Name: Finish Big
Rating: 4.1 (30 reviews)
Author: Bo Burlingham

What’s in it for me? Make your exit from your company a legendary, life-enhancing move.

What goes up, must come down. If you start a company, one day you’ll probably leave it.

Yet leaving isn’t just as easy as walking out the door. What can you do to make your exit something that’s a positive for the company and not the start of a period of chaos?

Will you sell your stake, or liquidate? Hand over the reins of the company to a child or your spouse?

These blinks outline the steps that great entrepreneurs take when they decide to exit a company, all with the goal of not only helping your business but also improving your life.

After reading these blinks, you’ll know

why you should start thinking about leaving your company right now;
why you’re never too busy to ponder an exit strategy; and
whether selling out to your employees makes good sense.

Your exit requires preparation. Think about your future and your company’s future without you.

In business, if you ever start to think you're invincible, stop. All companies close and every company owner has to make an exit eventually.

When it comes time to leave, you need to think about your own future just as much as the future of your organization. You have to ask yourself questions, like “Who do I want to be?” and “What do I want out of life?”

The answers to these questions will help you figure out your next step.

It's essential to plan for your own future. Don’t be like the business owner who didn’t anticipate a financial shortfall and was forced to sell his company quickly. The fallout from this mess resulted in the owner dealing with a failed marriage and the loss of close colleagues, too. If the owner instead had planned ahead early, he might have avoided such an unhappy ending.

A good exit strategy isn't just important for you but it’s vital to your company as well. Try to imagine your business functioning after you leave. You'll probably discover some trouble spots where process or organization might suffer without your influence. Once you fix these problems, you'll actually raise your company's market value!

So think carefully about your company's financial state and its long-term goals. You'll eventually start to view your company as a product itself.

Ray Pagano, for example, was able to make a successful exit from his security camera business. He started preparing to leave some two full years before he wanted to retire. In that time, he reviewed company operations with his employees and formulated specific goals for each department, all the while planning for his own future, too.

When it came time for Pagano to sell the company, he felt liberated. He devoted himself to his sailboat and was still welcomed back to his old offices whenever he wanted to visit.

Figure out what kind of exit strategy is best for you. Do you want to sell, or liquidate?

Unfortunately, when you make your exit, things might not go according to plan.

Not every owner can sell her company and make millions. Selling isn't easy and it's not a sure thing, either. Selling is just one option of several, and for your company, it might not be the best option.

Spend time making your business appealing to potential buyers.

On the surface, planning for an exit five years in advance might seem a bit excessive. When you realize how much preparation an exit strategy requires however, you'll be glad you started early.

There are a number of things you can do to increase the sellability of your business.

Key ideas in Finish Big

What is Finish Big about?

Finish Big (2014) is a guide for how to exit an organization in a way that's healthy and positive for both a business owner and the company. Leaders often overlook this aspect of their career, mistakenly thinking that leaving will be simple, when instead it requires long-term planning to truly finish in a way that benefits everyone.