Selling Your Business (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
business or a management buyout, really wasn’t on the table because we couldn’t afford to pay off the primary owner at the same time that we would continue to invest in and operate the business going forward. Luckily my part- ner knew that. We started to talk about it seriously around the time he turned 70. I think the difference between thinking about
ing at the end of an old Bobst flatbed die cutter, and I’ve done a little bit of everything since then. My father started the business in 1966. He grew a com- pany called Box USA, which he sold to International Paper in 2004. We then grew a company called U.S. Corrugated. In 2011, we sold most of the business to Roger Stone and Matt Kaplan. Brown: I was president and co-owner of The Boxmaker until we sold it to SupplyOne in May of 2025. We’re primar- ily known in the industry for early adoption of digital print and corrugated and creation of an online business called Fantastapack.
selling and actually knowing that it’s time to sell was arriving between the two of us at some reasonable idea of an outcome that would work for the two of us. It took a little bit to get there. What did each one of us think the business was worth? Who did we want to sell to? Because, in this
Marino: The decision to sell in- cludes timing and readiness, peo- ple and identity, the transaction, and then post-close. There’s also a difference between deciding to sell and being ready to sell. How do you know when it’s time to sell?
Richard Brown
scenario, I am most likely I’m staying with the company. And what did we want for our coworkers? We had those discussions, and I think as soon as we arrived at that, we were ready to sell. Marino: Everyone says sell when the business is strong, not when you’re desperate. That’s great in practice, but how do you sell when everything’s going well and every instinct that you have says keep riding it out? Mehiel: You have to listen to the marketplace. You have to understand where you are in the cycle. You have to un- derstand clearly what it is about your business that might be of interest to a potential buyer or buyers. And you must
Gene Marino
Brown: My business partner Dave Taylor is about 15 years my senior. It started in figuring out an exit path for my partner. He was also the primary owner. Once you get on the treadmill of digital, you’re going to keep putting cap- ital in every year if you’re going to keep supporting that business. One of the potentials, myself buying the balance of the
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18 October 5, 2026
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