Situation: A company has developed and shipped equipment that puts it into a new market. They can continue to pursue this direction or make a significant shift that will open up a larger opportunity. What are the most important considerations to this decision?

Advice from the CEOs:

• There are a number of points that you need to clarify before making this decision:
  • What is the magnitude of difference between the two opportunities?
  • How much of a shift in technology is required to make the jump to the larger segment?
  • How much of the expertise to make this shift do you have in-house, and how much must you bring in, acquire or develop through partnerships?
  • What is your most likely exit strategy and how will each opportunity impact it?
• Are you being realistic in your ability to meet development timelines?
  • If you don’t have deep expertise in the area that you want to develop, the answer is most likely yes. If you do you can often beat your initial estimates.
  • If the shift includes both there is risk that you will underestimate the time required to develop both the prototype and to turn the prototype into production quality technology.
• If your ultimate objective is to sell the company, be aware that selling any company can be tricky, and you may not be able to sell the company for the value that you need to support yourself after the sale.
  • Study other companies in your geography and market, and determine both the price that they received for their companies and how they positioned their companies for sale.
  • As an alternative to selling, consider hiring a general manager to run the company. This can free you to concentrate on your passion and also increase the value of the company if you decide to sell at a future date.

Key Words: Strategy, Technology, Equipment, Market, Decision, Opportunity, Expertise, Timeline, Exit, Value, Sale, Positioning, Manager

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