The preconference sessions yesterday at Nexstar’s 2013 Super Meeting — this year at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis — covered such topics as valuing a business to sell or buy, beefing up a website, recruiting top talent, flat-rate pricing, improving leadership skills through employee feedback and building your personal brand.
I sat in on the acquisitions session, presented by Chris Risey of Lantern Capital Advisors. The big takeaways were the most common way to value a business (a multiple of EBITDA) and how to finance an acquisition.
Risey says that more financing options are available for contractors to finance the purchase of a business than banks and venture capital or private equity firms. These include commercial finance companies, insurance companies, hedge funds, subordinated debt funds and business development corporations.
The key to financing a business purchase is to get your proposal out to as many financial institutions as possible, he notes — approaching just one entity won’t give you many options.
I also caught the last part of the recruiting workshop, where one concept was brought up over and over — always be recruiting, always be looking for the next team member for your company. Don’t wait until you’re in crisis mode. Make sure you have a vetted stable of potential candidates to bring into your company and its culture.
Today features a keynote address by football great Emmitt Smith and breakout sessions on finding the next generation of leadership, training accountability for techs and female leaders in the trades.
Look for more on these sessions Monday.
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