If you are thinking about selling your company or raising funds from an investor, you can expect that you and your company will need to go through the following 10 steps in order to successfully conclude the transaction:
- Decision of owners to sell the company / receive an investment – be aligned among your shareholders
- Select a transaction advisor – you should focus on running the business and the right transaction advisor, such as DG180, can significantly help you maintain that focus during the whole process
- Define what kind of an acquirer / investor the company wants – especially important when raising an investment – you want to attract an investor you will be able to work with for a longer period of time
- Prepare marketing materials – present your business in the form of a Teaser / Pitch Deck and an Information Memorandum
- Contact potential acquirers / investors – present your company through discussions with potential buyers / investors – use the opportunity to see, whether there is also a cultural match between your company and potential acquirer / investor
- Negotiation – main aspects of the deal should be agreed before you receive any kind of written commitment
- Term Sheet – this document is the basis for all final agreements and the actual deal in the end
- Due diligence – if you are managing your business properly, then you should be fine – if not, prepare for a lot of extra work
- Agreements – main aspects were most likely already defined, but in this step the details will need to be agreed on – use good and experienced legal advisors for this step
- Sale of the company / investment – the deal is only done, when both signing has been done as well as any closing conditions have been fulfilled – only then the successful closing happens