Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

by John Warrillow, Bo Burlingham (Foreword by)

Overview

According to John Warrillow, the number one mistake entrepreneurs make is to build a business that relies too heavily on them. Thus, when the time comes to sell, buyers aren't confident that the company-even if it's profitable-can stand on its own. To illustrate this, Warrillow introduces us to a fictional small business owner named Alex who is struggling to sell his advertising agency. Alex turns to Ted, an entrepreneur and old family friend, who encourages Alex to pursue three criteria to make his business sellable: * Teachable: focus on products and services that you can teach employees to deliver. * Valuable: avoid price wars by specialising in doing one thing better than anyone else. * Repeatable: generate recurring revenue by engineering products that customers have to repurchase often.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101514115
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/28/2011
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	505 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Warrillow is the author of Built To Sell: Turn Your Business Into One You Can Sell. Throughout his career as an entrepreneur, John has started and exited four companies. Most recently he transformed Warrillow & Co. from a boutique consultancy into a recurring revenue model subscription business, which he sold to The Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) in 2008. He is the author of Drilling for Gold and in 2008 was recognized by BtoB Magazine's "Who's Who" list as one of America's most influential business-to-business marketers.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xv

1 A Company in Chaos 1

2 A Worthless Business? 9

3 Putting the Process into Practice 19

4 Pressure from Within 27

5 The Test 36

6 The Candidates 44

7 Growing Pains 52

8 The Number 64

9 Gaining Momentum 70

10 A Blank Check for Growth 82

11 Telling Management 90

12 The Question 97

13 A Sellable Company 104

14 The Finish Line 110

Implementation Guide: How to Create a Business That Can Thrive Without You 115

Summary of Ted's Tips 147

Recommended Reading and Resources 151

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“John does a masterful job of illuminating the qualities that business buyers look for in a company, and he does it in a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging manner.”
—Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants (from the Foreword)

“There is no tooth fairy for selling a business. It takes planning and a real understanding of what works. I bet you’ll find yourself (like me) recommending this book to your friends who want to sell their businesses one day but don’t understand what that’s going to take.”
—Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

Editorial Reviews

John does a masterful job of illuminating the qualities that business buyers look for in a company, and he does it in a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging manner.”
—Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants (from the Foreword)

“There is no tooth fairy for selling a business. It takes planning and a real understanding of what works. I bet you’ll find yourself (like me) recommending this book to your friends who want to sell their businesses one day but don’t understand what that’s going to take.”
—Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

From the Publisher