Why Valuing and Selling Your Small Business Fast Could Be a Game-Changer
Today, I want to highlight an important topic that can significantly impact small business owners and entrepreneurs. If you’ve been considering selling your small business, the next 12 months might be the perfect time to make your move. Here are six compelling reasons why. Why Consider Valuing and Selling Your Small Business in the Next […]
Leveraging AI for Data Mining: How AI is Helping Businesses Make Better Decisions
Data mining is like a treasure map that helps business owners dig into their data to uncover valuable insights, trends, and patterns hiding beneath the surface. The findings can be revolutionary, allowing entrepreneurs to make smarter decisions, better understand their customers, optimize operations, and identify new growth opportunities. In a world where data abounds, leveraging […]
Boosting Your Bottom Line: How Business Owners are Improving Sales with AI
Welcome to part four of our five-part series on how artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the landscape for SMBs. Previously, we looked at AI’s benefits for productivity, customer service, and ideation. In this installment, we’ll investigate a topic foremost in nearly every business owner’s mind—sales. Traditionally, sales have been the domain of person-to-person interactions, so […]
Empowering Ideation Through AI: A Guide for Small Business Owners
In our ongoing exploration of artificial intelligence (AI), we’ve seen its dynamic applications across various fields. Having previously discussed the significant impact AI has on customer service, this third article in our series shifts focus to another crucial area: ideation. Ideation, or the creative process of generating and developing new ideas, is fundamental to business […]
The Mirage of Hypothetical Added Value (HAV): Unveiling Real Business Worth
As veterans in mergers and acquisitions, Viking M&A often encounters business owners devoted to including hypothetical value in their business’s worth. So, while EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) is a widely utilized metric in the financial world, many business owners prefer EBITDA-HAV. What is EBITDA-HAV? I’m so glad you asked. It […]
How AI is Transforming Customer Service: Practical Insights for Small to Midsize Businesses
Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced explosive growth in the public consciousness, with innovations revolutionizing virtually every industry, from the arts to manufacturing. One area where automation with AI has proven immensely beneficial is in customer service. From chatbots and virtual assistants that respond to customer inquiries to predictive analytics that […]
How Business Owners Can Leverage AI for Increased Productivity
While the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence (AI) may provoke dystopian fears of humans losing their jobs to robots, the reality has been much tamer. Essentially, AI is a tool like the Internet or a calculator that can be more advanced. Astute business owners use AI to foster innovation, unlock new revenue streams, and stay […]
What Is AI? 5 Ways AI Is Helping Businesses Now
Since its emergence in the mid-20th century as a subfield of computer science, artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved from basic tasks like devising strategies for checkers games and solving algebra problems to an expansive field with applications throughout the arts, sciences, and business. As AI has become more accessible, companies are seizing on the opportunities […]
Buy vs. Start: 5 Benefits of Acquisition Entrepreneurship
Today’s small business owners face a challenging business landscape characterized by economic uncertainty and rapidly shifting political dynamics. Yet, despite these obstacles, new business owners are successfully paving their way to success by starting a new franchise, acquiring an existing business, or launching a venture from scratch. According to a Guidant Financial study, 33% of […]
5 Ways to Grow the Value of Your Business
Growing the value of a business is a critical concern for any entrepreneur or business owner. Entrepreneurs commonly hear that a company will be worth 3-5x (or some other range of multiples) of the EBITDA or other financial indicators. But what differentiates earning the high end of that range from the low? And how can […]
The Silver Tsunami is Here
More than 75 million Baby Boomers are poised to retire (part of what has been dubbed the “Silver Tsunami”). Early studies indicated mass exodus of Boomers from the workforce would happen steadily over the next 20 years. Back in 2020, however, I shared my opinion that the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for many […]
Deal Structures: Legalities to Negotiate When Selling a Business
The number of negotiable components in business deal structures can seem exciting at best, terrifying at worst, and certainly overwhelming to anyone closely impacted by the deal’s results (i.e., the seller and the buyer). We created this four-part series to provide helpful information to entrepreneurs like you by dissecting the significant parts of a business […]
Deal Structures: Negotiating Your Post Closing Agreement
At Viking, we firmly believe that one of the best ways to make the right decisions about selling your business (and most anything, really) is to be well-informed. So, we set out to create this four-part series as a practical resource for business owners like you. In Part One, we discussed negotiating payment terms; Part […]
Deal Structures: How to Negotiate Assets Conveyed
Selling a business includes many opportunities for negotiation – but you can only benefit from these opportunities if you are familiar with the different components of a business deal. We created this four-part series of blogs to pull back the curtain on business deal structures and provide helpful information to entrepreneurs like you. This article […]
Deal Structures: Wisely Negotiating More Than Price When Selling a Business
When selling a business, there is much more up for negotiation than just the purchase price. We believe that a well-informed seller is better equipped to make the right choices for themselves and their business. This is the first in a series of blogs dissecting the structure of business deals. When a buyer wants to […]
What To Do After Selling a Business
Successfully selling a business is a remarkable achievement for any entrepreneur. When you sell a business that you have poured your life into, you arrive at a unique opportunity to use your wealth and your time however you choose. On the surface, this may sound like perfection. However, navigating what to do after selling a […]
What Is The Most Important KPI for Your Business?
This much is clear: defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your business is essential. What is less clear: identifying which performance indicators are indeed key for your particular business. There are many useful KPIs, and we believe there is one KPI in particular that will benefit every business owner, regardless of industry, location, or size. […]
So, You’re Ready to Sell Your Business… Now What?
Entrepreneurs sell their businesses for a variety of reasons. Regardless of your “why,” if you have decided that the “when” is now (or soon), what should you do next? Get Familiar With the Process First, familiarize yourself with the selling process. It will be helpful to have a general understanding of the process as you […]
VIDEO: Viking Mergers & Acquisitions Announces the Sale of Sun Dollar Energy
Sun Dollar Energy, a leading solar energy installation company, has recently been sold to a new owner through Viking Mergers & Acquisitions. The business was previously owned by Daniel Lezama. Founded 9 years ago, Mr. Lezama built the company into a top-rated solar contractor in North Carolina. The sale was facilitated by Dan Wilson and Brandon Smith, both with Viking […]
When to Tell Employees You Are Selling the Business
If you have decided to sell your business, the question of when to tell your employees you are selling likely looms large in your mind. This is an important question, and the answer will come as a relief to some and a stumbling block to others. Simply put, it is best to tell employees after […]