Seeking advice on doing a ROBS equity contribution. I am looking for guidance on the mechanics and professional referrals to implement. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
More on Searchfunder
Searchfunder is an online community and toolkit for searchfunds. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder.com account to help them network, problem solve challenges, and keep up with the industry.
We maintain partnerships with database providers that make searching more effective, efficient and affordable along with features that help searchers find deals and investors and vice versa.
We maintain partnerships with database providers that make searching more effective, efficient and affordable along with features that help searchers find deals and investors and vice versa.
1) Find owners that are operating under a ROBS structure to learn about their experiences/perspectives. At the start, it was difficult for me to identify business owners that operated under ROBS. But I found two sources. One was SCORE, and the other was a reference list from Benetrends. SCORE is an organization with small business mentors. I found a lady that operated her business under ROBS for almost 20 years, her ROBS provider was Guidant Financial. I also was pleasantly surprised when Benetrends shared a list of references when I asked for it. Which was a big contrast to Guidant Financial, who made it politely difficult for me to get that information, so I never got one.
2) Discuss with a ROBS Lawyer your specific circumstances. When I did this, it opened a much deeper layer of understanding for my specific goals, circumstances, business structure, etc. I spoke with Alex Gardine from Southern Utah Tax Attorney, PLLC. He was very helpful, but you get charged for the time, so I was glad I did this after I had a very good understanding of the basics. Now, keep in mind that as part of the on-boarding process with Guidant (I imagine Benetrends too) you will get assigned an independent 3rd party ROBS lawyer, so you will get charged for this anyway as part of the ROBS setup fee.
I spoke with Guidant, Benetrends, 401K ROBS and a couple others. I gained a good understanding of ROBS and its requirements. Yet, I always struggled with getting the information only from a sales team. My two recommendations above helped get perspectives from a business owner, and an specific answers I was looking for from a lawyer that interacted with hundreds of business owners after they had executed on a ROBS structure.