Take the money and run? Wineinstyle

Just as in consumption of wine – in business, knowing when to stop is much more important than knowing when to start. Eberhart faces a difficult decision – walking away from a business that he built and has a significant emotional investment in, or face the incredibly complex task of managing a company from thousands of miles away. To add to the conundrum, the new group of investors appears to be of questionable background.

I contend Eberhart is no longer responsible for the day to day operation of the business – while he has been a Chairman by letter, he has been acting closer to a CFO for the business in terms of his cash management. The day to day management of the company and its ultimate operational success or failure is in the hands of the CEO – Khoo. In this light, I would sell to the investors pending confirmation that the money is clean and can be repatriated to the USA. Additionally, I would seek an advisory contract from the new board to stay on as a consultant if they desire – this would both add additional capital to his personal balance sheet (I cannot imagine the exit on a $4M revenue business is enough to live on) while also giving him an opportunity to positively influence that which he has built.

This decision is one that comes down to his personal mindset at the time – while it’s easy to look at spreadsheets and numbers, we must remember that decisions of the entrepreneur are first personal and second professional. That is to say, if you cannot have a life then you cannot have a business.