Building Businesses Buyers Love To Buy – Tips from a Serial Entrepreneur

Are you increasing the value of your private company? There are 27 million private firms in the US. In 2010 there were only 5000 exits in the US above $10 million. That’s a 1 in 6000 chance of selling out at a reasonable number. This entrepreneurial workshop is designed by a serial entrepreneur for entrepreneurs to show how value is created. Looking through a buyer’s lens and built around 9 great Playbooks this workshop will help you understand the stuff that buyers love and consistently highly value.

The Workshop will answer:

1. How do you define & dominate your unique market?

2. How do you create a world class sales process & team?

3. How do you ship innovative products?

4. How do you attract great people?

5. How do you build a metrics culture?

6. What does a scalable business model look like?

7. Why are VC/PE investors a great stepping stone?

8. Why does robustness, compliance and order matter?

9. Why does size matter?

Who Should Attend?

Private company owners who want to transform their vision into a remarkable business

that is attractive to buyers

Private equity players seeking a health check on maximizing exit proceeds over the next 3

years time.

Trusted advisors of SMB owners helping their clients with exit planning.

Workshop Presenter:  Ian D. Smith, CEO The Portfolio Partnership (TPP) 

TPP partners  with entrepreneurs as an operational team, embedded in their business, to increase 

value. Ian has spent the last 25 years transforming businesses in the US and in Europe. He has built 

and sold over 20 companies by applying Positioning with Relentless Execution to create sustainable 

and remarkable businesses. The 2 key elements that link all of these experiences are Positioning and 

Relentless Execution. From his first assignment in Thomson as an FD (now Thomson Reuters) in the 

80s ‐ repositioning a magazine division and selling it at a premium exit price to Reed International – 

Ian used this platform to launch a career helping entrepreneurs build and sell their businesses both 

in London and in Boston. His roles have included venture capitalist, leading M&A advisor, President 

and CEO. A conservative estimate of shareholder value realized ‐ $400m.  

Ian remains an operator at heart and through his weekly blog; The Smith Report offers practical 

execution tips to increase shareholder value. His idea of relaxing is to compete as a masters athlete 

and continues to be ranked in the top 15 in the world for his age at 400m and 800m.