Here is the way to get out of your business

If you are finally making a business with the goal of selling, whether private equity, strategic acquiring or even the search fund, you will not only depend on how much money you make. It will depend on how clean your business is.

Buyers are fast paying a premium for operational explanation: clean finance, made operations and a team that is ready for scale. And the absence of these things? This is the fastest way to lose millions on diagnosis, even if you have made a profitable business.

The way to get out here and the real example of a company has been obtained that has lost the significant value of the deal simply because they were not.

Related: 7 Preparation Accessories to Sell business

1. Clean beating smart: what buyers really want

We recently reviewed the rapidly growing B2B sauce company. On the paper, it tests each box: more than M1M in ARR, 70 %+ profit margins, low manor, high organic traffic and a team of two effective two people. It is excited about the way any buyer has a deal.

But under the hood, it was chaos.

No standard financial reporting was made here. Customer retaining data was contradictory. The costs were easily classified. From the marketing performance to supporting the SLA, everything was in the head of the founder.

Because of this, we cannot write it as a Turnki asset. Instead of offering a premium 4X-5X multiple (common for comparable assets), we priced close to 2.8x AR, which is at risk of cost and operational cleaning. They lost about 40 % of their price, not due to poor performance, but due to the lack of system.

2. Finance: the basis of external measures

The first thing for which a buyer asks for your financial matters, and if they are not clean, expect to increase the contract timeline or offer to shrink.

Here looks like “clean”:

• Acular Basis Accounting (not cash)

• Monthly P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements are permanently reported

• Customer Matrix such as CAC, LTV, Kiran, ARPU, ideally broken by cohort

• Forward of 12-24 months made of lower assumptions predicted

Even better? To create a dashboard, use tolls like live flu or tolls that auto -update with your financial and operational PI. This is not about affecting a buyer. It is about to build confidence and show that you run your business like investors.

3. Operational hygiene: scale without founder

The most valuable businesses are the ones that do not rely on the founder to work.

When we looked at the first sauce contract, we saw that every customer ticket, every marketing campaign and every decision on prices flows through the founder. No soups. No documentary workflows. There is no delegation framework.

This meant that the recipient would need to rebuild the operating system from the beginning, which directly affected the diagnosis.

Want to fix it? Start using tools such as concept or process street to create SOPS, checklists and character -based documents. Make sure the team members own specific PI. And start creating workflows that you can walk without you.

Related: I specialize in Exit Planning – you need to take these 5 steps before selling your business

4. Create the team in which buyers can plugged in

Even if your team is lean, buyers want to see a structure on which they can build, not freelancers or founders just confused.

Ask yourself:

• Do I have a clear org chart (whether it is lean)?

• What character and KPI have been written in writing?

• May I know what role the buyer will need to get after the role?

For example, the company we reviewed was not a team of coverage and growth of zero customer success. This meant that we needed key characters staff immediately after, which is translated into high risk, high effort and low purchase costs.

If you are wearing bootstreams and numerous hats, okay – just be honest about it. But make sure you have a blueprint that the company will need to measure, and its cost is in your operating model.

5. Prediction, do not guess: value of a real project

Businesses ready to exit are not just the past. They can present the future with confidence.

The buyer needs to know how your business will perform 12-24 months from now. This means that your prediction should be linked to real input traffic, consumer acquisition costs, drug rates and expansion revenue. And it needs to be updated regularly.

Don’t believe where to start? You can create a simple model in Google Sheets or use tools like Berksx or Artmark for sauce friendly predictions.

Petition helps buyers to understand and justify high diagnosis.

6. Avoiding mirror status, not test

Most of the founders behave as a test, a final hoop to jump before a contract is closed. But the founders of information have considered it as a mirror: one way to see how much their company really can invest.

The data room had never been gone before the business we had cited before. Their answers were delayed, documents were unprofitable, and there was no central place to review consumer contracts, drug data or financial history.

7. Create to Sell, Whether you never do

You can never sell your company. But if you make it your own, you will run it better, and if an unexpected opportunity comes in your way, you will be ready.

Here is the mental change:

• Not only an operator, but start working like a capital allocation.

• Do document your process as you give them.

• Track the matrix like a CFO, not just a founder.

If you do this, even the undisputed offerings will be strong because your business will not just look good. It will be fine.

Related: The 5 Biggest Mistakes of the Business …

Buyers made clear

Most business owners wait more than to clear their financial affairs or create their jobs. When they think about sales, they have already benefited.

Don’t leave you.

Make quick discipline. Track it. Do document everything. And design your business to scale without you at the center.

Because when it comes time to sell, buyers will not just look at your income.

They will see your system.