What's Your Exit Strategy?: 7 Ways to Maximize the Value of the Business You've Built

by Peter H. Engel

If you're like most entrepreneurs, you probably haven't considered the most important step you'll ever take as a business owner—leaving. Did you know that by not having the right exit strategy in place— today —you're risking not only the wealth your business has created but also your own financial security? Too many entrepreneurs have forfeited millions through unwise divestitures. It doesn't have to be that way for you. This book shows you step by step how to develop an exit strategy that's right for you, your business, your employees, and your family.

In What's Your Exit Strategy?, business expert Peter H. Engel walks you through the proccess, describing in detail each of the exit strategies and their implications. You'll learn which of the following strategies will maximize your
• Selling to a startegic buyer—supplier, customer, or competitor
• Selling to a financial buyer
• Going public
• Selling to your heirs or employees
• Liquidating your assets
• Enforced liquidation
• Managing for life


Whether you're a brand-new entrepreneur or a long-time business owner, What's Your Exit Strategy? is your blueprint for a secure—and profitable—future.



"Peter Engel's advice—that the right time to establish an exit strategy is at the start of a business—is enormously valuable. And the book's fun to read too." —Sid Feltenstein, president & CEO of A&W Restaurants


"Having exited without reading Peter's book definitely hurt. Why wasn't it written when I sold my company?" —Jeffery Ullman, founder & CEO of Great Expectations Video Dating Sevice


"A must-read for anyone who is serious about building a seriously successful business!" —Dr. Jon Goodman, executive director of EC2 (The Annenberg Center Incubator Project), University of Southern California


About the Author

Peter H. Engel is a former senior corporate executive with Colgate Palmolive and a successful entrepreneur who has founded and profitably exited eight different companies. A prolific business writer, he has also been a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California's business school. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 4, 1999

About the author

Peter H. Engel, co-owner of Affinity Communications Corporation, is a management expert, a former Associate Professor at the University of Southern California. His also the author of three novels, four business books, several trade books, and one children's cookbook.

In 1973, The Colgate‐Palmolive Company named Engel as president and chief executive officer of Helena Rubinstein, Inc.