030 - Why You Should Always Be Preparing to Sell Your Company | Dexter Braff | The Braff Group – Part 2

You've heard of "Always Be Closing", right? Well today we'll tell you why you should at least "Always Be Preparing" (to Close). Every entrepreneur can and should learn the ways of the M&A market and use that knowledge to inform the way they build their company. That's true if you hope to exit someday because it'll drive decisions that make your company more valuable later.  And it's true if you plan on staying in your business for the long haul. Investors have battle-tested methods for determining what's valuable and what's risky. As the current and future investor in your company, you should be applying those tests and addressing the results along the way. On this episode, we're once again talking with Dexter Braff, President of The Braff Group, one of the nation's leading health care merger and acquisition advisory firms. We dig into Dexter's process for evaluating companies and find out how he determines if they'll demand attention on the open market. Dexter shares valuable insights on the valuation process and breaks down the 3 major components that contribute to it. He also gets into the psychology of deal making and offers up plenty of practical advice that any entrepreneur can put into action right away. This one's full of gems and I know you're going to enjoy it. What you'll learn: When should startups begin thinking about and positioning themselves for acquisition? How can a company be more valuable when losing money than when they're turning a profit? What are the "Behavioral Determinants of Value"? How do you evaluate a company to determine if it will generate legitimate interest from the M&A/Private Equity market? Should you market your company to a broad audience of investors, or keep it focused? What's the most important thing for entrepreneurs to study/stay informed on and why? What are the major factors that determine a company's valuation? What's something every entrepreneur should be doing regardless of company stage and size? What's the most common misconception that you see in entrepreneurs when it comes to selling their company? What advice would you give an entrepreneur for giving a good elevator speech to an investor? And if you dig this, be sure to check out Part 1 with Dexter for a macro view of the Health IT market. Thanks for listening! Don Lee About Dexter Braff Dexter W. Braff is President of The Braff Group, one of the nation's leading health care merger and acquisition advisory firms (source: Thomson Reuters). Since its founding in 1998, the firm has completed more than 300 health care deals. With 30 years of experience representing health care service companies, Dexter is recognized as the industry expert in health care M&A. He has written and contributed to feature articles that have appeared in numerous health care industry publications and has written a chapter in the Handbook of Business Valuation published by John Wiley & Sons. He is frequently interviewed on various topics regarding health care mergers and acquisitions by news outlets including Bloomberg News, CNBC, USA Today, The Huffington Post, The Palm Beach Times, and numerous health care sector journals. Additionally, the firm is the publisher of marketWATCH, a quarterly review of mergers and acquisitions activity in six industry segments: Behavioral Health Care, Health Care Information Technology, Home Health and Hospice, Pharmacy Services, Urgent Care, and Home Medical Equipment. Dexter has presented seminars, webinars, moderated discussion panels, and has been the keynote speaker on various issues regarding health care mergers and acquisitions and finance at conferences across the country including Art of the Deal, the Remington Think Tank, Health Care Capital Investors Conference, HME News Business Summit, HHFMA Financial Managers Conference, Treatment Center Investment and Valuation, Foundations: Moments of Change, Behavioral Health Care: Buying, Selling and Valuing, National Association for Home Care, National Home Infusion Association Conference, Homecare 100, Long Term Care 100, Medtrade, Urgent Care Association of America, and many more. He was recently inducted into The Home Care and Hospice Financial Managers Association Hall of Fame as "deal-maker extraordinaire." Dexter holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Science from the University of Oregon, a Bachelors of Arts from Cornell University, and received the Vincent W. Lanfear Award for academic achievement. About The Braff Group The Braff Group is a leading mergers and acquisitions advisory firm specializing exclusively in health care services including behavioral health care, home health care, hospice, pharmacy services (home infusion, specialty Rx, institutional Rx), urgent care, health care information technology, health care staffing, home medical equipment, and ancillary health care services. Unlike many brokers and investment sectors that work many sides of the negotiating table which can create conflicts of interest, we provide sell-side only transaction advisory services including representation, divestiture strategy, debt and equity recapitalizations, and valuation. Since the firm's inception in 1998, we have closed more than 300 transactions, more than any other mergers and acquisitions advisory firm covering these sectors. Related How to Analyze the Health IT Market | Dexter Braff | The Braff Group | Part 1 Learn how to analyze the Health IT market and categorize it according to how it's likely to consolidate. This will help you to understand where the market is headed so that you can best position your product or service and gain traction. For startups, new products, and industry innovators. JPM18, WinterTech, Startup Bundles & More Hear about what went down at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (#JPM18) and Health 2.0 WinterTech. You'll learn about the trends in healthcare investment, delivery and innovation and how you can position yourself for success in the coming years. Plus, a new concept: Startup Bundles. Accelerating Digital Health for Social Good | Christian Seale | Startupbootcamp Miami On this episode Christian talks about sub-categories within the market that can be drawn by community and cultural lines. A very interesting supplement to Dexter Braff's analysis. 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