Most technology entrepreneurs start companies and spend years of their lives building them, with the goal of generating significant wealth through a successful sale. For many, the sale of their company is a one-off event for which they have little or no experience, but whose outcome can make the difference between true financial security and years of frustration and regret. This book gives honest, practical advice for investors, executives and owners of technology businesses on how to prepare their businesses for sale at maximum value, how to manage and maximise the process, and how to secure a successful sale at the end. Including useful information on everything from first thinking about a far-off sale prospect, making the business attractive to acquire, appointing advisers, managing due diligence, contract negotiation and closing the sale, this is a practical guide to help avoid all of the painful pitfalls that so often plague people when they come to sell. As well as drawing on the direct experience of the author's 20-year technology and corporate finance career, the book is filled with experience and advice drawn from corporate development professionals from many of the most acquisitive large technology companies and from the success and horror stories of entrepreneurs who have sold to them. This is a straightforward, easy-to-understand guide that can be followed and consulted to give insight to every part of the sale process and to learn from others who have gone through it many times.

Author Biography

Rupert Cook has experienced technology corporate finance from every angle over the last 20 years. He understands intimately the aspirations and tribulations of technology entrepreneurs, having worked tirelessly as one of the founding team to build up an IT Training and Consultancy business from scratch in the late '80s, the culmination of which was a successful sale to a UK PLC eight years later. Since then, he has bought and sold technology businesses both as a principal and for clients around the world. He has run fund-raisings for early stage businesses and also acted on the other side of the fence as a venture capital investor. Rupert is currently Head of Technology M&A at goetzpartners Corporate Finance, a leading pan-European corporate advisory firm. For five years, Rupert was Head of Advisory Services at a technology investment and advisory business, and has twice run his own corporate finance boutiques. Rupert worked at Capgemini PLC for two years in strategic consulting and business development. Rupert has spoken widely at conferences and in the media on the subjects of Economic & Monetary Union and Technology Corporate Finance. He is the author of 'Leveraging Competitive Advantage from the Euro', published in 1999 by Financial Times Prentice Hall.