Ian Smith | The Portfolio Partnership

Operational Actions that Transform Value – Time Required 2 years

by Ian Smith | May 25, 2023 | Grooming For Sale, How To Build Shareholder Value, Operational Blueprints, Operational Tips

It’s very tempting to compare the buying and selling of houses with businesses. Be careful. For example, buying another business is like buying a house but only if you include the family inside it! Selling a business is similar to selling a house in some ways, such as...

How To Scale 98% of US Companies

by Ian Smith | May 18, 2023 | Scaling

Hard to believe but 98% of US companies employ less than 100 people. Take a look at the table below created from the latest US Census data. The green cells represent the companies employing 99 people or less or 98.1% of US companies, 6 million out of 6.1 million (who...

The Valsoft Story

by Ian Smith | May 4, 2023 | Acquisitions

In a recent episode of the M&A Science podcast I listened to Sam Youssef Founder & CEO at Valsoft Corporation being interviewed by Kison Patel, covering the company’s growth by acquisition. There was so much in this 50-minute interview worth sharing...

The Exit Playbook

by Ian Smith | Apr 27, 2023 | e-book The Exit Playbook, Exiting your business, Family Business

Next week we are launching our new Exit Playbook packed with advice on the exit process and some insights into how buyers behave. We share our Saleability Test which I first published in the 90s and have been calibrating ever since! The test examines 15 key factors...

10 Big Benefits of Acquisitions

by Ian Smith | Apr 20, 2023 | Acquisitions

Today, you’ll see some new branding on our blog. We’ve renamed it The Acquirer to reflect the new emphasis on topics related to acquisitions. However, for the foreseeable future we will continue to post operator tips related to building your business...