Jay Sunde On Knowing When It Is Time To Sell

Buyers spend months studying how to get into a business. Very few spend any time planning how they will get out.

Jay Sunde has done both. After acquiring two pool and spa retail and service companies during the 2008 housing downturn, he scaled both operations and later exited through sales in 2012 and 2018. For the past eight years, he has mentored and advised founders, business buyers, and sellers, and he says the exit is where many owners leave the most value behind.

Selling When The Business Needs You Least

Sunde’s first principle is that the best time to sell is when the business can run without the owner. A company where every major decision, customer relationship, and supplier contact runs through one person is hard to transfer. Buyers see that dependence as risk and price it accordingly.

He encourages owners to start stepping back well before a sale, hiring or promoting managers and documenting how the work gets done. The result is a business that is easier to operate and easier to sell.

Two Exits, Two Different Timelines

The six years between Sunde’s two pool and spa sales reflect his view that there is no single right moment. Each business reached a point where he believed a new owner could take it further, and he treated that as the signal. He argues that owners who wait for a perfect market often end up selling at a worse time, when they are tired or when something outside their control forces the decision.

Clean Books Sell Faster

Sunde points out that the preparation a seller does in the final two or three years shows up directly in how buyers respond. Clear financial statements, separated personal and business expenses, and documented contracts shorten due diligence and reduce the discounts buyers ask for. Owners who run the business loosely for tax reasons often find that the same habits cost them at the closing table.

Know What Comes Next

Sunde has seen owners reach a signed letter of intent and then back out because they had no plan for their own time or identity after the sale. He advises sellers to decide before going to market what they want the proceeds and the free time to do. In his case, the exits freed capital and attention for the education platform he and his wife, Danielle, have built since 2009, which now serves nearly 500 families.

Selling Is Not Failure

Many first-time owners, Sunde says, feel that selling means giving up. He sees it differently. A sale can be the right result for the business, its employees, and the owner, particularly when the next buyer has the energy and resources to grow it.

His advice to anyone who has just closed on a first acquisition is to start thinking about the exit on day one. Not because they should plan to leave soon, but because building a business someone else would want to buy is the same work as building a business worth owning.

Prepared by The Best Reputation | thebestreputation.com

Published Origianlly on — https://bitrebels.com/business/jay-sunde-on-knowing-when-it-is-time-to-sell/