Opening
Most owners at this stage aren’t worried about finding a buyer. They’re worried about what happens after.
Whether the people you built this with will be taken care of. Whether you’ll still have a reason to get up in the morning. Whether whoever you hand this to will deserve it. Those aren’t financial questions. But they shape every financial decision you’ll make.
The chapter after this one should be one you actually want to live.
№ 002 · The Approach
The owners who keep it are the ones who prepared before anyone called.
When you’ve spent twenty or thirty years building something, the process moves faster than you expect. The pressure is real. And most owners, by the time they’re inside a formal transaction, have already given up leverage they didn’t know they had.
Knowing what you have, what it’s worth, and what you need from the deal takes time. That kind of clarity changes everything.
Prepared, before the call
Know what you have
Know what it’s worth
Know who should own it next
Know what you need from the deal
№ 003 · Who We Work With
You’ve probably had a conversation or two that felt more like a pitch than a partnership. We prefer to earn the relationship the other way, by being useful before we’re hired.
№ 004 · Who We Are
Reif came up through operations, fixing systems, building teams, making companies work better from the inside. That shapes everything about how we look at a sale.
A business that holds up in diligence is a different thing than a business that looks good in a pitch book.
We prepare for the first test, because that’s the one that matters.
№ 005 · What Readiness Means
Three things tend to break in a transaction, and none of them are surprises.
Each of them is a problem of time, not talent.
If the business runs because of you, a buyer will price that risk. Building the leadership depth and operational structure that makes a company transferable takes time, more than most people expect, and more than a live process allows.
Harbor crew coordinating ropes. No single hero on deck.
Inconsistent reporting creates doubt in a buyer’s mind, and doubt is expensive. The goal is a financial narrative a buyer can follow and trust.
Compass, parallel rulers, logbook, navigation chart.
Buyers want to believe the customers stay after you leave. The relationships and systems that make that case believable are built long before anyone signs an LOI.
Ship continuing through water after the lighthouse fades behind it.
№ 006 · After the Deal
Owners who have been building for twenty years often find that what they wanted wasn’t simply an exit. They wanted freedom, or stability, or time with their family, or a new problem worth solving. Sometimes all of those at once.
The structure of a deal should serve that answer. So should the relationship you choose to guide it.
We stay in the conversation past the close.
№ 007 · Mission
Good + Co. is owned by The Good Project, a nonprofit humanitarian organization. Profits from this practice support disaster readiness work, helping communities build the infrastructure they need before a crisis arrives.
Through real systems, real preparation, and real relationships, put in place before they’re needed.
№ 008 · A Direct Note
If you’re thinking about a transition in the next one to five years, the most useful thing we can offer right now is a clear picture of where you actually stand. What’s working, what a buyer will find, and what you’d want to change if you had the time to change it.
No cost. No pressure. One hour.
