191 - A Partnership Exit Strategy where Everyone Wins

A Partnership Exit Strategy where Everyone Wins

Our guest Host for today was Chris Jones, President of True North M&A. Chris interviewed his firms' advisor, Tim Schinke and Tim's client, Dan Sundin. Dan is the co-founder and CEO of Innovative Technology Partners (ITP), a managed services tech company in the Twin Cities.  Dan and his partners, Andy and Mark founded the business in 2004, and grew it rapidly, utilizing the unique skill sets they each brought to the table. Andy and Mark were former employees of Dan's at another firm, which is how they initially met. When Dan approached them to discuss starting their own business, they were all ears. 

They did a lot of the right things to try and stay out of the day to day of the business. They even hired outside leadership to grow and operate the company, but that plan didn't work so well, so when Dan decided he was ready to take some chips off the table, he approached his partners to see what their appetite was for selling the company. Being about 10 years younger than Dan, they were at different stages in life and were more motivated to get the most money possible for the business than Dan. They kicked the idea around for a couple of years, and then brought Tim in to talk more seriously about their options. Dan knew that his children were not interested in taking over, so an outside sale was apparent. The team at True North was able to help them structure the right deal at the right price, and everyone came away with feeling it was a fair deal. 

They all still work for the firm and Dan has an equity stake. Each partner achieved their best exit outcome, and Dan says that would have never happened without the help of the team at True North M&A. 

Listen to the show here

Learn more about True North M&A here 

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