Is LinkedIn a valuable platform for legitimate M&A deal origination? See what the community had to say.

The M&A process is complex, and the exit process is often rife with challenges and potential mistakes. Before you begin the process, it helps to get familiar with some of the most common errors here so you can take steps to avoid them and learn from the mistakes of others.

How much equity should you give to key employees?

How can you get your financing lined up?

What about confidentiality? How can you flesh out your options without compromising a potential alternative exit option?

How much equity should you give to key employees?

How can you get your financing lined up?

What about confidentiality? How can you flesh out your options without compromising a potential alternative exit option?

So you want to sell your business to your management team.....

Or at least, in an ideal world, you'd love to pass along the business to the troops who have helped you along the way, and who are already trained and qualified to take your baby to the next level, over the next decade and beyond, while you move on to fine-tune that backswing.

It's different for every intermediary, but generally speaking, you should expect your relationship with your business broker (i.e. your contract) to last at least 12 months, as it takes a long time to sell a business properly.

You can't reach your goals if you don't have a clear target, and assessing your exit options as soon as possible helps you to start coordinating your operations and business efforts to align with your ideal exit option goals.

It's crazy how many entrepreneurs out there, after so many years of running their business according to plan, simply don't plan the exit process, or simply wing it when it comes to choosing the right professionals to help manage the exit process for their baby.

A good intermediary can be an invaluable component to a successful transaction, so it's important you know what to look for when choosing this type of advisor to help guide and coach you through a successful exit.

It's important to be on top of the types of valuation methods potential buyers might use to put a number on your business.

If you're not familiar with the different types of approaches used in the current market, check out what the pros had to say about the most common methods acquirers are using to start the discussion and frame their potential offer.

In a seller's market, there are countless reasons business owners decide to pull the trigger and take their baby to market.

Maybe they've been cold-called by a buyer.

Maybe they just want to get out while the getting is good.

Maybe their risk tolerance has decreased and it's time to diversify.

Having an accountant on your deal team is a great sanity-check for your company valuation before you go to market.

Be careful, as accountants don't typically have their fingers on the pulse of the actual buyer market.... -what the most likely, most attractive potential buyers of your business will actually pay.

What questions should you ask when choosing a potential attorney to represent you as you move towards selling a business?

What relevant experience should your attorney have to be considered best "qualified" to represent you and your business through to the transaction close and beyond?

An increasingly popular and controversial exit option for companies with enough marketable traction is the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC).

Clean financials?

Dummy-proof, transferable processes that a new business owner can quickly understand, implement and run with?

We've gone through the common approaches to valuation, but what should you expect to encounter in the real world when you start conversations with buyers?

Most first phone calls with a private equity professional will zero in on EBITDA and what multiple range to simply slap on top of that, prior to potentially digging deeper and moving towards LOI.

Leveraging comparable transactions to help you negotiate an acquisition price for your business is a GREAT way to put a $$$ on your baby.

Working with a knowledgeable intermediary in your company niche, one who knows the comparable transactions and buyer valuations intimately, from firsthand experience day-in, day-out is invaluable.