8th annual Business Transitions Forum in Toronto took place on May 21-22 in the Metro Convention Centre attracting a diverse group of attendees, from entrepreneurs to accounting, legal, financial and M&A advisors to coaches and experts in transition. All gathered together with the same goal, to share their knowledge on business transition process and network to support each other in ownership transition and M&A. Waldemar Halek, one of the panelists and President of a sponsor company, Transworld Business Advisors of Ontario, noted “event provides a unique networking opportunity to connect business owners and service providers, create an ecosystem and educate oneself on how to transition a business”.
I can attest, the program presented plenty of learning opportunities as well as networking breaks. This year’s Forum featured several keynote presentations on Key forces shaping business today and tomorrow, Growth journey of Cooper Equipment Rentals and Roundtable discussion with entrepreneurs who sold. Peter Deitz, participant of one of the panels, shared with the audience his experience of exiting using for the first time newly created structure in Canada, an employee ownership trust where employees can have beneficiary shares. Doug Doherty of Cooper Equipment Rentals has inspired the audience to run values-driven organizations and focus on building the best business it can be rather than thinking of exit.
I particularly enjoyed several break-out sessions where participants could hear advice of seasoned experts and owners who sold their business on how to scale smart growth and create a brand and financial strategy for expansion, how to find the right liquidity strategy, lessons learned from sellers and common deal challenges and what strategies are typically underutilized by businesses. In these sessions, I’ve learned about the importance of planning in advance, engaging advisors, doing not only audit but also due diligence to get ahead of potential problems, and keeping in mind that any potential copyright infringement or lawsuits could pose a risk to the buyer and diminish the value of your business.
I found incredibly insightful a presentation by Mark Brodkin, Private Equity National Head at Roynat Capital, who walked the audience step by step on the journey of the deal, from positioning your company and creating a deal team to identifying potential buyers and negotiating legal contract.
Day two of the event offered a Deeper Dive program for a more narrow group of professionals with several masterclasses on Transition Checklist, Value Creation for Your Business, Exit Teams, and Due Diligence Process.
Business Transitions Forums are also held in other cities in Canada and the US and if you missed one in Toronto, you could still attend it in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Southern California in fall or comeback to Toronto one next year. Whichever you choose, if you are a businessowner planning to exit or a service provider supporting ownership transition, the event is not to be missed
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