Business owners often start exit planning by asking, “What multiple could I get?” Buyers usually start somewhere else: “How much risk am I taking on?”
1. Financial quality
Can a buyer reconcile historical results, understand normalized earnings, and see how reliably management forecasts performance?
2. Revenue durability
How concentrated is revenue? How repeatable is it? Are important customer relationships institutional or still held primarily by the owner?
3. Management transferability
A valuable company should be able to operate without every important decision, relationship, or process flowing through one person.
4. Growth and market position
Buyers will test whether growth is durable, whether margins are defendable, and whether the company has a credible position in its market.
5. Diligence readiness
Financial records, contracts, KPIs, employee documentation, vendor agreements, and key operating evidence should be organized before a buyer asks for them.
6. Transaction preparedness
Owners should be aligned on timing, acceptable outcomes, buyer types, and the risks that need to be reduced before going to market.
The earlier these issues are identified, the more time an owner has to strengthen the profile buyers will eventually underwrite.