The last seller (from November) has already moved out of the area but is still very active with us in discussions, leads, where to expand service too, etc - and he should be. He's still got skin in the game. His payments are based on monthly income moving forward.
----- Original Message ----- From: Hass, Douglas A. To: Matt Hoppes ; WISPA General List Cc: can...@believewireless.net Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 8:03 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP That last point is the one you should focus on. If your goal is to get it over as quickly as you can, find a deal structure that helps you do that. Many times that will mean cash, which many have pointed out during this discussion could come from many different sources. Keep your goals as your primary focus, not the mechanics of a deal structure. Doug ------ Original message ------ From: Matt Hoppes Date: 3/20/2014 7:46 AM To: WISPA General List; Cc: can...@believewireless.net; Subject:Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP Cash is king. And the borrower is servant to the lender. Just saying. It's always better to just get it over with when you can. On Mar 20, 2014, at 7:32 AM, "Hass, Douglas A." <d...@franczek.com<mailto:d...@franczek.com>> wrote: You and I are on the same page here. The short answer to those on this list: If your business attorney or CPA is telling you “Always do cash deals” or “Never use seller financing,” then thank them for their time and find someone else to advise you who is comfortable advising sellers on a full range of options, guiding them to the best ones, and is including the right protections for you. The longer answer: Here’s why we’re on the same page. The first question is not “Is the offer 100% cash?” but “Why am I selling?” The second question is “What do I want out of the sale?” That’s what you’re doing below. A couple people have expressed concern about getting the business back if something goes wrong. There are many ways to structure that deal so as to greatly minimize the time or expense of getting the business back, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere. Your concern is getting out entirely. There are many ways to structure that deal. 100% cash is one way to do it. Another that I mentioned during the course of this is through an annuity (which you have the option of selling to get cash or keeping to get the higher payments, according to your risk tolerance). You can do sweep accounts where the bank guarantees that you get paid first as money comes in coupled with business insurance options. The deal structure that might work best for you will depend first on your goals as a seller, second on your buyer, and finally on your risk tolerance. Saying “I’ll only take 100% cash” is definitely an option, and sometimes the best one, but it’s never the only one. If you have an advisor locking you into an all-cash deal, that’s a sign that he or she may not be the best advisor for you. I’ll even bet that they’re probably missing things even in that all-cash deal they’re drawing up for you. If anyone here on the list ever wants some confidential guidance on how to structure a deal, language to put in an agreement, or about sales/purchases generally, I’m happy to help share what I can and get you pointed to the right advisor (attorney, CPA, whoever) to help (and I’ll be happy to contribute to the employment piece of whatever deal you do). Doug From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org<mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org> [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of can...@believewireless.net<mailto:can...@believewireless.net> Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 12:27 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP I had a meeting a couple weeks ago with a company looking to buy us. They have deep pockets and were looking at cash only deal. If I'm looking to sell, it's obviously because I want to go in a different direction. The last thing I'd want to do is go through the enter sale process only to have to take the company back at a later date. Even if I was able to get my company back immediately months later with zero customer loss, the time, effort and lost growth just aren't worth the risk in my opinion. On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 5:09 PM, Hass, Douglas A. <d...@franczek.com<mailto:d...@franczek.com>> wrote: Primary housing is a different deal altogether. Unlike businesses, where you can get immediate repossession, you often can’t with housing. From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org<mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org> [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org<mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org>] On Behalf Of CBB - Jay Fuller Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 4:02 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP Then why do people sell houses on owner financing ? Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone ----- Reply message ----- From: "Justin Wilson" <li...@mtin.net<mailto:li...@mtin.net>> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org<mailto:wireless@wispa.org>> Subject: [WISPA] Selling ISP Date: Wed, Mar 19, 2014 3:50 PM Having been a part of a deal gone bad I recommend cash up front. Once you hand over the keys it’s pretty hard to get it back. If you have to go to Litigation you are going to be spending money out of pocket for attorneys. I agree with Cameron. Cash at closing. If you don’t do 100% cash at closing you should be prepared to not see another dime if you do anything else. I know ISPs who sold, got some money at closing, and then ended up spending twice that money on attorney fees and still ended up with nothing. Selling a business should be like selling a high dollar item. If I was going to sell a car I sure wouldn’t sell it on contract. Too many things can go wrong. If I had 100% ownership in an ISP today and wanted to sell I would take a hit on the overall price. If then user couldn’t afford it and I really needed to sell for whatever reason I would simply take a lower price. Less stress that way. Justin -- Justin Wilson <j...@mtin.net<http://j...@mtin.net>> MTCNA – CCNA – MTCRE – MTCWE - COMTRAIN Aol & Yahoo IM: j2sw http://www.mtin.net/blog – xISP News http://www.zigwireless.com – High Speed Internet Options http://www.thebrotherswisp.com – The Brothers Wisp From: "Hass, Douglas A." <d...@franczek.com<mailto:d...@franczek.com>> Reply-To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org<mailto:wireless@wispa.org>> Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 3:08 PM To: WISPA General List <wireless@wispa.org<mailto:wireless@wispa.org>> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP Cameron— There’s lots of ways to structure the deal so that you’re protected, even if the buyer is a complete imbecile and even if the buyer doesn’t have cash up front. If you want to sell or if you want to buy, don’t let the all-cash restriction prevent you from making a deal. If you end up in court chasing payments from the buyer, then you likely didn’t draft your agreement carefully enough given your tolerance for risk (of course, your due diligence should be telling you whether the buyer is an imbecile, and that information should inform what kind of deal you’re willing to accept). To categorically reject buyers who don’t have 100% cash to hand you at closing might mean leaving money on the table or more flexible terms from someone who can put together a more attractive end package. In that sense, it works like selling real estate. The all-cash offer isn’t always your best one. To Randy’s point--Jab has undergone a major shakeup at the top. Many of the senior executive staff have departed in the last few months. That might account for some of the quietness. I don’t have any inside information, just what I learned trying to round up potential panelists and speakers for WISPAmerica. Doug From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org<mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org> [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Cameron Crum Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 1:45 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP The seller is not a bank. Why should they take on all the risk? What happens if the buyer is a complete imbecile and runs the network into the ground and defaults on payments? Now you are in court suing for money you will most likely never see, and even if you retake possession of the network, it may be in shambles or most of your customers have left. We walked away from a couple of buyers who would not pony up the cash. I'd say as one who sold a wisp, if the buyer can't afford it, or can't arrange their own financing, you don't want to sell. On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 1:39 PM, Mike Hammett <wispawirel...@ics-il.net<mailto:wispawirel...@ics-il.net>> wrote: There's many more buyers out there. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com ________________________________ From: "Randy Cosby" <dco...@infowest.com<mailto:dco...@infowest.com>> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org<mailto:wireless@wispa.org>> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 11:00:34 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP Is anyone actually buying right now? I haven't heard much about the big buyer (Jab) lately. On 3/19/2014 9:49 AM, CBB - Jay Fuller wrote: The going rate, we've seen (and has been discussed here many times), is about 1.5x annual revenue Douglas A. Hass Associate 312.786.6502<tel:312.786.6502> d...@franczek.com<mailto:d...@franczek.com> Franczek Radelet P.C. Celebrating 20 Years | 1994-2014<http://www.franczek.com/20thAnniversary/> 300 South Wacker Drive Suite 3400 Chicago, IL 60606 312.986.0300<tel:312.986.0300> - Main 312.986.9192<tel:312.986.9192> - Fax www..franczek.com<http://www.franczek.com/> Franczek Radelet is committed to sustainability - please consider the environment before printing this email ________________________________ Circular 230 Disclosure: Under requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Service, we inform you that, unless specifically stated otherwise, any federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purposes of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or tax-related matter herein. ________________________________ For more information about Franczek Radelet P.C., please visit franczek.com<http://franczek.com>.. The information contained in this e-mail message or any attachment may be confidential and/or privileged, and is intended only for the use of the named recipient. If you are not the named recipient of this message, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message or any attachment thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender and delete all copies. ________________________________ ----- Original Message ----- From:Eagle One Wireless<mailto:e...@e1w.com> To:'WISPA General List'<mailto:wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 10:33 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Selling ISP We priced ours at 2.5x gross revenue. We had about 10 companies contact us. I would say 5 were serious but they wanted us to finance it so we decided not to sell. Thanks, Kevin Melson Eagle One Wireless 1505 Hwy 72 E Corinth, MS 38834 662-287-1722<tel:662-287-1722> e...@e1w.com<mailto:e...@e1w.com> www.e1w.com<http://www.e1w.com> -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org<mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org> [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Morgan Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 10:30 AM To: wireless@wispa.org<mailto:wireless@wispa.org> Subject: [WISPA] Selling ISP What is the current rate for selling your ISP! I would like to sell, for health reasons. Thanks for your help! Jean _______________________________________________ Wireless mailing list Wireless@wispa.org<mailto:Wireless@wispa.org> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com> Version: 2014.0.4336 / Virus Database: 3722/7216 - Release Date: 03/19/14 ----- No virus found in this message. 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