Key points.
- Selling or transferring a business is a strategic decision that impacts the company’s economic value, the continuity of its business model, and the personal future of its founder.
- Rigorous and methodical preparation beforehand allows for the alignment of valuation, governance, sale timeline, family expectations, and wealth management objectives.
- Lombard Odier Corporate Advisory supports entrepreneurs through all key stages related to the sale, transfer, and governance of their business.
- The more the transition is anticipated, the more it protects the company culture, strengthens the confidence of buyers or successors, and preserves the entrepreneurial legacy.
Selling or transferring a business is not solely a financial decision. For an entrepreneur, it is often the culmination of a life journey, but also the beginning of a demanding transition involving valuation, governance, operational continuity, family succession, and personal preparation. It is precisely at this intersection of business, assets, and life project that Lombard Odier Corporate Advisory supports entrepreneurs.
For many founders, their company is more than just a source of income or a symbol of professional success. It’s an integral part of their identity: it’s where they feel at home, the embodiment of their mission, an extension of themselves. For these founders, selling their company carries an emotional dimension, both exhilarating and daunting.
In this context, the external perspective of an experienced advisor can prove particularly valuable. As Maxime Dubouloz, Director of Corporate Advisory at Lombard Odier, explains, this conviction is at the heart of the Corporate Advisory service: supporting entrepreneurs during the decisive moments in their company’s life, from strategic planning to preparing for sale, including succession, governance, valuation, and integration with their personal assets.
While valuation, transaction structuring, and negotiation are essential, they are not enough. A successful sale also requires preparing the company to operate without its founder, clarifying the future role of the family or management team, and, of course, anticipating the financial and personal consequences of the founder’s departure.
Preparing for the sale of your business: a strategic as well as a personal challenge
From the outside, selling one’s company may seem like the inevitable culmination of years of hard work and multiple risks. But for a founder, this step is more complex. It involves being able to detach emotionally from a role, a team, a culture, and a daily rhythm that have often shaped their identity over years. This is why preparing for a sale must integrate, from the outset, the human—and therefore emotional—operational, and financial dimensions of the transition.
This is precisely where structured support becomes invaluable. For Maxime Dubouloz, the key is to help entrepreneurs gain perspective early enough, even before the sale process begins. Prior to a transaction, this support allows for an objective valuation of the company, identification of areas of dependence on the founder, preparation of future governance, and the establishment of a realistic timeline. Furthermore, it greatly helps entrepreneurs envision the post-sale period, ensuring that the exit is not only well-negotiated but also fully embraced.
After the sale: how to redefine your role, your assets and your horizon
Entrepreneurs are, by nature, highly motivated individuals, and it’s often the structure and pressure of running their business that fuel this motivation. Replacing this source of motivation requires entrepreneurs to confront questions they’ve never considered before: What will my definition of success be in the future? Who am I without this business? What am I going to do now?
These questions can be particularly difficult for founders who have dedicated decades to a single company and whose identity is closely tied to their business and its success. For them, selling their company is not just a transaction requiring rigorous financial planning; it is also a transformation that demands a new mindset.
Experience shows that entrepreneurs benefit from thinking about the post-sale period very early on. What role, if any, do they want to retain within the company? How do they want to reorganize their assets? What place will be given to family, philanthropy, new entrepreneurial projects, or investment? These questions are not peripheral: they often determine the quality of the transition.
Experience shows that entrepreneurs benefit from thinking about the post-sale period very early on. What role, if any, do they want to retain within the company? How do they want to reorganize their assets? What place will family, philanthropy, new entrepreneurial projects, or investment have in their lives? These questions are not peripheral; they often determine the quality of the transition.
We encourage and help clients consider these questions about their future direction even before a sale is on the horizon. What are your values beyond the company? How will you thrive after you leave? What impact do you want to have in the next phase of your life? How might your children or heirs contribute to shaping and perpetuating the wealth and legacy you have built?
Transmission and continuity: protecting the company, strengthening value
Even when they decide to sell, founders often remain deeply committed to the future of the company they built. They feel responsible for its employees, customers, partners, and the culture that made it successful. This is precisely why the transfer of ownership should not be viewed solely as a transaction, but as a genuine handover that ensures the continuity of the entrepreneurial project.
Will the buyer preserve the company culture? Will the management team be able to ensure continuity? Will employees and customers understand the purpose of the transition? These questions influence not only the founder’s legacy, but also the risk perception of buyers, banks, investors, and stakeholders.
Preparing to sell your business involves having honest conversations with family members, your management team, advisors, and perhaps most importantly, with yourself. These conversations aren’t always easy, but they are essential. They help you discover what matters most to you, so you can define a vision for life after the sale, both for yourself and for those who will remain with the business after you leave. In this context, truly comprehensive succession planning is both a logistical process and an emotional journey.
In the Swiss context, this anticipation remains insufficient. A 2025 study of 499 Swiss family businesses highlights that only 11% of respondents have completed a formal succession process, while 47% have not yet begun considering it. It also shows that nearly half of the businesses have not yet designated a successor. These figures confirm the importance of structured support, provided sufficiently early in the business lifecycle.
To give founders the assurance that their legacy is in good hands, the handover must be carefully managed. This includes ensuring that the next generation of leaders is fully prepared to take the reins, whether they are internal successors, family heirs, or new owners. Transparency, communication, and shared values are essential for a smooth transition.
Timing is a crucial factor. Time must be considered a strategic variable in its own right: a sale prepared too late can limit options, reduce negotiating power, or reveal operational weaknesses during due diligence. Conversely, preparing well in advance allows sensitive issues to be addressed before the process begins: customer dependency, governance, financial organization, taxation, the founder’s role after the sale, and family alignment.
At Lombard Odier Corporate Advisory, we help entrepreneurs approach these decisions methodically, independently, and sensitively. The goal is not simply to prepare a transaction, but to build a clear decision-making framework: understanding the available options, objectively assessing the company’s value, anticipating the expectations of buyers or successors, and integrating the sale into a long-term, family-oriented, and asset-based vision.
Estate planning is not just a guarantee of inheritance; it is a strategic lever that increases market attractiveness and strengthens negotiating power.
Above all, early succession planning also has a direct impact on valuation and buyer confidence. Buyers value companies that demonstrate clear continuity in leadership, strong governance, and well-prepared transition plans. In this way, succession planning is not only a safeguard for inheritance but also a strategic lever that increases market attractiveness and strengthens negotiating power.
Write the next chapter: aligning business, assets, and life project
Letting go does not mean leaving without experiencing emotions. But it means acting with intention, regardless of the founder’s feelings, as they prepare to begin a new chapter by developing the mindset and mechanisms necessary to move forward with clarity and determination.
At Lombard Odier, Maxime Dubouloz and his team often encourage entrepreneurs to think about three key questions before they leave:
- What is the best option for my business: family succession, management takeover, sale to a third party, or opening up the capital?
- What economic value can I reasonably expect, and how can I secure or improve it before the transaction?
- What role, what legacy, and what life project would I like to build after the sale?
Once the sale scenario is clarified, the challenge also lies in translating the potential proceeds of the sale into a wealth management strategy. This involves modeling future liquidity needs, anticipating tax implications, defining an asset allocation tailored to the founder’s new risk profile, and preserving the flexibility needed to finance new projects, support family members, or fund philanthropic endeavors.
After selling their business, many entrepreneurs reinvest their time, capital, and experience in new areas: starting or supporting businesses, mentoring, consulting, private investment, philanthropy, family succession planning, or long-delayed personal projects. The success of this new phase often depends on the ability to transform the liquidity from the sale into a coherent framework for living, investing, and engaging in other activities.
With the right support, the founders realize that separating from their company does not mean losing their identity, but rather finding the freedom to create a new one.
Selling a business is a pivotal moment, and how it unfolds helps shape the next chapter in an entrepreneur’s life. When succession planning is approached with foresight, empathy, and intention, the emotional impact of the departure can be positive and transformative.
Founders who take the time to prepare themselves both emotionally and strategically are far more likely to emerge from this experience with a renewed sense of clarity, motivation, and peace of mind. With the right support, they realize that parting ways with their company doesn’t mean losing their identity, but rather finding the freedom to create a new one.
At Lombard Odier Corporate Advisory , Maxime Dubouloz and his team support entrepreneurs well before, during, and after the pivotal moments in their company’s life. Their approach combines expertise in business sales and transfers, an understanding of family and estate planning issues, and a long-term vision. Because selling or transferring a business is not simply about turning a page: it’s about ensuring the continuity of what has been built, while empowering the founder to write the next chapter with clarity and confidence.
