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Both rollover equity and management-equity incentives have become increasingly common during the sale process of a business, especially when selling to a financial investor like private equity or a family office. As a result, owner-operators pursuing a liquidity event should become familiar with these incentives and five key concepts—including impact on business valuation and oversight—that can help keep them committed to the company’s success while aligning the long-term financial interests for the next sale.

For entrepreneurs who love running their businesses and intend to do so for a long time, succession planning can feel like a distant or irrelevant concern. However, every business owner will eventually decide that it’s time to make their exit—and it’s never too early to consider the optimal way to do so. Having a thoughtful plan in place can help protect the value of the business, ensure business continuity, and help carry on the owner’s original vision.

Preparing yourself and your family can be one of the most overlooked parts of a business sale and exit strategy. But it goes beyond maximizing tax efficiency and unlocking newfound wealth—it’s a monumental transition filled with emotional considerations. This article outlines key questions and critical areas of considerations for business owners and provides a hypothetical case study of how a company founder can maximize after-tax proceeds from a sale.

“You only sell your company once” is a phrase founder/family-owned business leaders often hear before embarking on a major liquidity event. It demonstrates the enormity of the undertaking to effectively sell a business. Ensuring your company is prepared for a sale is crucial to any exit strategy, and should be considered long before beginning a sale process. This article outlines key questions that business owners should expect and aspire to have answers to leading up to a liquidity, followed by four critical focus areas that are important for them to consider.

For leaders of founder-owned businesses, raising significant capital without relinquishing control can seem challenging. But investors focused on non-control transactions are becoming more common. Non-control-oriented funds have boomed, fueling demand for minority recapitalizations and enabling business owners to maximize the valuation of their company without selling control. As owners begin to approach this market as part of their business strategy, they should think about what makes an optimal partner for their businesses as there are many to choose from.

If you’re considering a sale of a business, listen in on this 10-minute interview for some valuable potential tax-savings strategies. Attorneys Jason Kohout and Stephanie Derks also discuss income and estate tax planning opportunities, especially for business owners who are in a high income tax state.

While entrepreneurs are intently focused on building their businesses, they may have less time to spend on building, sustaining, and distributing their wealth. Given the importance of early wealth planning and its long-term impact, this guidebook provides insights and tools at each stage of the entrepreneur’s journey to help them move forward from growth to exit to reinvention.

Entrepreneurs and business owners often put off wealth planning because they’re so busy with their businesses. Yet, wealth planning is a crucial part of protecting everything they’ve worked so hard for. That’s because their personal and business finances can be interconnected, but they aren’t always at the same stage of growth. This guide by BMO outlines a few key phases for entrepreneurs to consider where wealth planning can really prove its worth, including growing their business, protecting their livelihood, and planning their exit.

For business owners and their advisors, it’s probably not surprising that buying another company or other assets requires moving with speed and diligence. But gaining an edge—and winning—on the buy side is a bit more complicated. Effective companies tend to deploy a series of purposeful tactics and avoid common mistakes when pursuing acquisitions. This article outlines five tactics to implement and five mistakes to avoid for any company considering an acquisition.

Effective pre-liquidity planning is always important for a business owner considering a business sale, exit, or other transaction. But several recent and upcoming developments—related to estate laws, small-business tax exemptions, residency trends, philanthropic endeavors, and high interest rates—make the year uniquely challenging. This article outlines why these developments are particularly salient for founder-owned companies and offers guidance specifically tailored for them in the run-up to a liquidity event.