STRATEGIC VALUE - ASSET INVENTORY CHECKLIST

Advertising campaign - A proven campaign that is effective in driving additional business

Advertising materials - Fully developed advertising messaging and collateral materials

Assignable contracts - A clause in customer contracts that allows transfer upon change in ownership

Backlog - Self explanatory. Wouldn't we all like to have Boeing's 7 year backlog?

Barriers to entry - Takes on many forms from difficult regulatory environment, to licenses and permits, to complexity of technology and many more

Blue Chip Customers - Very valuable and difficult to obtain in a competitive market

Branding - Ask Coke, Apple, McDonalds - same status in your industry niche

Computer database - You have digitized your company's assets - customers, personnel, prospects, procedures, trade secrets, manuals, etc.

Computer designs - CAD CAM and other engineering digital assets

Copyrights - Depending on your industry can be hugely valuable

Cost to duplicate your technology - Whether it is software, a biologic medicine, a specialized process, etc, it would be far cheaper and faster to buy than develop

Credit files - Industry specific value.

Custom-built factory - Competitive advantage for keeping down cost of production

Delivery systems - Not just limited to Logistics providers.

Distributorship          - A well developed distribution channel is highly scalable

Employee manual - Valuable from a cultural asset to liability protection

Employee turnover - A low level of turnover indicates a very attractive work environment. Turnover is very expensive.

Employee on-boarding process - Think Zappos - the process promotes long term employee retention

Experienced design staff - History of product success very difficult to duplicate or replace

Favorable financing - Proven banking relationships provide more options and flexibility

Franchises - Successful business model for efficient rapid growth

Government programs - Getting approval is difficult and time consuming - barrier to entry

Growing industry - Natural enhancer to company growth rate and improved valuation multiple

High cost to acquire customers - If it requires long sales cycle and skilled salesmen, your install base has high value because it cost dearly to obtain

Integrated CRM system - Not just having one, but implementing industry best practices around populating it and leveraging it to drive and support business

Key employee agreements - Benefit everything from retention, to IP protection, to non-compete

Know-how - What is your company's specialized knowledge that gives you a competitive advantage? Sales system, technology, value proposition, subject matter expert

Licenses/Permits - From land fill permits to a grandfathered liquor license, whatever approvals that are difficult to obtain provide barriers to entry

Limited customer concentration - No customer accounting for more than 5% of total business reduces your risk and the risk of a potential buyer

Local economy - The trend is your friend. A thriving local economy is good for business

Location - Whether it is a prime corner in retail or availability of skilled workers, location can be a big advantage

Long-term contracts - Huge value in predictability of revenues and very important risk reduction for a potential business buyer

Loyal customer base - Stability of earnings and fertile ground for new product offerings

Mailing list (email list) - Valuable source of new business

Management - Highly valued for contribution to current owner's business and highly coveted for a potential buyer of the business

Multi-channel distribution - Reduces the risk of customer defections from nimble competitors with minimum overhead

Name recognition - See Branding

New markets (industries) Can your current products be positioned to appeal to new       industries

New markets (geography) - Can your current products be distributed t to new geographic markets

Outbound sales system - Expensive to implement and maintain. Most are under performing

Patents - Sometimes the value for a smaller company is your willingness to defend them. For a large company buyer they are highly valued

Pricing power with new owner - Very subtle, but highly strategic and valuable. In the market you discount to compete against brand player. If you are acquired by brand player, they can raise prices across the board

Proprietary designs - IP not necessarily on balance sheet but important competitive differentiator

Published articles - Viewed as subject matter expert, industry status, invited speaker at industry events, great "free" marketing resource

Recession-resistant industry - Highly valued by financial buyers as well as strategic buyers with a portfolio of cyclical properties

Recurring revenue model - The magic business model. Most software companies are converting to this model as SaaS. Reduces risk and smoothes out revenues

Regulatory advantage Give me an edge. Railroads, pipelines, landfills, what is yours?

Reputation - With big companies it is brand, small companies it is reputation - very valuable no matter what you call it

Royalty agreements - Ask the song writers, actors, drug discoverers what they think about this as a business model. Even more magical than recurring revenue model. Here you produce once and it returns over and over

Scalable business model     - Very important for a small business owner whose limitations are risk tolerance and access to capital. A strategic buyer will recognize this potential

Security clearances - Very important for government contracts and security work. These alone can make your company by a large company looking for those clearances.

Skilled employees - Hard to get, motivate and retain. If your company has them, the strategic buyers see their value.

Social media momentum - For the uninitiated, this is a significant investment on the front end. Once established, it is a highly scalable business advantage

Strong referenceable accounts - No better source of new business than good old fashion referrals

Supplier base - A valuable asset of familiarity, trust, and execution

System & procedures - Technology is not the only area of innovation. Better management systems, executive dash boards, agile development are value drivers

Technology - Take your pick of industry, superior technology properly managed results in company competitive advantage

Thought leadership - Whether speaking, publishing or being interviewed, this carries the halo of business excellence and provides valuable company vibe

Time to market advantage - Very subtle but important strategic value driver. What do you have operational that a big company could duplicate in two years? How much business do they lose while in development?

Tooling - Big investment may be completely depreciated on the balance sheet, but the reality is it is more valuable than its original cost

Trademarks - Valuable to the extent that you leverage them to either drive business or fend off competition. May have greater value to large company buyer.

Trade secrets - Your company's special sauce. You know what it means to you. Now think how a deep pockets company buyer could leverage it.           

Training procedures - Legendary at Xerox and IBM. On a smaller scale it can make your team a top performer. A buying company could learn from you.

You - You are the number one strategic value asset of your company. If    you don't think so, watch how dramatically your transaction value drops when you tell the buyer, I am out of here in a week to go to an island to drink umbrella drinks. Smart buyers value the wealth of IP contained in the package of you. Customer relationships, know how, employee relationships, culture and many of the components from above.

Benefit to the business owner - for those business owners that will not be satisfied with a business valuation strictly ruled by a multiple of EBITDA or a revenue multiple, this exercise is particularly important. At the very least, it will be a reminder to you that you have many available pathways to business value creation. When you are preparing for your business sale, it will enable you and your team of advisors to best package and present your business to your industry's strategic buyers. With this ammunition we can achieve the ideal business sale - a soft auction among several strategic industry buyers who have had their animal spirits stimulated with the potential of the strategic company acquisition where 1+1 = so much more than 2! 

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Until next time!

Dave Kauppi is the author of "Selling Your Software Company - an Insider's Guide to Achieving Strategic Value, editor of The Exit Strategist Newsletter, a Merger and Acquisition Advisor and President of MidMarket Capital, Inc. MMC is a private investment banking and business broker firm specializing in providing corporate finance and business intermediary services to entrepreneurs and middle market corporate clients in a variety of industries. The firm counsels clients in the areas of merger and acquisition and divestitures, achieving strategic value, deal structure and terms, competitive negotiations, and Letter of Intent Consulting. Dave is a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI), is a registered financial services advisor representative and securities agent with a Series 63 license. Dave graduated with a degree in finance from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. For more information or a free consultation please contact Dave Kauppi at (269)231-5772, email Dave Kauppi or visit our Web page MidMarket Capital. Click Here For Our New Book on Amazon