The Ultimate Profit and Loss Template
Why is your P&L important?
Your P&L is like your business card in the eyes of prospective buyers. Put your numbers in order and present them in a clean and neat way to make it easier for buyers to dive into your business’ data.
Fill in your details below and you’ll instantly get an email with the P&L template that served me well when selling my eCommerce business.
A few notes for your consideration:
- As every eCommerce business is unique you’ll need to add and remove items to reflect your unique business activity.
- The numbers that appear in the P&L data are made up so don’t take them as reference points.
- Items can be broken down differently and it’s up to you to decide how you want to show them. For example, I broke Team items down by provider, but you may choose to break them down by their function in the business or duration of hiring (temporary vs. long term).
The Complete Due Diligence Checklist
Get Prepared For Due Diligence
Making preparations for the due diligence before you actually have an offer on the table might not be at the top of your priority list, however, it can save you precious time when there is an offer on the table and show your buyers how serious, organized and trustworthy you and your business are.
Enter your details in the form below to instantly get an email with the Due Diligence checklist that served me well when selling my eCommerce business.
A couple of notes for your consideration:
- As every eCommerce business is unique you’ll need to add and remove items to reflect your unique business activity. You don’t have to tick all boxes.
- Different buyers will have different requirements so you may be asked to share other documents on top of those on the list. There may also be items on the list that they won’t ask for, but I believe that sharing all the documents you’ve got, especially if they did not ask you to, shows you have nothing to hide, and that you’re organized and professional – which is exactly where you want their minds to be.
Acquirers Of Ecommerce Businesses
Network With Your Prospective Buyers
Knowing your prospective buyers as early in the process as possible will only help you to maximize the outcome of selling your eCommerce business. Bond with them even before you plan on selling and build trust that will serve you well when you make the decision to list your business on the market.
Enter your details in the form below to instantly get an email with the Potential Buyers list that served me well when selling my eCommerce business.
A few notes for your consideration:
- Your network of friends, relatives and acquaintances is uniquely yours, therefore nobody else can come up with prospective buyers from your inner circle other than you.
- The same goes for competing and completing brands. You know your competitors best. You might also know some bigger brands and companies who might be interested in acquiring your business as it compliments their product line and portfolio.
- Aggregators, unlike brokers, are basically private equity firms that acquire eCommerce businesses for their own portfolios.
- The list updates every now and then so check back once in a while.
Fading Away From Your Ecommerce Businesses
The Day You're No Longer Running The Show
A time will come and you’ll have to part ways from your Ecommerce business and let your buyer run the show. The cut-off is the time where all revenue will count as the buyer’s along with all the expenses, you will no longer bear the risks but also won’t have a piece of the pie (unless you closed a deal that includes an earn-out of some sort). Although there will still remain balances to be reconciled at a later stage, it’ll be easier for both you and the buyer to switch all business functions to run with the buyer’s details, financial instruments etc.
Enter your details in the form below to instantly get an email with the Cut-Off To-Do list that served me well when selling my eCommerce business.
A few notes for your consideration:
- A cut-off is defined as the date that all revenue and expenses related to the business/brand sold stop being attributed to the seller and start becoming attributed to the buyer (even if there are still balances due between the parties that will be reconciled at a later stage).
- As every eCommerce business is unique you’ll need to add and remove items to reflect your unique business activity. You don’t have to tick all boxes.
- Different buyers will have different requirements so you may be asked to do stuff differently than what you see on the list. There may also be items on the list that your buyers won’t ask for, but I believe that covering everything yourself, even when not asked for, shows how well organized and professional you are – which is exactly where you want their minds to be throughout the entire process.
- You may want to break inclusive items such as ‘replace credit card information across all ad platforms’ into sub-items, to have each platform in its own sub-item, for example.