A Confident Exit look at baseball at business succession.
Christmas holds the honor of being dubbed “the most wonderful time of the year.” Heck, there’s even a song about it. But I’m casting my vote for the start of baseball season as a very close second!
Spring has a certain rhythm to it, after all.
College baseball is getting underway. Major League teams are settling into Spring Training. And if you’re like me, it’s the time of year when the old baseball movies start making their way back onto the screen.
One of those movies, of course, is Field of Dreams.
Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice whisper a simple line that becomes one of the most famous phrases in sports movies:
“If you build it, he will come.”
So Ray does something that would make most rational people very nervous. Against the urging of just about everyone but his wife, he plows under part of his cornfield and builds a baseball field. (It is, in fact, still there and bigger than ever if you want to check it out - https://www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/)
Just a quick overview since this movie came out way back in the 1980’s, but most of you know the storyline: His finances get tight without the extra corn to sell, his neighbors think he’s crazy, and at one point the bank is knocking and the farm is close to being lost.
Yet Ray keeps going. He believes that if he just follows the voice, somehow things will work out. Later in the movie another “whisper” line appears that pushes the story forward:
“Ease his pain.”
And eventually another message arrives:
“Go the distance.”
It’s a beautiful movie about faith, family, and unfinished business. But interestingly enough, I see a version of that story play out with business owners all the time. Only the field they’re building isn’t made of grass and chalk lines.
It’s their company.
Over the years I’ve noticed that many entrepreneurs operate with their own version of the Field of Dreams mindset. It sounds something like this:
“If I build something substantial… someday the buyers will show up.”
The business becomes their main retirement plan. If they build it, the buyers will come and the retirement box gets checked.
The idea is simple enough. Work hard for decades, build something valuable, and when the time comes someone will step forward and write the check that turns all those years of effort into financial freedom. And sometimes that’s exactly what happens.
But not always.
Because unlike the movie, buyers don’t show up simply because something exists. They show up when a business is transferable. A company can be profitable and still be difficult to sell. Not because the numbers are bad. But because the business depends too heavily on the person who built it.
When potential buyers evaluate a company, they’re quietly asking a different version of Ray Kinsella’s question: “What happens when the founder is no longer here?” If the answer is uncertain, the value of the business begins to look very different.
You can usually spot the warning signs pretty quickly.
· The owner is the primary rainmaker.
· Key customer relationships live almost entirely with them.
· Important processes exist mostly in their head.
· Major decisions run through their desk.
The company works well. But it works well because the owner is there every day making it work. From a buyer’s perspective, that’s a risk and buyers tend to discount risk.
The businesses that attract strong buyers tend to look a little different.
· They have leadership teams that can operate independently.
· Customer relationships that extend beyond the founder.
· Systems and processes that are documented and repeatable.
· A structure that allows the company to keep moving even if the founder steps away.
In other words, the business has learned to stand on its own two feet. It’s no longer just a great job for the owner. It has become an asset. (See Decentralizing the Business Owner for a visual view)
There’s another moment in Field of Dreams that always stands out to me. Ray Kinsella is facing real pressure. His finances are tight. The farm is at risk. People around him think the whole project was a mistake and his back was against the wall.
Many business owners (especially right now) know that feeling well - markets change, industries evolve and economic headwinds show up when you least expect them. Running a company is rarely a straight line. Which is why the most successful owners eventually start thinking about their business a little differently. Not just as something they run…but as something that may need to live beyond them.
Building a successful company is an incredible accomplishment. But building a company that someone else can successfully own and operate is a different challenge entirely. It requires stepping back. Documenting systems. Developing leadership. Gradually moving the business from owner-driven to system-driven.
That kind of work doesn’t happen overnight. But over time it changes the character of the company. And interestingly enough, it often makes the business more enjoyable to own along the way because the founder is no longer carrying the entire enterprise on their shoulders.
The lesson isn’t that the Field of Dreams mindset is wrong. Entrepreneurs almost always have to believe in something before the rest of the world sees it. But when it comes to exit planning, it’s worth remembering something important: A great business doesn’t automatically attract buyers.
A transferable business does. Or to borrow another line from the movie…
Sometimes you still have to “go the distance” to make sure someone else can play the game there long after you’re gone. Simply building the field isn’t enough.
And as we often say at Horizon Financial Group when helping business owners think about the future:
Complexity kills confidence. Simplifying the future is how you build it.
The next step is always just a conversation to turn over the stone and see if we can help. Message me here on LinkedIn or reach out to me at pbush@horizonfg.com. If I am not at a ballpark somewhere, I’ll get right back to you!