Journal

Succession insights

Practical perspectives on preparing and executing a business succession worldwide, with Swiss expertise.

  1. Selling in Lots: What to Decide Before Splitting Up the Deal

    Selling each activity to the buyer who values it most, instead of one buyer for the whole: nine points to settle before splitting an SME for sale.

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  2. Industrial SMEs or Service SMEs: Two Successions That Do Not Look Alike

    A workshop and a consulting firm do not sell on the same timeline, to the same buyers, or against the same risks in an SME succession.

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  3. There is no Swiss succession timeline, there are twenty six

    The generic succession timeline hides cantonal gaps, tax rulings, notarial systems, registries, real estate, that change everything for a Swiss SME sale.

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  4. What to Do With Your Days, Once the Company Is Sold

    The concrete questions owners ask about their days after selling: a new venture, board seats, volunteering, rhythm, boredom.

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  5. Earn-out with a job attached, or a clean exit: what should decide it

    Staying on payroll under an earn-out or negotiating a firm price and leaving right away: the criteria that should actually decide it.

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  6. No Longer the Boss: What a Sale Changes in How Others See You

    A letter to whoever is about to sell: the title fades faster than the grief does, and how people see you starts shifting before you notice.

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  7. The Spouse Left Out of the Decision to Sell

    Many owners decide to sell alone at their desk, even though the sale reshapes the whole household. What I keep seeing when the partner finds out too late.

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  8. Price escrow: what it actually protects in a business sale

    An escrow protects the buyer, but also the seller from a poorly negotiated dispute. The mechanism, usual thresholds, and costly mistakes.

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  9. What a poorly drafted shareholders' agreement costs you when you sell

    Reviewing a shareholders' agreement costs little. Not doing it, before a sale, can cost far more. The cost breakdown, item by item.

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  10. Financial buyer, strategic buyer, family office: what each one actually negotiates

    A fund, a competitor and a family office do not negotiate the same points when buying an SME. What each profile checks first, and why it matters.

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