Business valuation and exit preparation
What your business is worth, and what is currently costing you the multiple.
Owners usually discover their business is worth less than they assumed at the worst possible moment — when they are already tired and ready to sell. The gap is rarely the earnings. It is the risk attached to them.
Buyers pay a multiple of adjusted earnings, and the multiple is a judgment about how much of the business walks out the door with you. Heavy owner dependency, one customer at 40% of revenue, no documented process, messy books and no management layer all cut it, sometimes by half.
This work establishes a realistic current value, identifies exactly which factors are suppressing your multiple, and builds a two- to three-year plan to raise it before you go to market.
You are probably here because
- You want to sell in the next three to five years
- You have no idea what the business is worth
- The company would struggle badly without you in it
- One or two customers make up most of your revenue
- Your books mix personal and business spending
- You have had an offer and suspect it was low
What the work covers
Valuation range
Seller's discretionary earnings and a defensible multiple range for your size, industry and risk profile.
Multiple diagnosis
Which specific factors are discounting your business, ranked by how much value each one costs.
Owner dependency reduction
The single largest driver of multiple in small businesses, and the plan to fix it.
Earnings quality
Clean, documented, defensible earnings — with add-backs a buyer will actually accept.
Revenue durability
Customer concentration, recurring revenue and contract structure.
Exit timeline
What happens in each of the next eight quarters if a sale is the goal.
The engagement
Estimate
Start with the valuation estimator, then refine with real financials.
Diagnose
Score the risk factors a buyer will price in.
Plan
Sequence the fixes by value gained per quarter of effort.
Execute
Recurring advisory through the improvements so the number actually moves.
Investment
Delivered inside Growth or Scale Advisory. The free calculator gives you a starting range before we ever talk.
What this is not
This is not a certified appraisal for legal, tax, divorce or SBA purposes. For those you need a credentialed appraiser — this is operating work aimed at increasing the number.
Run the numbers
Run your own numbers first
Business Valuation Estimator
An SDE-based value range, adjusted for the things buyers actually discount.
Owner Dependency Score
Find out how much of the business only works because you're standing in it — and what that costs you.
Business Health Score
Score your business 0–100 across profit, margin, labor, cash, growth, customer risk and owner load.
Net Profit Margin Calculator
What the business actually keeps after everything — including paying you properly.
Straight answers
What multiple do small businesses sell for?
Most owner-operated businesses trade between roughly 2x and 4x seller's discretionary earnings, with size, owner dependency, recurring revenue and customer concentration moving you inside that band.
How long does exit prep take?
Two to three years to move the multiple meaningfully. Cleaning up earnings can happen in months; removing yourself from operations cannot.
Is this a formal appraisal?
No. It is an operating valuation used to make decisions and raise value. Formal appraisals require a credentialed appraiser.
Thirty minutes. No pitch deck. Bring your numbers.
Or call (737) 888-0415