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A couple tips:

- After negotiating a ballpark sale price, I was advised to get an attorney, and that was excellent advice. The attorney cost 10K or 20K, and it was worth every penny. My partner trusted each other enough to share an attorney we had worked with previously. I trusted the attorney to work with both sides, even though the attorney was probably representing the business more than myself.

- Any exit plan that involves deferred compensation should be crystal clear, and I encourage you to focus on discreet payments that do not require you audit the company's finances, as it's a lot easier for both sides if the only thing you have to do is cash a check (e.g. you receive a fixed payment of X regardless of how well the company does, and avoid things like you get X% of sales over a certain period)

- just keep in mind that you and your partner will likely have wildly different ideas about the company valuation

- one option you can consider is staying with the company and offering to buy out your partner. My partner was the one who originally wanted to exit, but she ended up buying me out, and it worked well for both of us!

- be nice (or at least civil) throughout the process, as breaking up will be hard, and you need trust to be preserved to feel good that any deferred payments are likely to happen. Also, you might wanna work with each other again in the future.

- don't negotiate an exit payment so high that the business might not be able to pay it




Thanks! I don't have money now to afford a lawyer, and even if I did, it's possible that I'd pay more for a lawyer than potentially get in cash or equity

Jim would never leave me the company and frankly, I have no interest to stay even without him




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