What happens when one sells his company ? Feedback from Sandra The Great : how to bounce back after having sold his company.
One day, I sold my box.
“But why have you sold so early ?” me-t we requested.
“But it makes 16 years I have lived in over-revving and without respite !” I replied.
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When I created CANALCE, in 2000, I was very excited and I got stuck for a long time, with difficulties, stress and moments complex to manage, too, but the column of the positive, largely exceeded that of the negative. Fortunately, otherwise I would not have lasted all this time.
“Bound” ? Yes, it is the term, because it reflects well the reality of this marathon doubled in a race to the bottom. Create but mostly develop a great resistance, physical as well as moral.
Even more, when one is a woman, wife, mom, friend, and that we must manage all of these mandates ! Prioritizing, not ignoring not, by always being the head of the company that are expected of you : in shape and available for your employees, your customers, your shareholders, your bankers, your partners, your suppliers. And your loved ones.
I was very proud to give birth to this “baby” and make it grow to 70M€ of turnover and 200 employees ; Like any “ado” , he has had many seizures that it was crossed with a power coupled with an urge is very strong to continue our route.
Then why sell ? This may come of a meeting, a takeover offer, in good and due form, of weariness, of an evolution of the market (restructuring-turnaround-concentration), of a new competition, or even an exit clause of your shareholders.
Sell without leave his soul
It is often a mixture of all of this, because the sale of dream where talent, luck and timing are aligned is a momentum that is difficult to capture. The myth of the creator that sells it, gets rich and leaves the Bahamas is obsolete and outdated : the time is in the creations and recreations, coaching-mentoring other entrepreneurs (young or not) , to the involvement in the ecosystem (financial investment or skills)…
The challenge is to achieve separation from what has been worn for several years, putting more than our professional life and this, without leaving his soul and his good mood.
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After sixteen years, so I’ve backed CanalCE-Kalidea the Group Up. Side staff, I was going on my 50 years : a turning point ! I had high (well) my children and they are studying now abroad, I wanted to change my life and projects… professionally, the business had taken on a dimension that no longer corresponded to my aspirations – research, profitability, reorganization, relentless battle with competitors, market consolidation, a cash management complex, the impatience of shareholders on the prospects for outputs, etc, In 2014, we had anticipated that a listing on the stock Exchange, but this was not the right timing. Shortly after, I met the group Check in have Lunch, we were on the same trades, we discuss an approximation, it does not succeed. But when a company grows (more than 200 employees to CanalCE-Kalidea), the field of potential buyers is restricted. It was necessary to align the company to an industrial player.
A violent change
In 2016, I can Check Breakfast (now and then Group Up) and this time we conclude the deal. The buyer asked me to accompany integration. But I needed new projects to give a boost to my motivation… I realized that a mission pure and simple, integration in the recipient of the SMES that I had created and I would not enough. So I made a follow-up “light” so that everything happens for the best, and I quickly left the company.
I admit, I had a moment of emptiness, of loneliness, of course. I went from 200 mails per day to 20, I was no longer available, I no longer had a team meeting, I was no longer the patron saint of operational and sought… it is indeed a violent change !
What has helped me is to have prepared a minimum the after-Kalidea and especially to look at before all the positive sides of the situation ; I had created more than 200 jobs, carried out over thirteen acquisitions, generated millions of drinks, learned a lot, shared great moments with my team, got some great recognition and a lot of fun !
Think about yourself beyond the company
But above all, I had taken care of them while my life as a business manager to be remained connected to the ecosystem and networks (vice-president for six years of Growth, mentor to entrepreneurs, I also took part in round tables, conferences). I had also worked my “personal branding” : I was Sandra The Great before to be the founder of CanalCE. It is important at a time when it is detached from its company, otherwise loses all of a sudden, his social status, his job and his identity.
once the phase of destabilization has passed, questions are raised, hit of common sense : how will we continue to earn a living, that will we rebuild, how and why ? I’ve attacked my third slice of life, around the sharing and transmission : I give lectures, classes in schools precioussmooth, I have had a seat in the boards of directors and… I co-founded a new company around this time, coaching – Yapuka, the 1st platform of the relationship between coaches and young people to prepare them for their interviews (contest entry school, internship, employment). Where there is the sharing, transmission, and pedagogy.
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My first barometer was and remains the pleasure and envy, while choosing with whom I want to work. I am not sure of winding up a company and a team of 200 employees, but I know that in order to sell his company, it is absolutely necessary to prepare his exit, and see her next slice of life.