by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 21, 2026 | Uncategorized
It is your money. You should know how much you are going to get paid. When you take a look at a deal based on your seller’s thesis or Titan Thesis, you should be able to say with confidence whether an offer is suboptimal, about right, or worthy of the maximum...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 21, 2026 | Uncategorized
A letter of intent arrives and your first instinct is to call an attorney. That instinct is right — but there are things you should do before that call. Understanding what an LOI actually contains, what is binding versus non-binding, and what questions to ask puts you...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 20, 2026 | podcast
Buyers and sellers reveal information constantly in M&A negotiations — without saying a word. A team member who looks at the owner every time a difficult question is asked is signaling that information is not distributed. A buyer who uses way too much eye contact...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 20, 2026 | Uncategorized
Most business owners who want to sell their company call a broker somewhere between six months and one year before they want to close. That timeline is not a strategy — it is a hope. The 5-4-3-2 exit planning framework exists because the difference between a minimum...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
Your sale is probably going to be decided five years, four years, three years, two years before you actually sign the documents and turn the company over. Most business owners do not know this. They call a broker six months before they want out, hand over three years...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
An owner scored 290 on their Exit Ratio 360. Two buyers were lined up. They lost everything in 60 days because a crisis hit — and there was no system in place to respond. Two years of preparation, gone. That is what happens when you have no threats framework. THREATS...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
The most dangerous moment in your entire exit is not when a buyer finds a problem. It is when they hand you a number that makes you stop thinking clearly. You spent 20, 30, 40, 50 years building something. Somebody hands you a letter of intent that could change your...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
When someone comes to buy your company — they are not buying the founder. They are buying the team. If your bench is thin, your multiple gets thin right along with it. Leadership depth is not about headcount. It is the measurable ability of your team to run the...
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
You can build a business worth $30 million and still sell it for $18 million — not because anything was wrong with the company, but because you read two of the three timing signals wrong and missed the one that mattered most. That difference is not a rounding error....
by Scott Sylvan Bell | Mar 18, 2026 | Uncategorized
The company or practice with the worst strategy that actually executes will outscore the company or practice with the best strategy that does nothing. Strategy without execution is not an asset — it is a liability dressed up in presentation slides. The DRIVER test was...
