Turn Your Life's Work Into a Business Buyers Want to Buy.
If your business still works because you're the one holding it together, a buyer doesn't see value there. They see risk. And they price it that way.
I help owners doing $1M to $5M in revenue fix the parts that cost real money at closing, so you walk away with more, more of it upfront, and fewer strings attached after.
For profitable business owners who are retiring or seriously considering selling.
Built, Bought, and Sold Businesses From Both Sides of the Table.
I've started multiple companies, sold 3 of them to third-party buyers, and looked at over 100 businesses from the buyer's side of the table.
Now I help owners avoid the mistakes that make a buyer knock the price down, drag their feet, or walk away from a business that was worth buying.
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Your business is profitable. That doesn't mean it's sellable.
You might be ready to be done. The business might be making good money. You might even have buyers who are interested.
But if the whole thing still runs through you, that's the first thing a buyer looks for, and it's the first thing they use to discount your price.
This is for you if:
- You do between $1M and $5M in revenue.
- You're thinking about selling to an outside buyer in the next 6 to 36 months.
- The key relationships, the decisions, and most of what makes it work still live in your head.
- You've never sold a business before.
- You care about what you actually keep, not the number they write on the first page of the offer.
- You want most of the money at closing, not spread over the next 4 years, and not tied to targets somebody else controls.
- You aren't handing it to your kids or your staff.
Buyers don't pay the most for the business you built.
They pay the most for the business they believe keeps making money after you leave.
Here's what usually holds the number down:
- Owner dependence
- Messy or unclear financials
- Weak management depth
- Undocumented processes
- Concentrated customer or supplier relationships
- Unclear performance metrics
- Deal structures that leave you exposed
- A business that works only because you are still personally holding it together
The good news is that this stuff can be found and fixed. You don't need to fix all of it. You need to fix the things a serious buyer will actually pay more for.
Start with the truth, before you spend years getting ready.
Before you put time and money into any of this, there are 3 things you need to know:
- What your business would likely sell for today.
- What you actually need to walk away. I call that your freedom number.
- Whether the gap between those two is big enough to be worth fixing.
That's what we work out on the Exit Reality Check Call.
If I can't show you a gap worth fixing, I'll tell you straight. No pressure, no project you don't need, and no expensive advice for the sake of advice.
From a business that needs you to a business a buyer can run.
Four ways to work with me, in the order most owners need them.
Exit Reality Check Call
One conversation to find out where you actually stand.
You leave the call knowing:
- What your business would likely sell for today
- What you would realistically keep after tax and deal costs
- Where a buyer will knock money off
- How much of it still sits on your shoulders
- Whether there's a gap worth fixing
- What the next logical step should be
If there's no believable way to create enough value, I'll tell you not to hire me.
Book the free Exit Reality Check CallThe 3-Day Exit Roadmap Sprint
If there's a real gap, we build the plan to close it.
Over the sprint we:
- Set your baseline valuation
- Work out your after-tax freedom number
- Map where the business depends on you, and where a buyer will see risk
- Put the changes in order, biggest lift first
- Build a 6 to 18 month plan
- Name the few things that matter in the next 90 days
You don't need more projects. You need to know what to do first, what to ignore, and why.
Explore the Exit Roadmap SprintThe 6-Month Exit Advisory
A plan sitting in a drawer never made anybody a dollar. This is for owners who want somebody experienced next to them while they do the work.
- 2 calls a month
- I look over the key documents and decisions
- Getting you out of the middle of the business
- Cleaning up the numbers and the operations
- Keeping you on the work that actually moves the valuation
- Ongoing accountability, which is half of why it gets done
This is advisory from above the business. I'm not becoming your COO. I help you make better calls, skip the expensive mistakes, and stop burning your last few years on things a buyer won't pay for.
Apply for Exit AdvisoryOngoing Exit and Deal Advisory
For a few select owners who are close to a sale, or already in one.
- Reading the first offers that come in
- Going through the offer letter with you
- Getting ready for the buyer's deep check of your books and your business
- Spotting where the deal can hurt you
- Looking hard at the structure, not just the price
- Protecting your downside all the way to closing
The goal isn't to sell. Anyone can sell. The goal is to sell on terms you can live with and no regret.
Talk to me about deal advisoryI know what it feels like to sell something you built.
I've been on both sides of the table.
I've built businesses from nothing. I've run them for years. I've sold 3 of them to outside buyers. And I've sat in the buyer's seat looking at somebody else's life's work.
So I've seen what depending on the owner does to a price. What messy books do. What weak systems do. And what bad terms do to you long after the deal is done.
I've also seen the other version, where a business is built to run without the person who started it. The difference is big.
That's why I work the way I do, and it's why I don't take on every business. I focus on profitable, owner-dependent companies doing $1M to $5M in revenue, 6 to 36 months out from an outside sale.
Coming soon
Exit Insider
A podcast with owners, buyers, private equity people, M&A advisors and the professionals who sit in the middle of these deals.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
We'll talk about:
- What your business is really worth
- Getting the business off your shoulders
- Getting ready to sell
- How the deal is structured, and who carries the risk
- What the buyer digs into, and why
- What buyers actually expect
- The part nobody warns you about, which is how it feels
- What owners wish somebody had told them 3 years earlier
If you're building something you'll one day sell, this show is for you. First episodes are on the way.
You built the business. Now make sure it can stand without you.
The earlier you know the size of your valuation gap, the more you can do about it.
Start with the truth.