Linda Rose on selling your technology services business for millions

Linda's new book, Get Acquired for Millions, reflects her own experiences in 3 sales, plus new research from across the industry.

The sale of a technology services provider (TSP) business brings into focus matters of all sorts -- financial, strategic, operational, psychological, and even personal. The prospect of an acquisition also raises a lot of challenges and anxieties – the worth of a business today, how can that value be improved, how buyers are approaching opportunities, and where sellers are finding the best deals.

Our guest is Linda Rose, a veteran of the tech services space and the Microsoft channel in particular. She has sold three businesses over her career, most recently her cloud services business about two years ago. After taking some time off for a few adventures, she's back to work with a new book for other business owners. It's called Get Acquired for Millions: A roadmap for technology service providers to maximize company value.

We talk about her own experiences as an entrepreneur, her research for the book, and some of the findings and recommendations for other TSPs.

Show Notes:

• 1:50 – How Linda's new book came to be after selling her last business.
• 6:00 – Takeaways from her latest deal, other business experiences, and translating those into the resources of the book.
• 10:00 – Is transforming your business to become more attractive to buyers always healthy move even if you're not interested to sell?
• 12:30 – Performance factors that prospective buyers will be looking at.
• 14:30 – Psychological stresses that play into a deal's success.
• 19:30 – The role of an M&A broker or coach
• 25:00 – The importance of a letter of intent (LOI)
• 28:15 – Where do Dynamics-focused partners fit into the broader TSP deal outlook?
• 33:00 – What are private equity firms focused on in the Microsoft channel, and how are they framing the value of acquisitions?
• 36:30 – Why are so many MSPs looking to sell?
• 38:40 – Women in tech – what has changed, and how Linda's own experiences inform her views.