Why do so many business owners leave significant money on the table when they sell their companies?

In this episode of Buy-and-Build & Scaling Stories, Anirvan Sen speaks with M&A practitioner Vicky Fang about exit readiness — and why preparing a business for sale should begin long before a buyer appears.

Vicky brings experience across audit, financial diligence, investment banking, corporate development, integration, separation, and sell-side readiness.

A central idea in the conversation is that owners should not begin by asking:

“What is my business worth?”

Instead, Vicky suggests starting with a much more personal question:

“How much money do I actually need in my bank account after taxes?”

That changes how an owner thinks about valuation, timing, lifestyle, tax planning, and the work that may still need to be done before going to market.

We discuss:

• predictable cash flow, sustainable growth, and transferable value
• why founder dependency can reduce the value of a business to a buyer
• why replacing one indispensable founder with one indispensable successor does not solve succession
• why processes and knowledge need to move from individuals into the organization
• strategic capacity and why it should be considered during M&A diligence
• why buyers need to ask whether they can actually absorb another acquisition
• how deal excitement and momentum can weaken diligence
• why headline purchase price is very different from what the owner ultimately receives
• how the business may currently be funding the owner's lifestyle
• why personal tax and wealth planning should start well before a sale
• how long founders may need to remain after an acquisition
• the difference between leaving the CEO role and leaving the company
• how sellers should think about earn-outs

We also explore the difference between being opportunistically acquired and systematically preparing for an exit.

The broader lesson is simple:

The best time to prepare your business for sale is when you do not need to sell it.

Building a company with predictable economics, sustainable growth, strong management, lower founder dependency, and transferable value does more than improve exit readiness.

It creates a better business.

Connect with Vicky Fang
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicky-fang/

Connect with Anirvan Sen
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirvansen/

Books & Resources Mentioned

Buy-and-Build Operating System — Anirvan Sen
https://www.amazon.com/Build-Operating-System-Buy-Build-ebook/dp/B0GNN7WR72/

The Growth-Driving Advisor: Proven Strategies for Leading Businesses from Stuck to Best-in-Class — George Sandmann
https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Driving-Advisor-Strategies-Best-Class/dp/164225875X

Can I Borrow Your Car?: How Successful Financial Advisors Can Grow Their Business and Love Their Life — Mike Garrison
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKSCTHL7

Buy-and-Build & Scaling Stories
Hosted by Fifth Chrome.
Presented by Anirvan Sen.

Why do some businesses scale successfully through acquisitions while others struggle long before integration even begins?

In this episode of Buy-and-Build & Scaling Stories, Anirvan Sen speaks with Nicholas Gleeson, drawing on more than 35 years of experience across CFO, CEO, board, strategic advisory, and acquisition-led growth roles around the world.

The central idea is:

Buy-and-build succeeds or fails long before the deal is done.

A substantial part of the conversation focuses on boards and governance — and why the board required by a $20M entrepreneurial company can be very different from the board required as that business becomes larger and more institutional.

Anirvan and Nick explore:

• how boards should evolve as companies scale
• the five capabilities a scaling-company board may need: people, finance, compliance, commercial, and technical expertise
• why boards should mentor and develop management, not merely supervise it
• the role of independent directors and chairs
• when the founder can become a constraint on future growth
• how boards should approach CEO succession
• why CEO and CFO roles change dramatically across scaling stages
• design debt — what happens when organizational design fails to keep pace with growth
• why design debt compounds as complexity increases
• why a company may sometimes need to stop growing temporarily to repair its organizational foundation
• why post-acquisition organizational design should begin before the deal closes
• why postponing compensation alignment after an acquisition can be a major mistake
• how communication and operating cadence need to evolve with scale
• what makes an effective buy-and-build leadership team
• Nick’s memorable description of exceptional people who deliver “the ask +20%”

The broader lesson is that successful buy-and-build is not simply about finding good companies and completing acquisitions.

Every acquisition adds more people, decisions, systems, incentives, leadership complexity, customers, and governance requirements.

If the organization underneath the acquisition is not ready for that complexity, the deal can amplify existing weaknesses rather than create value.

You cannot sustainably scale the business faster than you scale the organization that has to run it.

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Books & Resources Mentioned:

• Buy-and-Build Operating System — Anirvan Sen

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams

• Good to Great — Jim Collins

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey

• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk — Peter L. Bernstein

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Buy-and-Build & Scaling Stories
Hosted by Fifth Chrome.
Presented by Anirvan Sen.