Add-backs, and the ones that never survive diligence
An add-back is not a claim about what you spent. It is a claim about what a new owner would not spend, and it only counts if you can show it.
Articles
What changes the outcome
Every piece here is about something an owner can still change twelve to thirty-six months out.
Customer concentration, and the point where buyers start walking
At 40% of revenue in one customer, a buyer is not buying a business. They are buying a relationship they have never met.
Recurring revenue when you do not sell subscriptions
Buyers pay for revenue that arrives without being re-won. Very little of that requires a subscription business.
The number that comes before the valuation
What you need to net after tax and fees is more useful than what your business is worth, and almost nobody works it out first.
The thirty-day test
If you disappeared for thirty days, what would happen to revenue? Buyers are asking a version of this question the whole time, and the answer moves price more than any other single thing.
The year after
Owners who regret selling rarely regret the price. They regret not having decided what the business was for.
What happens when a buyer's accountant opens your books
They do not need to find anything wrong. They only need to be unable to verify what is right.
Why most businesses that go up for sale never sell
Only 20 to 30% of businesses taken to market actually close. The gap between the two groups is almost never the business itself.