Two to five years out

Exit planning for founder-led businesses

The price you get is mostly decided before the process starts. Customer concentration, owner dependence and messy financials cost more at the negotiating table than any advisor can win back for you there.

This page is about the eighteen to thirty-six months before that. No engagement letter required — the checklist below is free and so is the conversation.

See the checklist

Get a valuation first

Eight things a buyer pays for

Score yourself out of eight. Nothing is sent anywhere — this is for you.

No customer above 20% of revenue

The first thing every buyer models, and the discount is brutal.

Three years of reviewed financials

Not just tax returns. A quality-of-earnings team starts here.

A manager who could run it for 90 days without you

The difference between selling a business and selling a job.

Estimating, pricing and dispatch documented

Written down, followed, and not living in one person’s head.

Recurring or contracted revenue above 30%

Contracted revenue is priced at a different multiple entirely.

Growth in each of the last three years

Flat is survivable. Declining into a process is not.

Capital expenditure current — fleet, plant, software

Deferred capex comes off your price dollar for dollar.

Personal expenses out of the business for 24 months

Add-backs you cannot document are add-backs you do not get.

How to read your score

7–8	Ready. The number you get now is close to the number the business deserves — start the valuation.
4–6	Sellable, at a discount you can still remove. Most owners are here, and most of them do not know which gap costs the most.
0–3	Two to three years from a good outcome. That is the honest answer and every item on this list is fixable.

One call, no fee. We will tell you which two of these are worth doing first and which can wait.

Talk through the gaps

A twenty-four month plan

Every business is different and every owner’s timeline slips. The order, though, is nearly always this.

Month 1–3

Know the number

A baseline valuation, so every decision after this one has a price attached to it. Most owners are surprised in both directions.

Month 3–12

Reduce the risk

Concentration, key-person dependence, deferred capital expenditure. This is the year that moves the multiple rather than the earnings.

Month 12–20

Clean the books

Personal expenses out, related-party arrangements documented, a reviewed set of financials that a quality-of-earnings team will not unpick.

Month 20–24

Go to market

Re-value, then run the process. The nine-month process is here.

Should you sell at all?

A different question from “can you”, and the one most exit planning skips. Three tests we walk owners through.

The number test

After fees and tax, does the proceeds figure fund the life you want without the business? If not, selling solves nothing and you should be growing instead.

The Monday test

What do you do on the first Monday afterwards? Owners who cannot answer this tend to retrade themselves emotionally at week eleven and blow up their own deal.

The cycle test

Is your sector being consolidated right now, or has that wave already passed? Timing is worth more than preparation in some industries, and less in others.

Timing questions

When should I sell my business?

When the business is ready and you are, and ideally while it is still growing. Selling into a decline is the single most expensive decision an owner makes.

How long does exit planning take?

Eighteen to thirty-six months to move the things that matter. Less than twelve and you are tidying, not preparing.

Do you charge for exit planning?

Not for the conversation or the checklist. If it turns into a formal engagement we will say so before it does.

What if I get an offer in the meantime?

Call us before you respond. An unsolicited offer is a data point, not a deadline, and answering it alone is how owners find out what their business was worth afterwards.