A full paid Exit Readiness Assessment for a fictional light-manufacturing owner — the exact structure and depth you'd receive when you complete your own. Every figure below is illustrative, not real.
BS-SAMPLEWhat this means. Buyers exist for this business today, but at a price that materially discounts your effort. The delta between the two numbers above is what the 90-day plan and the ledger in Section 7 are designed to close.
The belief gap is the honest read on why some conversations with brokers or buyers stall. Your number and their number aren't in the same range. This report walks the specific reasons.
Every valuation multiplier applies to a real earnings figure. The one buyers use is SDE — earnings plus add-backs a new owner wouldn't inherit.
| Line item | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
| Revenue, last full year (F1) | $2,450,000 |
| − Operating costs (F4) | $2,220,000 |
| EBITDA | $230,000 |
| + Your compensation add-back (F5) | $140,000 |
| + Family payroll adjustment (F6 × F7) | $25,000 |
| + Personal expense add-backs (F10) | $18,000 |
| − Rent normalization (F9 · above market) | −$6,000 |
| SDE — seller's discretionary earnings | $407,000 |
Applied industry multiple: 2.05× – 3.51× SDE (light manufacturing / trades benchmark). Times SDE gives an enterprise value of $835K – $1,430K, then minus $15K of net business debt (F8) equals the equity range at the top of Section 1.
Five areas, weighted equally, higher is better. The weakest area is where the discount gets applied first.
Overall readiness: 59 / 120. That places you firmly in Discount Exit territory — sellable, but at a materially lower multiple than the industry median unless the fundamentals below are addressed first.
Value proposition — clear. Your positioning is clear, which is an asset the transferability work can lean on. Customers know what they're buying beyond your presence.
Demand — relatively stable. Stable demand is the ideal condition for pre-exit work: the business can absorb the transition while you step back, because you're not simultaneously firefighting month-to-month volatility.
Recurring revenue share is strong. Over 60% of your revenue is recurring or contracted. This is one of the most valuable characteristics a buyer looks for and it lifts your multiple within the industry band.
Margin trend is holding. Three-year margin is steady, not drifting down. Buyers pay more for stable margins than they discount for owner-dependence — this is the base you're building the fixes on.
The gap between today's estimate and the potential is not one number to a buyer — it's a sum of specific discounts. Each row below closes one of them.
| Fix | Discount removed | Range added to EV |
|---|---|---|
| Top-3 account handover to named team member | Customer concentration | +$200K – $350K |
| Named 90-day operational deputy, in writing | Key-person risk | +$150K – $250K |
| Bookkeeper-prepared accrual books, 12 months clean | Financial quality | +$80K – $150K |
| Documented playbooks for the four core processes | Operations transferability | +$100K – $180K |
| Personal-asset separation completed | Deal readiness / friction | +$50K – $100K |
Total additive range: +$580K – $1,030K, which is what carries the equity from Discount Exit to Clean Exit territory.
Months 4–12. Documented playbooks for the four core processes, then personal-asset untangling. Both are lower-leverage than the three phases above but move you from Clean Exit toward Premium — do them once the first three are running unattended.
The same shape as this sample, filled with your actual financials and answers. SDE build-up, industry-multiple valuation range, tier placement, red-flag ledger, and a 90-day plan.
Start your Exit Readiness Assessment — $4914-day money back — no questions asked.