Exit ramp: Firm succeeds by smoothing the sale process

Florida — and the Tampa Bay area, in particular — routinely pops up on lists of the best places in the country to start a business. All the usual factors — low taxes and unemployment, good weather, a robust and rapidly diversifying economy — are often cited as strengths.

But Aberdeen Advisors, a St. Petersburg-based boutique mergers and acquisitions firm, bucks conventional wisdom to some extent on that theory. The firm contends now is just as good a time to sell a business, not just start one, and if you haven’t begun to plan an exit strategy, it might already be too late.