Planning for the exit is usually dominated by conversations about getting your books in order and having “clean” finances. All with the goal of the highest valuation – so this focus isn’t misplaced.
If you thought the subject of finances and GAPP discussions were unsexy, how about IT infrastructure and accounts?
We’ve worked with multiple businesses and brands that have gone through the business sale process and by far this has been one of the most overlooked areas of the exit.
You think;
”I’ll just share login details and we’re done…
…nothing to worry about”
However this has proven to be one of the most compromising areas of discussion during the business transfer – and EVERY brand we’ve worked with through an exit has had issues to some extent with transferring ownership of their multiple software accounts.
I’m talking about;
Facebook Business Manager
Facebook Pixels
Facebook Catalogues
Facebook Pages
Google Ads
Google Merchant Center
Free Google Accounts that mix personal with business email
and every other type of account you can think of where the business owner setup the account with a free email account (@hotmail.com @gmail.com) and have subsequently lost access to the account.
All of these types of accounts have the potential for “hidden horror stories” where accounts, access rights, and ownership of assets can be impossible to transfer. (That sounds ridiculous, but believe me – there are more than a few instances where this is the case).
I’ll update with more on this and how you can prepare your IT and software account infrastructure for a clean exit – that doesn’t give negotiation leverage the to the business buyer!
