We are worried that rushing our exit preparation will lead us to pay a massive dumb tax in the form of legal mistakes or discounted valuation. How do we incorporate Juliet Funt's concept of white space into our leadership team's weekly schedule to prevent burnout and bad decisions on our runway?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The exit planning runway is a high-stress environment, and leadership teams often try to run at maximum speed to prep the business while keeping operations afloat. This constant busyness is a breeding ground for exhausted brains and poor decisions, which ultimately results in a massive dumb tax paid in the form of discounted valuations or bad deal structures. To protect your enterprise value, you must incorporate Juliet Funt's concept of white space into your team's weekly schedule. White space is open, unscheduled time with no assignment. It is not wasting time; it is the strategic pause your brain needs to recover, reduce tasks, and reflect on the big picture. Force your leadership team to schedule at least two hours of white space every week during this runway. Use this time to step back from the daily fire drills and objectively evaluate your exit progress. This strategic pause allows your team to catch critical errors in your data room before the buyer's due diligence team finds them. It gives you the mental clarity to make major decisions without distraction, ensuring you do not sign a bad letter of intent out of sheer exhaustion.