A Viennese photo shop that has existed for decades got a new owner in March. Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported on it in Studio 2. What stayed with me was less the change of owner than the question of how a successor can tell whether a business has a future. A name and a location are not enough.
In a handover, tax advisers, lawyers and the chamber of commerce talk first about form, price and deadlines. That is necessary. Before it comes a commercial question that the owner is best placed to answer: How does the business earn its money, and for how long?
I look at three things.
The customers
Which groups carry the contribution margin, and which cost more than they bring? Many owners know their regular customers in person and have never split the numbers by segment. A successor or partner will recalculate exactly that.
The price
What does a customer pay for? If a business was carried by relationships for years, it must become visible what remains without the owner.
The dependency
On one large customer, on one source of supply or on the owner personally. Each of these dependencies lowers the price a buyer pays, and each can be changed before the sale.
Both sides of the table
I have built and run companies in food production and in wholesale and retail. As COO of the US subsidiary of a corporation, I led the integration after a cross-border acquisition. Owner and buyer look at the same company and ask different questions.
Valuation, contract drafting and tax belong to specialists. I work with them and do not replace them.
Where you can start today
Anyone considering a handover in the coming years can start now: split the numbers by customer group and write down what keeps running without the owner. That costs time and no fee. If you want to do this together, I offer a free first conversation without obligation. More on our work in succession and acquisition and business model consulting.
Source: ORF, Studio 2, 13 March 2026, report on the succession at the Viennese photo shop.