan is for the “end game”—sell or transition the business to family. Archie and John shared the pros and cons of various business structures such as LLC’s versus C Corp, for example. Three topics of conversation that owners need to have: How will the company be operated? Will all members/partners have roles or equal votes in decisions? How much revenue will be taken for salaries for partners? What is the “horizon” for deciding if/when to sell if that’s the goal?
John and Archie shared a number of critical points that make a business very attractive for a seller (or unattractive). Archie talked about how important it is for business owners to educate themselves on the potential market for buyers of their business when they go to sell.
Special Guests:
Archie Jones, VP of Finance/CFO of NOWaccount 
- MBA General Management, Harvard Business School
- Previous Principal and Charter Member, Parthenon Capital
- Member, Board of Directors, AIT Worldwide Logistics
- Founder, Tubman Ventures
John Hayes, Chairman of NOWaccount
- JD, Law, Emory University School of Law
- Previous CEO/Chairman, FTRANS Corp.
- Founder and Former CEO, OneCoast Network
- Founded Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech
