After my dad died, I ran and sold his company (2018)

Succession planning and family businesses

• Many note the absence of a formal succession plan, seeing it as common in small, founder‑led firms, especially where the business is tightly tied to the founder’s identity.
• Commenters discuss how children often don’t want or aren’t equipped to continue family businesses, in India and the US (e.g., HVAC, construction, manufacturing).
• Some share parallel stories of aging parents with no plan and anxiety about what happens to employees.

Sale dynamics, valuation, and “bottom feeders”

• Debate over small‑business sale multiples: some say 2–3x earnings can be fair for hands‑on, key‑person‑dependent firms; others think there’s systemic underpricing.
• Discussion of an “industry” of buyers who wait for owners to be ill or dying, then lowball.
• One side calls this exploitative, bordering on contracts under duress; another argues it is just supply/demand and sellers are not “entitled” to preferred prices.
• Some suggest markets for these niche businesses are inefficient and possibly tacitly collusive; others counter that if something consistently sells for 33% of “theoretical value,” that’s probably its real value given risk and information issues.

Why not internal CEO or co‑op?

• Multiple questions about promoting an internal manager or converting to a worker co‑op.
• Responses stress lack of broad business/generalist skills internally, limited access to capital/credit in that context, time constraints, and cultural/mental gap between “employee” and “owner.”
• Consensus: feasible in theory, but not practical here given location, scale, and urgency.

Employee welfare, culture, and PE vs strategic buyers

• Readers praise the priority given to employees and legacy when choosing a buyer.
• Some contrast this with a more purely financial “sell to highest bidder / private equity” approach, though others point out many founders do just that without guilt.
• Discussion around Indian tier‑2 cities: fewer alternative jobs, making employer responsibility feel heavier; “lifers” are common in manufacturing/industrial roles.

Co‑ops and ownership models

• Thread branches into debate over worker co‑ops vs “capitalist” ownership.
• Pro‑co‑op voices highlight large European co‑ops where workers share profits and governance.
• Skeptics list prerequisites: aligned ideology, willingness to bear risk, extra management overhead, and not all workers wanting ownership.

Personal reflections and reaction to the article

• Numerous commenters share emotionally similar experiences (death of a founder, chaotic handovers, businesses decaying under surviving spouses).
• The writing is widely described as unusually sincere and non‑self‑promotional; several suggest it has film or case‑study potential.