Anywhere you go when discussing business, people talk about growing a business or creating a successful start-up, but most don't discuss the point of creating an exit strategy or plan, prior to entering the exit stage. I've seen friends who run very successful companies, but they never think about what they will ever do with the company whether it be selling it, giving up a small portion to a bigger fish in the pond, or taking it public. All they are interested in is the present and sometimes that leads them into rushing when the time comes that they can't handle the work anymore.
You may think that I'm joking, but I'm not. Times do come, when entrepreneurs can't run a company any longer which can be caused from a number of issues such as personal health, lack of knowledge, no future vision, or just heading into retirement.
Some entrepreneurs think that they can run their own start-up forever, but it might not be the actual case when time passes. Just because someone has started a company and evolved it into a multi-million or even billion dollar business, doesn't mean they have the skill set to keep running it forever. If an entrepreneur is their own start-up's CEO, they might be good at working with the company at its infant stage, but might not have the experience to continue to run a grown company and lead it to future success. So sometimes, even if an entrepreneur started their company and were the CEO and don't wish to exit completely; it can be good to seek out a new CEO ahead of time and then hire that person, step aside and see where an experienced CEO can take the company.
Other times, entrepreneurs might want to completely exit the company instead of giving up small control of it. This is completely okay, but knowing that's what the goal is, is important. So when the time does come to sell, the entrepreneur isn't questioning themselves of what to do, or even if the company has multiple co-founders, they aren't debating over what to do.
Obviously there are outside factors that determine what the end game will be when the time comes, but having some thought after the company is up and running is truly beneficial to all those involved. A big factor is selling price. If a entrepreneur has a set dollar amount in mind and is offered more, chances are they won't hesitate. But if they are offered less, they might have second thoughts about selling and just sit on the company a little while more- or give up a certain stake. At the same time of thinking about an exit strategy, it is important not to create a company just to sell it.
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