Business Exit Planning: Get paid for proof, not potential

Trevor Stevenson-Platt

16 Nov 2025 — 4 min read

You sell your business once. The market won’t reward intention; only preparation will be rewarded. Buyers don’t pay for potential; they pay for proof. The exit you want is built now, long before a term sheet shows up.

This is about control. Not just price, your time, your sanity, your legacy. Exit planning turns years of sweat into one clean decision that pays you for all of it.

Why now, not later

You feel it already, the fatigue, the itch for the next thing, the quiet fear you’ll wait too long and watch value leak away. Markets turn. Key people leave. Your best customers get bought. Leverage slips, inch by inch.

Every month you wait, the business becomes a little more about you and a little less transferable. A buyer will spot that in five minutes. Would you buy a company that keels over when the founder takes a long vacation?

Start the exit today

You’re not selling a business. You’re selling a machine that runs without you. Make that obvious the moment someone steps through the door.

Document how the business really works. Not a glossy deck, the real playbook. How you get customers, deliver, collect cash, and fix what breaks. Write it so a smart stranger could run it on day one.
Lift yourself out of the middle. If your name is on every decision, your price drops. Give leaders clear lanes, authority, and targets. If the team still calls you for every answer, you’ve got work to do.
Spread your risk. One customer paying half your revenue isn’t a trophy; it’s a trap. One lead channel is a single point of failure. Buyers pay more for a company that survives bad days without drama.

Make your numbers boring and believable

Boring numbers sell for more, tidy, consistent, dull in the best way.

Clean books for at least two full years. No personal spend buried in the P&L. No heroic last‑day deals to hit a month. No mystery lines your accountant can’t explain in plain English. Buyers hate surprises. Prove revenue is real, margins are stable, and cash lands in the bank.
Fix the paperwork. Customer and supplier contracts current and transferable. IP, brand, code, content, designs, patents—owned by the company, not by you or a long‑gone freelancer. Employment agreements signed with clear terms. Build a simple data room and curate it like a gallery.
Show the engine, not just the dashboard. Know CAC, LTV, retention, repeat purchase, and churn drivers. You don’t need jargon; you need proof that your growth is repeatable.

Price is a story, then proof!

If you can’t explain why your business will keep winning, you’re asking for a discount. The story isn’t a fairy tale; it’s the spine that holds the facts together.

What tailwind are you riding that won’t die next year?
What moat keeps you from being copied?
What small, boring advantage will compound over time, speed, distribution, relationships, data, and habit?

Map three simple levers to grow profit next year without heroics. Raise prices in one segment. Launch one new channel. Expand one product line to current customers. Show they’re already in motion. Buyers love momentum that doesn’t rely on new luck.

Don’t negotiate against yourself. You don’t need to justify every dollar on day one. Show enough weight that your number feels reasonable, then let competitive tension do the rest.

Own your terms, not just your number

Price is loud. Terms decide how much you keep and how you feel after the wire hits.

Draw your line in the sand now. All cash or some later? Six months or two years of stay? Clean exit or second bite? What do you need after tax, not just on paper? Write it down. When the deal drifts, and it will, your list will save you.
Choose your buyer like a partner. Strategics may pay more and move slower. Financial buyers may be faster and more demanding. Some want your team; some don’t. Ask how they behave when the lights flicker. How do they treat founders a year later? Call someone who sold to them. Ask what they regret.

Build a process, not a wish

Hope isn’t a strategy. Run your sale like a campaign, clear start, steady pace, firm finish.

Create a short list of buyers with a real reason to care.
Send a concise teaser that respects everyone’s time.
Use a quiet window to line up real conversations.
Share enough to provoke interest; hold back enough to keep options open.
Set deadlines. First looks, Q&A, offers. Negotiations wander without dates.
Answer fast, tell the truth, ask for clarity. You set the tone: calm, precise, always moving.

Keep running the company like you’re never selling. Buyers pay for performance, not promises. Deals fall apart. Your power is strong weekly numbers and a team that hits them without you in the room.

The human side you can’t ignore

You’ll feel pride and grief. Both are normal. Name them.

Prepare your people before your pitch. Who can lead without you? Who needs a path to grow? Who will struggle with change? Buyers feel culture in five minutes, in a receptionist’s tone and a manager’s honesty. Clean up the small messes now.
Prepare yourself for no more founder fuel. The calendar goes quiet after you sell. Design your next chapter on purpose. Map your time, your money, and your meaning before the wire hits. The exit isn’t the end; it’s a door. Decide where it opens.

Key takeaway

You don’t get paid for what your business could be. You get paid for what it already is, without you. Exit planning isn’t a document; it’s a daily way of running the company so a buyer can drop in, press go, and watch cash fall out the other side.