Fast & Easy Founder & CEO, QuietLight Mark Daoust, talks about Tips To Make Buying & Selling A Website Simple
- www.quietlightbrokerage.com were founded in 2007
- 600+ websites & online businesses sold vv $70M+ in total transactions
- $20M on track sales in 2015
- Buyers & Sellers Follow a Predictable Process
Buyers
- Explore the Marketplace Negotiate an Offer …there’s more, but we won’t explore due diligence or closing.
- Buyers should start small, then develop an acquisition strategy, and sellers should focus on preparing the right documentation.
- Go into your first purchase knowing you could lose your entire investment Online businesses lose value faster than offline businesses.
- Starting big can be overwhelming & leave you miserable.
- Identify natural points of leverage.
- Know what you are good at.
- Pool Resources As you gain experience, buy bigger with an acquisition strategy.
- First time buyers should buy small.
Sellers
- Get a starting valuation. You’ll discover if you should wait or if you are ready to go to market today.
- Timing your sale has significant impact on value.
- Your financials should always be the first place you focus. Get these right..
- Prepare documentation
- Financials are your first focus, make sure they are right.
- Return on Investment Buyers have one reason to buy your business: for a return on investment. Learn to speak their language.
- Due diligence deals fall apart most frequently during due diligence. Get your financials right to make this a breeze.
- Make sure your accounting methodology is right for the best valuation. Accrual/cash basis accounting can turn out different valuations, recording certain expenses wrong can lower your valuation (example: website rebuild)
- Collect and organize verification documents like Bank statements, Merchant statements, Tax returns
- Don’t Ignore other Documents! Financials are the most important documents to have right, but don’t ignore other documents Contracts with vendors, various reports on membership/clients (collect as much as possible)
- Google Analytics setup & installed correctly
- Sellers should ‘own the ugly’ and buyers should act like high value buyers.
- Own the „Ugly“ Parts of your business tips! There is no such thing as the perfect website for sale. Don't hide the ugly parts of your business – own them. Buyers can handle weaknesses. Buyers can handle threats. Buyers can't handle surprises.
- Buyer's will assume the worst if they are surprised by a weakness. Buyer's will Assume the worst buyers will also question your honesty and competency if they discover a significant omission. Buyers will question your honesty. Be upfront about weaknesses. Explain them. Explore them. Help a buyer to form the proper conclusion about your business's weakness.
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