Why “Off-Boarding” Is an Essential Ingredient in Building to Sell
“This is a true success story. Michele Hecken had her translation service for well over 20 years and was able to remove herself from the business while having key employees oversee the day to day activities,” shares Sam Thompson a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “Many tips on growing and selling a business in this episode.”
Michèle Hecken built Alpha Translations up to $4.4 Million (USD) in revenue and almost a million dollars in EBITDA before she sold it in 2019 for $6 million cash (6.7 x normalized EBITDA).
It was a fantastic exit for Hecken who got her start in University translating legal contracts from German to English.
Hecken’s episode features one value bomb after the next including:
- A definition of “off-boarding” and why every founder needs to do it.
- How Hecken differentiated herself with time-zone arbitrage.
- How to get your employees to verify their own work.
- How to overcome “delegator’s guilt”.
- The extraordinary power of peer groups.
- How to be the “Chief Energy Officer” for your company.
- The important role industry conferences play in finding an acquirer.
- How to get an all-cash offer and avoid the earn-out trap.
- Why you need a trophy to remind yourself of what you have accomplished.
- How to overcome the uneasy feeling of living off your capital.