On Thursday, January 27, 2022, Exit Planning Institute President, Scott Snider, hosted our 2022 State of the Institute Address to hundreds of CEPAs, professional advisors, and business owners. He shared the state of the exit planning market, M&A considerations, and provided our community of Certified Exit Planning Advisors with research that will positively impact their practice.
Here are a few of our biggest takeaways from this annual address.
Exit Planning Market Insights
According to a recent Ernst and Young Family Center Study, lower middle market owners start thinking about transitioning from their business at 62 years old. The average baby boomer is 67 years old, so we are well into what EPI Founders, Richard Jackim and Peter Christman, refer to as the “Exit Wave.” The market activity in 2021 was up by 50% over the previous year.
The main motivators for exit are the advancing age of owners, the hot market for M&A transactions, the impact of the COVID pandemic and the accompanying health concerns, and a favorable economic outlook. The industries with the most active markets going into 2022 are B2B business services, manufacturing, healthcare, and construction and materials.
According to our latest State of Owner Readiness Report highlighting business owners in the New York region, 81% of owners indicated they were educated to some extent in an exit planning process, which is wildly higher than past research. Exit Planning Institute President, Scott Snider, shares, “87.73% of the owners that took the survey are 49 years old or younger! The data is beginning to show us that these owners are ready for an exit conversation. What are you doing to engage your business? Do you have the right knowledge and process? Are you having the right conversations? Are you teamed with the right people?”
Where is the Exit Planning Profession Headed?
Scott shared “Generally, I think exit planning is more critical than ever before. I think the pandemic and other market conditions or assumptions have sparked the interest of owners, and in particular, baby boomers, to start the exit process or get out of their business. While we service those needs immediately, we will begin to see the next generation of owners coming in. We have a huge opportunity to educate them early in the process so they can build a company that is ready and attractive at the time of exit. CEPAs will continue to lead this profession and market.”
Recent research from Deal Ware shares that 48% of companies owned by baby boomers were shutting down instead of transitioning to another owner. This shows a large opportunity for exit planning advisors to educate and assist owners in their exits. Scott Snider shared that in order for businesses to transition effectively, they have to move from being “successful” towards being “significant” companies. These companies are valuable and transferable, function independently of their owners, and are attractive and ready to transition at any time.
Where Is Exit Planning Institute Going in 2022?
2022 marks 10 years since Christopher Snider and Scott Snider acquired Exit Planning Institute through their firm, Snider Premier Growth. Scott shared, “Since buying EPI with Chris in 2012, we have had the same goal. To help owners build company’s that transfer at a high value and where owners have a purpose and passion in the next phase of their life. As an exited owner myself, I have always been passionate about helping owners build great companies while balancing their life.”
In June of 2021, Scott released his updated Vision for EPI as the newly named President. One of his goals is to build a “Better and more diverse EPI Community that includes advisors that represent the core and supplemental exit planning teams. We will expand into functional specialties like marketing consultants, IT consultants, life coaches, human resources consultants, and more.”
Exit Planning Institute has begun to highlight “EPI” in the way in which we educate professional advisors.
E P I
Experiences: Significant and transformational experiences
People: Build great and successful teams
Innovation: Lead the market in innovative solutions and strategies
His vision remains focused on growing the CEPA community to a network of over 10,000 advisors in the next few years. In addition to his vision statement, Scott stated, “The ultimate goal is to have the Value Acceleration Methodology taught at the college level. That has always been a big goal of mine.”
Exit Planning Institute: 2021 By the Numbers
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