About this episode

Sean Kernan shares his experience of engineering his own buyout from a financial advisory firm he co-founded.

When Sean Kernan wanted out of the financial advisor support business he co-founded in Dallas, he didn't shop it to outside acquirers, and he didn't wait for his five partners to make him an offer. He engineered the buyout himself. Three and a half months from the first conversation to the wire hitting his account, $500,000 in cash, no earn-out, no holdback. In this episode, you discover how to: Open the conversation with your partners without triggering a defensive reaction or a stall Anchor your price to a prior valuation event so the number is hard to argue with Use a deliberately low ask as leverage to get speed, certainty, and 100% cash upfront Identify which one of your partners is most likely to write the check, and approach them first Source the cash from a platform partner, franchisor, or custodian who holds the underlying assets Negotiate a "ceasefire" non-compete that protects the buyers without trapping you Read inbound acquirer silence as market signal before you push the group toward a full sale Spot the partner who is too eager to buy, and what that eagerness usually means

People in this episode

Host: John Warrillow

Guest: Sean Kernan

Topics covered

• buyout
• partnership
• negotiation
• valuation
• entrepreneurship

Keywords

• buyout
• partners
• negotiation
• valuation
• cash upfront

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: financial advisor support business

Places: Dallas

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