Marc Jantzen, founder and former CEO of Blue Sky Performance Improvement reveals what it's really like when selling. These slides cover managing the earn out, balancing everyday operations and deal demands and cultural challenges.

1. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
Growing equity, realizing value
Marc Jantzen
“I sold my company and
these are my tips for you”
A former CEO reveals what it’s really like when selling

2. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
Introduction
2
My Background
Price Waterhouse, Pepsico, Blue Sky
The company I sold
Blue Sky: Performance Improvement Consulting and
Training – Sales, Customer Experience and Leadership.
30 Awards in 7 years. Virgin, Barclays, British Gas…
Role
17 years - Consultant – Managing Consultant –
Principle Consultant – Partner – Managing Partner –
CEO & Majority Shareholder
April 2013
Sold to Capita for £12m (£7.2m up front, plus
potential £4.8m on 27 month earn out)
1.2x Revenue Multiple and 5.7x EBITDA multiple
Left in June 2015

3. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
What I learnt from having sold my company
3
Take a look at the
front of the queue
Plan
ahead
The core business
must come first
Maximising
the earn out
1 2 3 4

4. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
1: Take a look at the front of the queue
4
Ask yourself
What next? - look 10+ years ahead
How much time off will you take?
Will you need to work?
What else are you truly great at?
How much do you need?
Is now the right time?
Who can I talk to that has been through the process?
Context
You will have killed the golden goose
You will be under restrictive covenants
You will have capital not income
You may want to do something new or different
1

5. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
Context
2: Plan ahead
5
Tips
Your role:
Delegate core operational duties and play a coaching / support
role, not a doing role
Internal Process:
Introduce more formal processes and documentation that will
give a buyer an air of professionalism when they scrutinise your
business. Store all relevant documents where they are easily
accessible and put in place a process for keeping them up to date
Resources:
Increase resources in finance (debt collection and reporting)
Advice:
Use an advisor like Equiteq that can advise you how to maximise
value
Family:
Prepare your family for the fact that you will be working late
nights and weekends. Don’t book any long holidays during key
stages of the process.
2
Executing a sales process will place significant
demand on your time and that of your finance
team
The experience is rarely straight forward and
can be an emotional roller coaster for you and
the people around you
You have probably never been through the
process before

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3: The core business must come first
6
Tips
Focus:
A decline in revenue and profit trend is the fastest way to ensure
a failed sale process
Strategy:
An acquirer will expect to see a clear stand alone growth strategy
in place and your team need to know there is a bright future
Cultural Challenges:
Culture comes to the fore within the senior team in two ways –
your choice of buyer and how you handle the confidential nature
of the process you are going through
Inner Circle:
Choose the people you tell about the process carefully, you will
not want the message to get out to your clients, staff or
competitors – agree a consistent message for when asked
3

7. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
Completion is merely a stepping stone not the
grand finale
SPA Negotiation
Beware of hockey stick growth forecasts
Integration is a distraction and impacts
performance
Run some scenario analysis on financial
projections
Team
4: Maximising the earn out
7
4
Mindset and emotion

8. Confidential© Equiteq 2016 equiteq.com
More resources
8
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