The elements of a successful exit breaks down into four stages: exploration, strategy, execution and transition--all potentially tricky.
Entrepreneurs who leave their positions with a sense of accomplishment, feeling well compensated and secure in the belief that their employees would be treated well by their successors, feel better about the move.
Some advice for anyone who owns a business or is planning to launch one:
If you haven't already begun thinking about your eventual exit, now is the time to start. You should do so even if you currently believe that you'll never want to sell the business. For your sake and your company's sake, you should begin to think now about the circumstances under which you might leave and do all you can to ensure that the company could be sold at some point for as much money as possible.
As noted, there are four stages in the exit process, and doing the deal comes not first or second, but third. It's preceded by the strategic phase, when you build into the company the qualities and characteristics that will allow you to have the kind of exit you want.
The timing has nothing to do with whether you want to do it. It's just the right time to sell. You sell when the selling is good, not when you think you'd like to. Doing anything else, you run the risk of leaving a whole bunch of money on the table.
The more prepared you are when that day comes, the more likely it is that the parting will be a happy one.
Source: Bo Burlingham: Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top