Jonathan Brabrand is a Managing Director at Transact Capital Partners and is passionate about helping businesses prosper and maximize value to their employees, customers, communities, and owners. Brabrand has spent over 25 years leading sell-side merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions as an investment banker and is the author of a new book called The $100 Million Exit: Your Roadmap to the Ultimate Payday. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Brabrand to learn more.
Jonathan Brabrand’s Background
Brabrand grew up in rural Virginia, and his father was a self-employed accountant for local business owners, so he has been around small businesses all of his life. “My parents encouraged my entrepreneurial aspirations from a young age, supporting me as I built my first business, a lawn care company, from age 14 until I sold the business just before going to college. After attending the University of Richmond, I joined a local investment banking firm, Harris Williams & Co. as an analyst, and my love of M&A was born,” said Brabrand. “I spent the next nine years learning the business from some of the best M&A professionals in the industry and left to start my own M&A boutique with my officemate in 2006. When 2008 hit, I joined the M&A group within BB&T Bank, followed by stints at two smaller firms, so for over 25 years now, I’ve dedicated my professional career to helping entrepreneurs and business owners achieve the exit they always dreamed of.”
Becoming An Author
What made you decide to become an author? “In talking with many business owners over the years, I saw that many, if not most, of them failed to prepare for an eventual exit of their business, but for two very different reasons. Some owners thought an exit would be easy, only modestly more difficult than selling a piece of real estate, and thus no forethought or preparation was needed,” Braband replied. “On the other end of the spectrum, I met business owners who were paralyzed by how complex, opaque, and difficult they believed the exit process would be, and thus were unable to devote energy to preparing for an exit. Obviously, neither of these perspectives is true, and the reality lies in the middle. I wrote The $100 Million Exit to help business owners of all types understand the exit process and have the tools and insights they need to prepare their business for an exceptional future exit.”
Idea Behind The Book
How did the idea for the book come together? “My original idea for the book was much narrower, essentially an ‘M&A 101 for Dummies’ that would teach business owners the basics of the M&A process from start to finish, so they would know what to expect and be able to advocate for themselves with their advisors as the process unfolded. In working with my editor, however, he encouraged me to make my book both ‘inspirational’ and well as ‘informational’ and in doing so, appeal to a much broader audience of business owners who were in different stages of their business ownership journey, rather than only target business owners who are ready to begin the sale process,” Brabrand explained. “That great advice led to the title, which is representative of what a ‘homerun’ exit might look like for many business owners, and to the underlying theme of the book, which is my taking core lessons from larger, very successful M&A deals and making them approachable and applicable for owners of businesses of all sizes.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Brabrand’s favorite memory of putting the book together? “I really enjoyed connecting with all of the sources I drew upon in researching this book. While a number of the stories in the book are of transactions from my own career, most come from stories that were relayed to me during interviews with other investment bankers, private equity professionals, business owners, and investors,” Brabrand revealed. “For each, my question was simple: tell me about a particular aspect of an M&A transaction that you were involved in that you believe led directly to its successful conclusion. And from there, I was taken on trips all over the country and beyond, hearing real-life tellings of the behind-the-scenes dealings that led to extraordinary M&A exits, and of a few avoidable mistakes that led to failed deals and disappointment.”
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges Brabrand faced in writing the book? “The biggest challenge of the book was incorporating more stories than I had planned. My editor gave me some sage advice early on in my book-writing process: a business book with too much content and not enough stories is really a textbook, and who wants to read a textbook?” Brabrand acknowledged. “So, I was challenged to expand beyond my personal collection of deal experiences and include stories from others in the deal-making world, which ultimately was a very rewarding part of the process and yielded a much more enjoyable book to read.”
Main Takeaways
What are the main takeaways you want readers to understand from the book? “I’d like readers to have several takeaways from my book. First, owners should realize that there is inherent value in their businesses, and that value can be increased by taking steps well before they plan to exit, steps that are also good for the business itself. Next, I’d like business owners to gain a high-level real-life understanding of how the M&A process works, who the players are in the process, and the types of buyers that exist, so they feel more comfortable with what an exit entails, demystifying what can be a black box to many business owners,” Brabrand concluded. “Finally, I hope business owners take away some valuable advice from the latter chapters on lessons learned once they are in the exit process to make sure it is as successful as it can be, however they define success.”
Want to buy Brabrand’s book? You can get it from here:
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