To the founder of a company, a business is a like a child. You’ve tended to and nurtured it through the years, agonizing over decisions, celebrating triumphs and sweating through missteps. Time flies by and then suddenly, somehow far sooner than expected, your baby is all grown up and moving on into the world—without you.
“It’s the fastest 20 years you will spend in your life, and you’re not quite ready for it to end,” says Carey Smith, who recently sold the cooling systems company, Big Ass Solutions, which he founded in 2009 (CHK). “It is ending, and you knew that because selling is a lengthy process, but somehow you’re still not prepared.”
Smith’s Lexington, Kentucky-based company had grown steadily since its inception, from six people and $34 million in annual revenues to 800 employees and more than $260 million in 2017. While there was no burning need to exit, he was approaching age 65 with no heir apparent in the wings and offers pouring in over the transom. “It was sort of like when you decide you want a cookie and then all of a sudden you start seeing cookies,” he recounts.
The desire to do right by longstanding employees who owned stock appreciation rights (SARs) in the company also drove his decision. Because of the way the company was structured, a portion of its eventual $500 million price tag was disbursed among 140 employees. “Writing $48.8 million worth of checks to people you’ve worked with for years is a really good feeling,” says Smith. “A lot of them told me, ‘This is life-changing.’”
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Selling, however, proved a more arduous personal and professional journey than Smith anticipated—one he emerged from with plenty of newfound knowledge to share:
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