There are so many extra costs involved in selling a business that are hard to imagine or predict beforehand. The buyer is also taking on huge costs which is why they need the deal to be of a certain size before they’re interested in looking at you.
The extra costs can be a genuinely significant and nasty surprise. Sure, there’s more money floating around but any bootstrapped founder feels high costs keenly at any stage.
An exit-readiness project would have helped get a few things in order more cheaply. Because when you’re in the moment, you’ll pay extra for rapid service from advisors and consultants. £8,000 for a payment processor to pay minority shareholders? Absurd, yet it happens.
At the time, saying “no” to these services feels risky. You’ve never done it before so you lean on your experts who know full well what’s at stake and charge accordingly.