I encourage you to stop what you're doing and read Sierra Hinson's article, "What It Actually Takes to Sell a Company". Then read it again. Then send it to the rest of your executive team. She packs a lot of wisdom about selling your company into just a couple of pages.

This is when you'll tell me: "But I'm nowhere near selling my company!"

Good! That makes this the perfect time to internalize Sierra's words. The most important work starts early, long before an outside party has expressed interest in an acquisition.

"I'm not worried. Things look fine."

I'm sure they do! But looks can be deceiving.

It's easy for founders to think that things are fine because the company isn't actively showing signs of distress. Not true. As I often say: "just because it runs, doesn't mean it works ."

Problematic risk exposures can lurk beneath the surface, only to become visible years later when the counterparty's due diligence team starts their investigation.

"Well, I'm not a CEO and I'm not in charge of our company's finances."

You should still read Sierra's article. What she says still applies even if you swap "CFO" and "finance" for your title and department.

(Case in point: her reminder to take care of issues early? That applies tenfold to your data and AI efforts.)