How to exit your business

About a dozen Lamorinda Entrepreneurs met on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 to discuss different ways to sell your business. We covered everything from the financial and legal to the emotional and logistical considerations that entrepreneurs should consider before making this decision.

What will you do afterward? Will you still need to work? Is it possible to do a slow transition to a key employee or family member? What happens if that person is no longer able to continue with the succession plan?

These are questions with no easy answers! And in the discussion, we realized that everybody's calculation is different. We all have different needs, different financial goals, and different resources to put into the business.

The first step, though, is to find a buyer and find out what your business is worth. Here's a list of business marketplaces provided by member Kal Deutsch to help get you started.

• https://exchangemarketplace.com/

• https://flippa.com/

• https://www.bizbuysell.com/

• https://www.bizquest.com/

• https://us.businessesforsale.com/

• https://www.vestedbb.com/

• https://microacquire.com/

• https://www.bizben.com/

• https://www.businessbroker.net/

• https://www.buybusiness.com/

• https://dealstream.com/

• http://www.globalbx.com/

• https://www.loopnet.com/biz/businesses-for-sale

• https://www.franchisegator.com/

• https://www.websitebroker.com/

• https://www.businessmart.com/

• https://latonas.com/

Good luck!

Launching Pillar Cowork just before the pandemic

Amirh is the co-founder of Pillar Cowork, an innovative working and childcare space in Lafayette. She opened the doors in early March 2020 -- two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to stay at home.

Fortunately, Pillar Cowork survived the rollercoaster whiplash of purple tier closings and orange tier openings. They look forward to growing again as our office culture shifts towards smaller, local offices.

We covered:

• Why she got into the coworking business

• Early startup struggles and successes

• What makes Pillar unique

• Where office working trends are headed

• The entrepreneurial community in Lafayette and Lamorinda at large

A conversation with Kevin Hamilton of Canyon Club Brewery in Moraga

In this discussion with Canyon Club Brewery, we covered a lot of ground. Among the topics we discussed were:

• How did you get your start in business? Was this always the dream?

• What took Moraga so long to get a brewpub with a beer garden?

• Why Moraga? Did you have a hunch that the town needed Canyon Club and would support it?

• Tell us more about Canyon Club. What makes it special?

• Have the town and county been good partners? What can they do better?

• What about the other restauranteurs and business owners? Do you all support each other enough?

We really appreciated Kevin's candor. It's hard to run a restaurant these days and it sounded like Kevin had the right attitude and acumen to make it work. I'm really glad to have had the opportunity to chat.

I'm also glad to be doing my part to help. Just look inside my refrigerator: