Image of two young business partners discussing plans or ideas at meeting
While this may seem obvious, if you are considering selling your business to one of your employees it is imperative that you share everything with the employee before they decide if they want to take over your business. Sometimes when selling the business to an employee we are more casual than we would be with an outside buyer. The employee needs to understand the financials and the various management challenges, and they need to be immersed in the business for as long as possible before you move on. In fact, if you could let the employee run the business for an appropriate amount of time with you in the background that would be tremendous as the employee gets to taste/feel the pressures of ownership and you have the opportunity to make sure that they, in fact, can keep your business running. Stay out of his/her way to the extent possible and let other employees know that your successor is running the business. Also, make sure you put a succession plan in place that highlights not only the legal and financial aspects, but also the various milestones related to the terms of managing/transitioning the company ownership.
