The real work starts long before you ever list your business for sale. You need to be running your company like it’s always for sale—hitting budgets consistently, showing at least two years of upward trends in both top and bottom lines, having A or B+ level players in your C-suite, and keeping your business free of heavy litigation that could derail due diligence.
When you actually decide to sell, here’s the realistic time commitment
Month 1 (Investment Banker selection and engagement): Expect about 20-40 hours interviewing investment bankers and negotiating those contracts. Interview at least 3 and include a dinner so you see personality fits as you will spend a lot of time together – ensure they bring the team that you will work with the most day in and day out.
Months 2-3 (CIM preparation): This is when things intensify. Your CFO and head of financial planning/analysis will see their workload increase by 50%. As Founder, you’ll be heavily involved in contributing to and reviewing the Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM)—this is the marketing document for your business, and it matters.
During the marketing phase: You’ll drop to part-time involvement, roughly 10 hours per week, focused on decisions like which buyers advance to management meetings.
Management meetings through close: This becomes a full-time job on top of your regular role—expect 30 hours per week. This is the most grueling phase.
Here’s what I wish I’d known
An advisor like Founder 2 Founder, who understands your desired outcome and knows your business intimately, can reduce your founder time commitment during that final push to about 10 hours per week by helping your team triage effectively. I wish I’d had that support throughout the entire process, not just at specific points. It would have saved me countless hours and significant stress and allowed more focus on the business results.
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