John is a successful cross-functional executive with experience in leading and strengthening finance, accounting, and operations organizations. He has held various executive roles, including CFO, VP of Supply Chain and Planning, and EVP of Finance and Operations, during his 17-year career. In these roles, John was an integral part of the leadership team that scaled a medical device company and sold it to a private equity firm for $161 million. He led integration efforts and participated in due diligence for all the company's acquisitions.
John began his career with the accounting firm Ernst and Young in Atlanta, GA, and has worked with both startups and a large, private equity-owned medical device manufacturer. He leverages his extensive mergers and acquisitions experience to help entrepreneurs successfully transition business ownership.
John graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and holds a Master of Business Administration from Kennesaw State University. He currently lives in Marietta with his wife and two daughters.
Seth is a seasoned executive with an impressive track record of success, having held Vice President and Director positions across diverse industries. He has a wealth of experience in sales and understands the importance of building strong relationships and working collaboratively to achieve outstanding results. Seth is a skilled consultant, having helped companies of all sizes boost sales, streamline processes, and improve their bottom line. Notably, he played a crucial role in the mergers and acquisitions strategies for one of the nation's largest medical retailers.
Graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management, Seth has gone on to become a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®) and holds a real estate license in Texas. Throughout his 20-year career, he has consistently been recognized for his achievements, receiving the highest rankings for his exceptional work.
Seth is a devoted family man and lives with his wife and two daughters in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. When he's not at work, he's active in his local church, where he volunteers his time and serves as the executive committee chair for finance.
Carl is an entrepreneur at heart. He was the third-generation owner of a wedding services provider with 14 locations and 200 employees. Carl led the effort to sell the 50 year-old business in a private equity roll-up of the industry, and his first-hand experience gives him an unparalleled understanding of what it’s like for a business owner to bring their company to market and negotiate a successful exit.
Carl is also an Adjunct Professor in the Executive MBA program at the University of Georgia and serves on the Board of the Shore Entrepreneurship Center at Kennesaw State University. He is the Founder of Brio Business Academy, dedicated to guiding business owners as they launch and grow their business. He is passionate about education because he believes that business owners make better decisions when they know how and why things work (or don’t!).
Carl graduated from the University of Notre Dame, and holds an MA from the University of Chicago, an MBA from the University of Georgia, and an M.Ed from the University of Loyola. He and his wife live in Dunwoody and have two sons that attend the Georgia Institute of Technology.
To determine the value of your business you need clean financials, reliable multiples, and accurate assumptions. A trained business broker can use this information to prepare a broker’s opinion of value, also known as a business valuation. There are numerous valuation techniques. Three of the most common are described below:
1. Market Comparable Method
This business valuation methodology looks at similar businesses that have sold and uses that transaction data to derive multiples of revenue, EBITDA, EBIT, and seller’s discretionary earnings or SDE. The data set needs to be statistically relevant in order to be reliable. There are several sources that provide this data. Valuation professionals, including business brokers, have access to this data and use it regularly to determine the value of your business.
2. Multiple of Discretionary Earningstion
We refer to this valuation methodology as the “ratings and weighting’s” methodology. This methodology takes a composite number derived from a number of industry, market, and business factors and multiplies that number by the Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE). The advantage of this methodology is that it accounts for the uniqueness of a business. The disadvantage is the subjective nature of the appraiser’s ability to “rate” and “weight” the relevant factors with accuracy.
3. Buyer Test Method
This valuation methodology turns the tables and looks at the business value from the perspective of the buyer. The inputs and variables that go into the formula include such things as required rate of return on investment, amount or money for down payment, loan amount, interest rate, term, debt coverage service ratio, and the owner’s salary. The end result is a number showing how much the buyer can afford to pay for the business.