There are many things in business that we can easily predict and this is related to one of those predictable outcomes. At some point in time, you are going to move on for one of a variety of reasons. In other words, you will be exiting the business. This is something we should prepare and plan for from the get-go, or at least as soon as it is on your radar, which now I have mentioned exit, it should be!
Don’t worry too much about the actual method of exit, to be frank, right now that is not the most important thing to worry about, as the business develops and as life progresses your views and plans can change and so the actual exit method may also change. All that said I want you to consider the following:
If you make a list of the full range of exit possibilities open to you, which would include sale, part sale, MBO, IPO, handing it over to a family member. It could be to bring in a team to manage while you play golf, or lay on a beach somewhere. Regardless of the options, they all have one thing in common, every exit you can think of will require an attractive business ideally making a profit or capable with a little adjustment of becoming a more profitable business for the exit to be worthwhile for others.
Therefore when you are designing your vision and including the inevitable exit, it will become clear that part of the process is to build what will be a truly attractive and profitable machine so that it has a value that someone else will want to own, manage or lead.
It follows then that you should include the eventual exit into your vision and then use this as the ultimate destination so that all actions taken from today leading to that point are taking you toward and contributing to that eventual outcome.
So yes, please do include your exit into your vision, but at this stage do not worry too much about the actual exit method, satisfy yourself in the knowledge that it will involve the creation of a valuable and attractive machine that will not require your lifelong daily input and build that.