How much to advertise wife's involvement during the search?
November 19, 2024
by a searcher from INSEAD in Kirkland, WA, USA
I'm kicking off a search and am debating how much to advertise my wife's involvement (e.g., whether to put her on the website and tear sheet, raise her in introductory emails). I'm debating purely around perceptions from the sellers and brokers. I don't plan to raise equity outside of friends and family, so investors are not a concern.
For context, I have an investment banking and corporate background and I will be leading the search and running the acquired business, if we're successful in finding one. I will be the one sourcing, doing the analyses, and negotiating. My wife has been a stay-at-home mother since the birth of our first 10 years ago, and had no business experience prior to that (worked mostly in education). During the search, she'll be helping with a lot of the behind-the-scenes busy work (e.g., chasing down leads, researching local companies for proprietary outreach). I expect her to help with the business if acquired as well, with role dependent on type of business and what needs to be done.
Why I'm thinking of including her up front:
- She'll be working on it!
- I don't want the seller / broker to be confused when she's joining diligence calls to take notes
- On the small chance that the seller cares about selling to a family to "continue their legacy", it could help (I'm under no illusion that vast majority of sellers don't really care)
Why I'm thinking of staying more silent:
- She has no business experience and I don't want to strain credibility right off the bat, either from a buying perspective or an operational perspective
- Don't want to trigger any preconceived notions of husband/wife not working together, relationship introducing weird dynamics, etc.
Any thoughts?
in Ormond Beach, FL, USA
in Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland