Imagine that things are great with your business, revenues, margins and profits are all up -- everything is running like a well oiled machine. So, you decide that the time is right to cash out and sell your company to the highest bidder.
Pretend it all goes well and you have several interested buyers who are all willing to give you your dream purchase price and more. So, you take the next step. You sign a letter of intent with the buyer and due diligence on your company begins.
All of a sudden you realize your top employees are really the key to get your deal closed and depending on your employee's motivations and actions, your purchase price can go up and down or it may kill the deal altogether. We call these the key employee hostage scenarios.
