The Event The October 2017 Northern California wildfires were the worst in the state’s history. Victims were traumatized by 70 mile-per-hour wind gusts and fire that week. Evacuees grabbed their children and pets with only moments to spare in some cases.  The fires caused 42 deaths, destroyed over 8,000 buildings, and displaced 100,000 people in three counties.…

Read More

B2B CFO® is at it again Just a quick heads up to let you know that the B2B CFO® Northern California partners will be presenting a free educational seminar sometime in the summer/fall of 2017 called “Risks You Need to Know Before Selling Your Business.”  The series will be based on the 4th edition of our book The Exit Strategy…

Read More

How To Keep Your Job (If You’re A CFO) ByPYMNTS Posted on June 1, 2016® There are market forces at work threatening the job of the chief financial officer, and we’re not just talking about the role automation and robots can play in replacing human employees. A new generation is taking the lead at U.S.…

Read More

In B2B CFO’s The Exit Strategy Handbook, we provide statistics that reflect an upcoming “tsunami” of businesses that will need to transition to new ownership over the next 20 years.  We estimate that 378,000 businesses, on average, will hit the market annually over the next 20 years. Our conclusions are based on census data showing there…

Read More

We at B2B CFO® talk often about how to increase your business valuation.  Maybe it’s time we talk about common ways that small and medium sized business (“SMB”) owners unwittingly sabotage their company’s value. Focus on Tax Avoidance. Sure, we all love to minimize tax.  Some methods are perfectly legitimate and will not affect your…

Read More

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) can make wonderful business exit vehicles in some circumstances.  That said, ESOPs are commonly misunderstood and prematurely dismissed from consideration by business owners when considering a business exit.  Some would even go so far as to compare the claims of ESOP proponents to the works of the ancient Greek writer…

Read More

Recently I blogged about the need for goal setting in the form of a 2016 budget aka “Profit Plan.”  You say “I’ve done that in the past, and it didn’t pan out.” I understand, but consider this. As if on cue, a close friend and brother recently referred me to a great book entitled “The…

Read More

As many of you know, a big part of what we do at B2B CFO® is Exit Planning. A small/medium sized business owner only has one shot at successfully transitioning his/her business.  Success depends on the talents of many professionals including CPA’s, attorneys, M&A firms, etc. We don’t try to do that alone. Instead we combine…

Read More

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Procter & Gamble is looking to extend payments terms to suppliers from 45 to 75 days.  They are actually late to the game.  Some large companies are demanding terms of 60–100 days. My clients have seen similar behavior from large dominant companies including Boeing, PG&E, United Natural Foods,…

Read More

Sales Growth Comes to a Halt I recently read that there are nearly 23 million small and medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”) in the US. Those businesses represent the core of the US economy, producing more than 50% of the nonfarm private gross domestic product.   They also employ half of all private sector workers.   But after four years,…

Read More