What Your Business Is Worth Before You List
Going to market without a professional valuation is the single most common, and most expensive, mistake we see owners make.
You would not list your house without an appraisal. You would not price a fleet of trucks without a comp sheet. But owners list their businesses every day with nothing but a multiple they heard at a conference and a number they want to net. Professionally derived value, in writing, before the first conversation with a buyer, that is the difference between a sale that closes at the right number and one that does not.
The valuation we perform at the start of every engagement establishes fair market value, the defensible baseline you and we agree on before the business goes to market. It is the floor of the conversation, not the ceiling. The Structured Sale™ process does not cap your price. Our goal is investment value (also called deal value): what a synergistic buyer will pay, which is meaningfully above fair market value.
Why a professional valuation belongs before the listing
- You walk in with a number, not a guess. A written valuation under NACVA Professional Standards gives you and your advisor a defensible anchor for every conversation, yours, not the buyer's.
- You know what a real offer looks like. When LOIs land, you can tell a serious offer from a lowball because you and your advisor already know the defensible range.
- You negotiate from data, not a hunch. Every concession, every objection, every counter has a documented basis you can point back to.
- You catch the cleanup work early. The recast and the methodology surface the messy financials, the concentration risk, the working-capital surprises, before a buyer's due diligence does.
- You know if you should wait. Sometimes the number is not where you need it to be. Better to find that out now than after you have told your team you are selling.
Two valuation products, sized to your need
Both are performed under NACVA Professional Standards. The right one depends on what the number will be used for.
Calculation of Value
A limited-scope valuation. A credible working number you can act on quickly.
Best for
- Sale preparation
- Internal planning
- Partner buy-out
- Owner financial planning
Not appropriate for court or IRS use.
Conclusion of Value
A full, defensible valuation opinion built to hold up to third-party scrutiny.
Best for
- Litigation
- IRS gift or estate filings
- ESOP review
- Major transactions
When third-party defensibility is required.
Speed
Faster than the industry norm.
Same NACVA Professional Standards. We are just disciplined about turnaround.
Speed does not replace rigor.
Three things owners get wrong about pricing
"My business should sell for what I paid into it over the years."
Buyers do not pay for what you spent. They pay for what they can earn going forward, discounted for the risk of getting there. Your investment is a sunk cost on someone else's balance sheet.
"The buyer in my industry pays 4x. So I'll list at 5x and negotiate down to 4x."
A multiple is a summary of dozens of deal characteristics: size, growth, customer concentration, owner dependence, capital intensity. Pulling a number off a "what's the typical multiple" search is how you end up anchored below where you should be, or above where you would ever actually close.
"I'll figure out the number after I get an offer."
By then it is too late. The first offer becomes the anchor whether it is right or not. The valuation has to come before the offer for the number to actually inform the negotiation.
Know your number before you list
For most owners, the first valuation conversation costs nothing and changes how they think about the rest of the year.
Start the valuation conversation