We want to assemble our exit planning team, but we do not know how to coordinate our wealth manager, CPA, M&A attorney, and investment banker without spending a fortune on conflicting advice. How do we manage them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Assembling and managing an experienced M&A advisory team is one of the most critical parts of your exit runway. You will need a wealth manager, a specialized CPA, a transaction attorney, and an investment banker. The challenge is that if you do not manage them actively, they will operate in silos, giving you conflicting advice while racking up massive billable hours.

To run this process efficiently, you must act as the primary director of the team or designate your Integrator to coordinate the efforts. Start by bringing your wealth manager and CPA together early on your exit runway to align on your net proceeds goal. This ensures your personal financial planning matches your corporate tax strategy. Your transaction attorney must review your corporate structure well in advance to clean up any legal liabilities before you go to market.

Use your V/TO® to clearly communicate your personal goals and your target valuation to all your advisors. Ensure they are all working from the same playbook. When you establish a collaborative cadence among your external professionals, you prevent costly, deal-killing friction during the due diligence phase and ensure that everyone is focused on maximizing your post-sale wealth.