OWNER INDEPENDENCE
UNCOVERING THE VALUE OF YOUR BUSINESS
DeGoede Greenhouses was founded in 1968 and was one of the first growers to "force" greenhouse cut tulips west of the Mississippi. Second generation sons, Phil and Paul, established their own partnership, DeGoede Brothers, in 1980.
In 1992, John retired, but his sons continued to run a successful wholesale growing business. Now, more than 50 years later they celebrate serving their customers with a guiding philosophy of “customer service and satisfaction.”
“Information is power. Knowing our valuation based on the different methodologies gave us confidence in what we were doing and what we thought our business was worth.”
— Phil DeGoede, Partner & General Manager
THE PIVOT
In August 2020, after seeing PivotPoint’s virtual Succession and Exit Planning seminar at AmericanHort’s Cultivate’20 conference, Phil contacted PivotPoint with interest in building value and preparing his company for eventual third-party sales. The challenge, Phil and Paul have no family members interested in taking over their business.
RESULTS
Phil began by taking the ExitMap® and Value Builder™ Score Assessments, which track and analyze business operations such as financial performance, cash flow, marketing activities, customer satisfaction, and key dependencies to understand the current value of the business. Phil uncovered his business had a high degree of owner dependency and customer concentration.
GET YOUR SCORE
Join Phil and over 55,000 business owners and take the Value Builder™ Score Assessment. Get your score in just 13 minutes!
With transparency, recognition of his team’s value, and openness to reduce his day-to-day involvement, Phil has taken significant steps to overcome several challenges in building value. At PivotPoint’s direction, he instituted a phantom stock program for key management to gain their support as he prepared the business for transition. He also documented his standard documenting procedures finding efficiencies along the way. Phil has now reached a point in his planning where he knows that a nice return on the business is achievable and is more confident he and Paul can step away on their preferred timeframe.
CONCLUSION
If you are interested in beginning the value building, succession, or exit planning process, Phil suggests, "do it sooner than later." By involving an exit planning expert like PivotPoint, Phil says you have the guidance needed to step through the decision-making process without making mistakes. "They challenge you to think critically about how you’re running your company and the eventual possibility of a succession."
Take the Value Builder Score or ExitMap Assessment today. Email PivotPoint or Chris at chris@pivotpointbizsolutions.com and start building your company's value.
“When we started working with Phil, he played a significant role in the business and was essentially the face of DeGoede Brothers to his customer base. Taking the necessary personal, financial, and business readiness steps, with his key management team on board, has prepared Phil to leave the business on his timetable without regrets."
Managing Director & Business Advisor