The Owner's Manual: Introduction

If you are the owner of a company, chances are you receive a regular stream of "cold" calls from private equity firms, competitors and strategic investors who want to talk to you about your business. Some of them resort to sales letters instead, inviting you to call them so they can tell you how they can make your very good company a great company. Some will tell you that you can liquefy a portion of your ownership in the company and continue in your operating role, if you desire, often while retaining some upside through continued ownership in the business or through the receipt of additional purchase price based on the business' achieving certain financial goals over a period of time, commonly referred to as an "earn-out."