“A Tale of Two Owners”, by Patrick Ungashick
Many of my Vistage members and consulting clients have business partners. It seems really easy in the beginning to team up with a best friend, an old college roommate, or maybe even a family member. You have shared responsibilities. Each of you invest some amount of time and money into the new business. It’s fun.
And then it happens. It’s hard to predict exactly when, but there is the first “bump in the road”. A slight disagreement about a strategic decision. A subtle misalignment on the future direction of the company. A minor quarrel about an employee issue. And then the significance and frequency of these flare-ups get worse and worse.
Business partnerships, like marriages, are very hard. Award-winning author Patrick Ungashick understands this and has written an excellent book, “A Tale of Two Owners”, to help business partners effectively navigate their way to a successful exit. Ungashick is a Vistage member and a very popular speaker. His first book, “Dance in the End Zone”, is required reading for any business owner intent upon crafting a successful exit strategy.
“A Tale of Two Owners” is written as a business fable. The two main characters are co-owners of a successful IT business. While they have worked together successfully for over twenty years, the relationship becomes stressed when they each begin to consider their own exit strategy from the business. They find that their plans are not in alignment with each other. One wants to sell the business and retire and the other is interested in passing the business to his daughter.
Fortunately, the business partners find an exit strategy consultant who helps them work together in planning their united exit from the business. The tool that is used in the book from author Ungashick is “The Guide to Creating Co-Owner Exit Alignment”
This is an essential book for business partners to read and work through. Purchase your copy and get started today.