Nice! What type of business? It’s hard to let go of something you built. But, you can do it again!

Obviously you cie still have some potential to grow and you are not the only one to see it……

The real question is : does it still make you proud and happy to operate it? If the answer is yes then it is a no brainer …. Just keep it and reassess in a few years.

If the answer is no then…. Still a no brainer just different decision to make.

How long would it take these companies to build up their internal organic competitors? I think you have an answer there as you had an idea showed it was profitable now the cats out of the bag and if they want it bad enough they can make their own.

Depending on the potential that you still can see in the business. If it is harmfully stressful, not sure what’s the next step, burnt out, then just take the money. Take a break and see the world in a new perspective. You can always start something new, with the bigger safety net now.

If you see huge potential yet to realise, and have a vision and plan on how to execute it, I would keep the business and grow it further.

Your decision totally depends on your sector and future outlook. There’s a lot of comments here saying to take it because you “never know the future”.

I think that is total BS. If you’re in a sector that is thriving and growing, then you can continue to grow your company to 3-5M instead of the paltry 900k. But if you think your sector has peaked then sell. Only you can make that call.

You’re thinking about selling at one of the lowest points as far as valuations go in the past 20 years. Whoever the buyers are they are likely financing the deal and paying extremely high interest rates. If you can hold on for a couple of years and keep growing the business the multiples are going to increase and you could have a substantially different outcome.

I sold my company five years after getting my first LOI and the valuation went from just about where you are to 8 figures. It was VERY hard to turn down those initial offers, and I looked at 16 different LOIs over the years and had one deal I signed that fell through, but I’m so happy I didn’t cash out earlier on.

If you have 3 buyers chasing you now there will be more in the future and the existing ones will still be there especially if they are PE backed. Tell them you’re humbled by their offers now but you want to put your head down for 18 months and get the business to a more valuable asset. They will still be there if you hit that growth.

Also dig into the deal mechanics more. How are they financing the cash? Are you rolling over equity? How much leverage are they putting into the new company? Go listen to Built to Sell podcast and see if there are any founders on there in your vertical. I built my exit playbook off of podcasts by founders in my industry that had done podcasts talking about their exits and directly talking to them, and even did my deal with a PE firm that bought one of their companies.

If you’re desperate and miserable sell, and a million dollars is going to improve your life but you’re still going to have to go work for someone and get a job which is very hard to do after working for yourself for five years. It’s definitely not enough to retire on and you’ll be back in the rat race you left to start the company in the first place.

Are you making an income from your business?

900k is a ton of money, but hardly enough to retire off of at 31. Are you going to get a job? Will it pay more than the business?

I work in the buying and selling companies industry. DM me for any advice. I can help answer any questions you may have.

I mean it’s really up to you. What are your values and what long term goals (think 10,20,30 years from now) do you have? Where do you see yourself in the future and do these goals align with your values? It’s really about do wanna go with your head or do you wanna go with heart on something like this.

I’m 38m, not married and no kids, so work has been a big part of my life and I’ve sold 2 of my businesses so far. I built an app back when I was 24 and in grad school and sold it to Google. I banked it and used it to bankroll another distribution business and got offers, like you, when I was 33 and sold it for a nice profit. To which, I put a sizable amount into another business and that’s where I’m at right now. It’s allowed me to buy my home, have 2 nice cars, a couple residential and a few commercial properties, and a decent portfolio. I had no regrets selling because I knew what I was going to do afterwards, so my advice is to plan for your future and discover how you see yourself and what you’d be doing if you let go of your business. If you don’t have a plan, you may want to take a beat. Good luck.

I would say that the most objective way to decide would be to simply take a pen and paper. Get away from all the distractions and start making two comparison lists. One which defines the advantages of selling your business at this stage and one with advantages of not selling it.

Write down bullet points. Include everything like what you would do, should you sell it, your financial situation as well as ambitions in the near future, your plans for the future, both for business and for family (should you want that) etc. Cover as many aspects as you can possibly think of. Don’t rush it, take a day or two to work on it. Finally, look at both the lists in parallel, without having any prejudged bias for one side.

Without knowing the variables and conditions at your end, my general advice would be to sell it. Financially, it gives you a good base to build your life upon. Additionally, you now have the funds and experience to start a new business (should you want that). Believe me, the new project, though would require your time, wouldn’t be as much blood and sweat as the first one. You can now hire the right staff (because of your funds and expertise) to manage a lot of the trivial work load and you would be well aware of a lot of processes, policy level implementations, registrations etc. While dishing out most of the tasks to your employees, you look after the core stuff and decisions. This way, you grow, while enjoying the process and without too much pain.

Hoping you have a great future.

Take a few days off.

An option you didn’t mention: if the business is profitable, why not just maintaining it and cash out money regularly ?

900k£ is a large amount of money, but definitely not enough for you to stop working. What do you have in mind if you sell the business ? Long vacation and slow down in life, another business etc… At the end it’s more about the life you want than just money.

Re start is more difficult than continue. On the other hand it is not a life changing money. If I would have the time and money I like pursue next level. It also depends on your niche. If there are big companies in your niche then there is a chance.

starting and scaling a business requires 2 different skillset.

I sold my business earlier than I wanted but I was lucky because in the next few months, covid hit and the entire business nosedived.

I sold based on a hunch that bad days were coming. the feeling is coming again that bad days are coming.

if I had stayed, I would have probably lost everything.

Take the fucking money