Exit without regret
You will sell your business once. The buyer has looked at a hundred.
That gap costs owners price, terms, and leverage. I help you know your number, protect what you keep, and walk away without regret.
A 30-minute video call. There is no fee, and if I am the wrong person I will say so and tell you who is right. If the calendar is full, call 317-218-8616 or send a note and I will find a time.
- 34years on the owner’s side of the table
- 2,400+transactions closed through Indiana Business Advisors
- 4credentials a sale requires: CVA, CM&AA, CEPA, CMEA
Start here
Tell me where you are
A buyer called, you are planning a sale, or you need a number you can defend. I read every note myself and reply within one business day.
There is no fee, and nothing to buy at the end of it.
Free tool
What would a buyer pay for your business?
Enter a few numbers from your tax return. The SDE calculator rebuilds your earnings the way a buyer’s lender will and shows the most a buyer could pay. It takes about five minutes, and your numbers stay in your browser.
How it works
Three steps to an exit you will not second-guess
Talk for 30 minutes
Tell me where you are: an offer on the table, a sale in a few years, or a question about value. You leave knowing the next step. There is no fee.
Get a number you can defend
Before you answer an offer or go to market, you know what the business is worth to a buyer and what is holding the price down.
Exit on your terms
Whether that means fixing value first or running a full sale, I sit on your side of the table until the deal closes.
Why owners call
Thirty-four years on the owner’s side of the table
I came into this work wanting to be an investment banker. Instead I found an industry that treated the sale of a life’s work like a real estate listing. With Dick Hester and Larry Metzing, we built Indiana Business Advisors to do it differently: valuation, equipment appraisal, exit planning, and M&A advisory in one practice.
Thirty-four years and roughly 2,400 closed transactions later, the problem has not changed. The owner does this once. The buyer has looked at a hundred businesses before yours.
Most of the owners I work with run companies between $500,000 and $25 million in revenue, in Indiana and across the country. Outside that range, call anyway. I will tell you if I am the wrong person and who the right one is.
Credentials
Four credentials a sale requires. One person who holds all of them.
The number you take to market has to survive the buyer’s accountant.
Deal structure, terms, and process. Where the headline price becomes what you keep.
The two or three years before a sale, where most of the value is built or lost.
What the hard assets are worth, on paper and to a lender.
Where owners get stuck
The most common reasons owners put this off
All of these are reasonable places to be, and none of them is a reason to wait.
- “I don’t have a succession plan.”
- Most owners don’t. It is the normal starting point. The assessment shows you where to begin, in fifteen minutes.
- “I’ll hand it to my son or daughter.”
- A family transfer still needs a real valuation and a structure. On a handshake, it often costs more than a sale would have.
- “I don’t have time to plan an exit.”
- A number and a direction are enough to start. The plan gets built around the business you already run.
- “I don’t know what it’s worth.”
- That is the first thing I produce. A number you can defend beats a number you hope for.
- “I’ll think about it in a couple of years.”
- Buyers pay for what you build in those years, so start the planning now and let the sale wait.
- “I’ll probably just wind it down.”
- A wind-down usually leaves the most money on the table. Find out what a buyer would pay before you close the doors.
After the closing
What getting it right looks like
The wire hits, and the number is the one you planned for. The terms you agreed to hold all the way through closing. Your employees land with a buyer who wants them. And years from now, you are not lying awake wondering what you left on the table.
Already know where you stand?
Four situations, and where each one starts
A buyer already called
Get a second look at the offer
You have an offer, a letter of intent, or a buyer who says they are serious. I will tell you whether the number is real, what it leaves out, and what to do next.
Deal advisoryNot ready to sell
Be ready when the time comes
Most of the value in a sale is built in the two or three years before it. Start with three free assessments. Nobody calls you afterward unless you ask.
See the three assessmentsYou need a number
A valuation you can defend
Selling or buying, you need a value that holds up when the other side challenges it. Know the number before you answer an offer or sign a letter of intent.
Business valuationReady to go to market
Full representation
Prepare the business, protect confidentiality, qualify buyers, manage diligence, and negotiate. Through Indiana Business Advisors, which has closed more than 2,400 of these.
Talk about a sale
The book
Done Deal: Exit Without Regret
The book your buyer hopes you never read. How to prepare, promote, and protect the sale of your business, written for the owner whose name is on the shirt.
Podcast
The podcast
Defenders of Business Value
Conversations on valuation, exit planning, and what happens when a business changes hands. For owners and the advisors who serve them.
Field notes
Latest articles
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The System Is the Star
Companies where the owner is the hub are 20% less likely to get an acquisition offer at all. Cameron Passmore built an…
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Why Some Businesses Sell for Twice as Much
Owners who know who will buy their business, and what that buyer will pay for, build differently. The data on 30,000 owners…
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Three Times More Likely to Get Lowballed
Owners whose largest customer is more than half of revenue draw a lowball offer about three times as often. And a customer…
For the advisor in the room
Your client will sell once. They should not pay the tuition for someone else’s first deal.
If you are a CPA, attorney, wealth advisor, or coach, your client will face a liquidity event whether you are ready for it or not. I work with advisors who want a deal specialist at the table and keep the client relationship themselves.
How I work with professionalsTell me where you are in the decision.
A buyer called, you are planning a sale, you need a number you can defend, or you are an advisor with a client facing one of those. Start with a conversation. Thirty minutes, no fee, and you leave knowing the next step.
If the calendar is full, call 317-218-8616 or send a note and I will find a time.