Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Many stuck in commuter gridlock might envy Jason Cobb. He lives in a loft right above his ground-floor coffee shop, Java J’s Coffee, on 700 N. Washington Avenue in northeast Minneapolis.
After about five months in business, though, he’s planning to sell the living space and purchase another one a few blocks away. “It’s a little bit too close to work,” Cobb says. He’d like “even a two-minute car drive to get that separation.”
Cobb was in information technology, and used a severance package from his former employer and backing from his father to open Java J’s. He plans to purchase the shop in about a year at market value. He likes to own property. “If the coffeeshop doesn’t work then I still have the real estate,” he says. “I think that’s important.”
Cobb incorporated his high-tech background into Java J’s. “I made sure that nearly every spot is near on outlet, to plug in laptops. There’s high-speed Internet to use for free,” he says. And there’s a conference room, with flat-panel TVs that people can use for presentations.
“I see a lot of people having small-business meetings” there, including real estate brokers and an FBI agent. “If you’ve got a good spot, the coffee is just the price of admission,” Cobb says.
Jason Cobb, Java J’s Coffee: 612.236.9444; ja***@*******on.com; www.javajason.com
