Scott Hanson

Succession planning often sounds orderly when owners talk about it in the abstract. The usual assumption is that, when the time comes, a child, junior partner, or a longtime employee will step in and preserve, if not carry forward, what took decades to bu... See more

A surprising number of business owners know exactly what they want their company to become and almost nothing about what they want their own life to become once the company is sold. They can speak with confidence about revenue targets, hiring needs, margi... See more

When owners talk about why they want to sell, they tend to reach first for reasons that sound clean and easy to explain. Retirement is easy for people to understand. So is an exceptional offer or a major market change. Burnout, by contrast, is a harder re... See more

After struggling to fill six or seven races on Friday nights, and having small field sizes for the horse races that are run, Emerald Downs has announced that it is canceling its four Friday nights of racing in August. Emerald Downs track president Phil Zi... See more

Most owners don’t wake up one morning and decide, out of nowhere, to sell their business. It’s a gradual realization. It may take shape while sitting in the office early on a Monday, answering emails. The idea might get more defined while you’re looking o... See more