The Emotional Facet of Selling a Business

Podcasts

The Emotional Facet of Selling a Business

By , July 12, 2021
MMM Amreeta Abbott Quote

Amreeta Abbott started her career as an Accountant and Financial Advisor back in 2004, when technology solutions were rare, slow, and frustrating. She quickly realised her clients wanted to focus on flexibility and the ability to control their investments, and that technology to support this was underserved. So, when she started her own practice in 2005, she specialised and founded SMSF Strategies, with the vision to use technology to address the traditional friction points within the SMSF. Historically, manual processing made giving and implementing advice slow and expensive, and Amreeta sought to provide better solutions. This transitioned into a documentation process using world class technology and was further broadened to create Now Infinity – which was acquired by an ASX Listed Company in 2020 for $25 million. Amreeta discusses this exit strategy in detail, underlining the emotional struggle and process involved when selling your business.

Over the past 15 years, we have witnessed a rise in demand for tech-savvy accountants. Amreeta stresses how the methodology of valuing a business has drastically changed, with a constantly evolving range of tools and visibility now available. Her latest business venture, Annature, was built in mind for partners requiring an e-signing solution – such as real-estate agents & Xero. Released in July 2020, Annature quickly became Australia’s leading digital signature provider, purpose built for all industries. Annature saw huge success during Melbourne’s second lockdown last year, as companies which had never considered e-signatures as an option scrambled to adopt such technology.

Craig West

Craig West

Executive Chairman | Succession Plus

Craig West is a strategic accountant with over 20 years of experience advising business owners. His background as a CPA in public practice has provided invaluable experience in the key issues of concern to business owners.

In March 2014, Craig was appointed Executive Chairman of the SME Association of Australia, Australia’s largest small business organisation representing over 300,000 business owners.

In October 2014, he was awarded the Exit Planner of the Year at the Exit Planning Institute Annual Conference in Texas, USA, due to his innovative development of an exit planning process to help business owners maximise business value and achieve a successful exit.

Craig’s proprietary structure - a Peak Performance Trust - has won the Australia-wide award for the Employee Share Ownership Plan of the year twice in four years.

In November 2018, Craig launched SME Experts in partnership with Mark Bouris’ Mentored on Podcast One and quickly grew the monthly podcast audience to over 26,500 downloads; in October 2019, he released a new podcast focused on medium-sized businesses - Mid-Market Matters.

In July 2021, Craig joined the NSW Committee for STEP (Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners) – focusing on advising families across generations.

Craig has also launched a SaaS platform, Capitaliz (which captures the 21-step process), to assist other advisers internationally deliver advisory services at scale.

In November 2021, Craig was appointed Executive Chairman of NSW Leaders, a business mentoring group for leading NSW businesses.

In July 2022, Craig West received the award of Doctor of Business Administration for his research thesis titled “Examination of the key factors driving business exit options in Australian Small and Medium Enterprises.”

Craig is passionate about encouraging business owners to think strategically, maximise the value of their business and achieve a successful exit.

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