Exit & sale preparation, started while there’s still time.

The uncomfortable math of selling a business

Most owners sell once, to a buyer who buys for a living. The buyer’s diligence team will find every commingled expense, every undocumented process, every revenue stream that lives in the owner’s head — and each finding becomes a price reduction. Exit preparation is simply doing that work first, on your side of the table, while there’s still time to fix what diligence would punish.

What the roadmap covers

• Quality of financials. Accrual-basis books, clean monthly closes, and three years of statements a buyer’s accountant can verify without an argument.
• Normalized earnings. Owner add-backs identified, documented, and defensible — the difference between the EBITDA you claim and the EBITDA a buyer accepts.
• Documented processes. A business that runs on systems sells for more than a business that runs on its owner. We help you write it down and delegate it.
• The story. Why the business wins, where growth comes from, and what a new owner steps into — assembled into the narrative and the numbers a buyer’s committee reads.
• Deal readiness. A data room built before it’s needed, so the sale process runs on your timeline instead of stalling on document requests.

How we charge

Exit preparation typically combines a monthly retainer for the ongoing CFO work with fixed-price projects for discrete builds (normalization studies, data-room assembly). When a transaction approaches, M&A support takes over.

Frequently asked questions

We might sell in a year. Is it too late?

Not too late — but the earlier the start, the more value we can defend. Even ninety days of cleanup before a process launches typically pays for itself many times over in diligence.

Do you find the buyer?

We’re not a business broker — we prepare the company and support the transaction. We work alongside your broker or banker, and can help you select one.